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 Posted: Tue May 19, 2026 6:04 am
Forsterite, as a civilian, had no pets of her own and she didn't much see the appeal. Plants were a lot easier to take care of in her opinion and more well-behaved. Animals had a lot of energy and many needed to be exercised regularly like dogs or played with like cats lest they get bored and turn to destruction. Forsterite didn't trust cats when any of them could have, perhaps, been a Mauvian in disguise, but dogs seemed like fair game. Thus, the lieutenant found herself at a dog park one late afternoon draining the energy from dogs and their owners alike as she stood by. She may have had a quota of gathered energy to meet, but no one had told her she had to gather energy exclusively from humans.
The dogs she saw came in all shapes and sizes and she was glad she didn't have to touch them to drain them. She was certain some would have knocked her over or tried to slobber all over her. She wondered if it would have been possible to create an energy-draining dog toy. Perhaps she could ask someone about it sometime when she got back to her superiors.
The sun was beginning to set and the sky was alive with vibrant colors. She was beginning to wish she had brought a book to sit and read because the weather outside was so nice, but she knew she had to concentrate in order to drain energy and it was bound to get too dark for reading by natural light soon, anyway. Besides, she had to be on the lookout for getting interrupted by those pesky, righteous-minded senshi and knights. Order people were always such a pain to deal with.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:14 pm
Azalea was getting a better handle on himself, sort of. After talking with Fathom, he at least understood a baseline of what he was doing, more or less. He just needed to practice. And practice only came from looking for trouble. Right?
Maybe he could find someone to help!
He trudged along with an absent little hum, patting his sides. Patrolling wasn't so bad, knowing how to use his powers now (at least sort of).
All he could really hope for was that he could get a handle on this "late blooming thing". Because it meant that sometimes his powers worked great! Others? Not so much.
But hey, what could you do? He'd figure it out. Somehow.
Speaking of figuring...
He could feel that odd, uncomfortable itch across his skin---that darkness that meant that there was a ne'er-do-well around.
He followed the tug of it, and ended up, rather promptly, at a dog park. Huh.
What, was there a bad guy taking their dog out on a walk or something? This was definitely a weird place to have a fight.
He frowned, sort of glancing around.
Maybe if they were a villain in a dog park, it meant that it would be a more lax fight? Maybe?
Couldn't hurt to hope.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:15 pm
No sooner had Forsterite thought of how troublesome it was to deal with Order powered people than she sensed an order energy signature. She tried to get a read on their level of power, but it fluctuated wildly between being higher than her own and lower. It was bizarre. What could it have possibly meant?
Fortunately, it didn't take her long to spot the source of the energy signature. He didn't seem to be doing anything at all to hide or even be stealthy or discreet. Was he that confident in his ability to defeat Negaverse agents and other chaos energy entities that he didn't think he needed to hide from them? Or was he simply that naive?
Well, regardless of the reason, Forsterite would be happy to put him in his place. She had been growing incredibly bored, anyway, so the break from draining energy was actually something of a boon. Walking over to approach the senshi a little ways away from the dog park, she eyed him dubiously.
"Ond just whot ore you suppahsed to be, then?" she asked in a Sussex accent, looking his page-printed sailor fuku up and down. "The Senshi ar Newspapers?" The ginger-haired British woman got into a fighting stance. "Dahn't gah treppen' aher yar skirt, now."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:18 pm
Azalea blinked as the woman approached him, and the chaos energy followed her. For being a villain, she was certainly very pretty---he was almost embarrassed to admit that, but he couldn't be the only one to think it.
And her accent was much thicker than his was these days, which was nice. Reminded him of when he was much younger.
"Libraries, actually, ma'am," he replied, taking a big, steadying breath. Fathom had explained this stuff. He could do this. Or at least try, "and you're kinda doing stuff that you're not supposed to be doing. So... I'm gonna hafta ask you to stop, if that's alright with you?"
Couldn't hurt to be polite?
"And I know, right? This thing is so pretty, I'd hate to scuff it all up by stepping on it and getting it all covered in dirt or mud..." He huffed, patting the skirt down and shaking his head. "I don't know if I can like, take it off to wash it, or whatever, so I've been trying to be careful and all..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:19 pm
Heedless of the senshi's thoughts, the lieutenant raised her brows at how polite he was in addressing her. Naive, then. That wasn't to say she didn't appreciate the politeness, but she felt like she was in one of her classrooms being addressed by one of her students. The war wasn't meant to be so civil. But if he wanted to think it could be that way, she would just have to show him why it couldn't.
"Ee'm 'keenda doeng stuff thot Ee'm not suppahsed to be doeng'?" she paraphrased, smirking slightly as she shifted her weight to her back foot and put a hand on her hip. "Ond whot meeht thot be, then? Whee shouldn't Ee be doeng et?"
Tilting her head, she said, "Yes, et's vereh preddeh. Leebraries, es et? You must have some realleh enteresteng mohgic." Then the freckled lieutenant spread her arms in a shrug. "Too bod ya're useng et to envade the Earth ond take ets resources far yar warlds."
Her lips twisted sardonically as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Lucky far Earth, et hos the Negohverse to pratect et from you Wheete Moon people. Ond es a Negohverse offeser, Ee'm not gaweng to just lee down ond let you do os you please."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:21 pm
Azalea quirked his head curiously, and shook his head. "Ah, invading? I'm not the one invading, though. I just kinda live here. Born and raised. I'm not looking for resources, either. You're the one..." He glanced over the woman's shoulder, ".... Sucking the life force from dogs. Or whatever you're doing, mate. I can't let you do that."
He was at least ninety percent sure that he wasn't doing anything wrong. He hadn't hurt anyone unnecessarily, nor had he stolen anything from anyone or used his magic on innocent civilians (as if he had enough control or wherewithal to think to do something like that).
Arlen didn't feel like a bad guy right now, as far as he could tell.
"Besides, what kind of a hero name would 'Negaverse' be. It literally has 'Nega' in the name." He added, as if trying to rationalise the thing to himself. "I don't actually know much about you guys. Do you have like, and 'of' something. Are you the Negaverse lady of dog parks or something?"
Maybe a dumb question, but he was curious.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:21 pm
Forsterite made a dismissive gesture. "Dee're just dags. Dee'll gