|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2026 7:41 pm
Feeling her breath catch in her throat, Ilmare wanted so badly to just stop running and breathe. Take a moment to check over the chibi she carried. But she couldn’t. She didn’t have much longer before her magic stopped affecting Haumea and she couldn’t risk losing even an inch of gained ground between them. The strong, pure aura she’d sensed was much closer now and the corrupt senshi threw herself towards it wholeheartedly. As she ran, she caught a vague glimpse of dark hair and a mostly white uniform. Still too far and here she was, a corrupt running full tilt at a white moon senshi. Common sense reared up long enough for her to gasp out, “Help us! Please!”
She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and almost felt relief that she couldn’t see anything. But she could hear and Haumea’s voice rumbled and echoed, roaring in utter fury. Oh, she didn’t have much time left at all… So distracted was she that she failed to pay attention to where she was putting her feet. A little divot in the grass was more than enough to catch one foot, sending her lurching and tumbling to the ground. To her credit, she painfully wrenched her own body, protecting the chibi from further harm with an almost single minded intensity. From where she lay, panting and dazed, she saw the white moon senshi close by and reached out a hand.
“Please help…”
She was running out of time.
Whimsical Blue and a start! work was kind lol
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2026 4:19 pm
The feeling of an ascended senshi was distinct. Sicking... cloying... rank. The moment Ida had gotten a whiff of it, she'd changed her path and gone looking for it with a single minded intensity.
Alkaid...
Ascended were abominations. Broken, former-humans who had given over everything to chaos. There was nothing left of who they had been and in the breaking, they had sacrificed one precious thing they had been tasked to protect. Ida found it utterly antithetical to everything she believed in... utter abhorrent.
The signal got closer, stronger on her inner senses, and then from somewhere she heard a cry for help. Ida felt adrenaline put wings to her feet and she began to pound towards it, squashing the flash of fear under the need to do what she could to save... whoever it was. With the Ascended so close, it didn't feel like a coincidence.
What she was not prepared for was to see... a corrupt, of all people, with a child in her arms, running towards Ida. The eternal never slowed, but she wondered what exactly was happening... Why would a corrupt be carrying a chibi senshi? If she had been the one to pull their starseed, then why keep the body around? Maybe it was an ambush, that was always possible, but when the corrupt tripped and fell, but turned to take the brunt of the landing... Ida's instincts told her this was something different.
Releasing the hold she had on her magic, Ida set a burst of flower petals swirling around her, coalescing into sweeps of cloth and and snowy white feathers. The smell of flowers spread in a soothing cloud as she fell to a crouch beside the woman and put a hand on her shoulder, summoning her phone into her hand. Wings sweeping to cover them, she hit the app on her phone and pulled all three of them across the stars to the one completely safe place in the whole universe, that belonged to Ida.
They landed in a sea of tall grass, cushioned by it under them. The smell of it, and the clean breeze that swept by, filled Ida's nose. The sun was setting over a familiar horizon, and the towering trees loomed behind them, shadows gathering beneath them where the glowing flowers did not cast their soft light.
"Alright." Ida said, drawing a deep, steadying breath. "Now I need you to tell me who you are, and what you are doing with that kid. And I had better like your answer, because you are on my world and you aren't leaving it unless I do."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2026 12:23 pm
Of the many possibilities she could have imagined, watching a senshi suddenly sprouting feathered wings was not even in the top one hundred. She felt... something and then everything around her was different. Cleaner air, flowers. Grass. Okay, she was going crazy. But she couldn't hear or feel Haumea anymore.
And that was more than enough to knock loose the stopper that had been keeping her emotions in check. Eyes filling with tears, she moved rapidly, only half listening to the senshi in front of her. Where they were wasn't important. Not right now. She laid the chibi senshi out carefully on the grass, the pale little face bringing a choking sob from her. Only then did she turn to the other woman and shove out her closed hand, opening her fingers to reveal the starseed she'd saved.
"Fix them," she rasped, voice thick with fear and grief. And determination. "I don't know how to put it back. I... I never let them teach me how to take them out and I can't put it back in. You have to help them! Please," her plea was a strangled whisper as she fought to keep from crying hysterically. "I don't care if they're gonna kill me for attacking Haumea. Not if you can fix the kid. Please tell me you can fix them..."
She moved just enough to try and shove the tiny starseed into the other woman's hand. She had fancy wings and they were on her planet! As far as Ilmare's frantic mind was concerned, that more than qualified her to save a child's life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 6:42 pm
It was just a little startling to see the girl break into tears in front of her, but it went a long way towards setting aside any misgivings Ida had had about her. This sort of emotion was hard to fake.
The girl pushed a starseed at her and Ida took hold of her hand, cradling the starseed in their combined hold.
"Its okay." She said soothingly. "Its not so hard to put it back. They want to return to their bodies, so all you have to do is guide them."
She lifted her hand over the child's chest and turned to press the starseed against it. She watched as the small, glowing crystal sank back into the senshi, returning safely back where it should be.
"There, see? Easy..." It was an interesting note that this corrupted had attacked what she was assumed was another on her side... maybe the ascended Ida had been feeling? Well, good. Someone on that side who had a conscience. It had saved this child's life, and just maybe, other people as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:44 pm
Allowing herself to be soothed, at least a little, Ilmare didn’t pull away as the other senshi held her hand and told her that they could put the starseed back where it belonged. Gulping back tears, she nodded weakly and watched as the woman took the starseed and ever so gently nudged it back into place. Watched as the child’s face went from pale and death-like to warm and flushed. Now they only looked like they were sleeping. Ilmare watched for a second more before daring to reach one hand out to carefully brush damp hair from their face. And, if her fingertips happened to brush against their pulsepoint, surely no one could blame her for needing the reassurance of a heart beat after everything. Pulling her hand back, she sat for a moment with eyes closed, hands clasped together in her lap so tightly that the knuckles were turning paper white.
And when she spoke, her voice was rough and semi-strangled from holding back a wave of emotion. “Please don’t make me go back,” she whispered. “I can’t bear it, the darkness and the Chaos. I don’t care if it’s supposed to feel like home, it doesn’t. Maybe it never did. I’d rather flay myself alive than spend one more nanosecond there.” She went quiet for a moment before her mouth twisted wryly. “I think that might happen anyway if Haumea gets his hands on me. I don’t think he enjoyed the effects of my magic.”
She went quiet again before opening her eyes and making a point of meeting the other senshi’s gaze. She wanted this amazing being to see and understand. “Truth? I hope he had the worst trip of his life. He deserved it.” A soft sigh as she began to visibly wilt from mingled exhaustion and the sudden lack of adrenaline pouring into her veins.
“What happens to me now? You won’t make me go back, right? My friend, Maus said that he met someone who was able to take the Chaos away. Are you the one who did it? Can you do that?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2026 4:14 pm
The eternal helped settled the child on the ground and took hold of her wrist, gently taking in her pulse. She looked much better already, and that beat was strong and steady under Ida's fingers. She didn't seem to have any other injuries, so she should, hopefully, recover just fine once they got her home.
Brown eyes lifted from the quiet face to watch with interest as this stranger began to ... beg. For Ida not to send her back. So, did this one not know about purification? Maybe not surprising... she could understand the Negaverse not wanting that well known, but it had been a while since Ida had met someone who didn't know about that possibility. Usually, people sought her out because of that...
"You could stay here if you wanted to, the Negaverse can't reach this far, but I don't think that is what you'd want... the asteroid is empty, for the most part, and you'd be alone. If I take you back to Destiny City the way you are, they will be able to summon you no matter where you are." Ida shrugged gently, holding out her hands palm up. Her bracelets jingled softly around her wrists at the motion. "I don't know a Maus, so that wasn't me, but yes, I could purge the chaos from you, if that's what you want. Its called 'purification', and it would remove all of Metallia's influence from you. You would become what you were supposed to be, before you were corrupted. But..."
She held up a finger, her face serious. "This is not a gentle or easy process, and it comes with a steep cost. You will loose your current life completely. For your safety, you will have to leave everything behind you and take up a completely new identity. Different name, no contact with anyone you knew in your past. They won't even recognize you if you do meet them. Friends, family, romantic relationships... all of them. The Negaverse could find you through them, if they can link you to your past self. And more than that... there is a degree of memory loss that happens. I can't predict how much you'll lose... some, at least. Maybe all of it. You could truly be a different person on the other side of this, but... you will be free."
Ida shrugged gently then, trying to radiate sympathy and understanding. "Its a very serious choice to make... I want to make sure you are thinking it through, before we start anything."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2026 12:07 pm
Keeping her eyes on the chibi’s face, Ilmare listened and nodded to herself as if she’d just had information confirmed. Though it appeared that she’d given an impression of not knowing anything with her half hysterical begging. Not that it mattered. Still, she nodded once more before looking straight at the senshi and managing a tiny, wry smile. “Yes, that tracks with what Maus told me about the memory loss, though I can’t remember if he ever mentioned the word ‘purification’. His journey over was a little, ah… traumatic according to him, so he couldn’t really give me solid information,” she murmured before continuing to listen.
And nearly spoiling everything by laughing in the senshi’s face as she spoke her warnings and cautioned Ilmare to take a moment to think things through. Hell, she’d already spent months thinking and in a state of mingled dread and hope. She’d done the best she could to make her family as safe as she could. Any more thinking and who knew what she’d end up doing to herself. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Held the breath and then let it out slowly before speaking.
“Lady, I attacked an Ascendant General to save that kid. I’ve attacked and bluffed and lied my way out of watching officers try to hurt other chibis. I have withheld information from my superior officers in order to protect the people on your side. And besides, I owe Maus a pack of menthols and it’s going to be pretty hard to take care of that if I’m flayed and strung up by my heels in the Rift as an Example.”
Through tears and a wave of emotion, Ilmare managed to look determined and resigned and maybe even a little hopeful. There simply wasn’t a need to think things over. Not really.
“Do it.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
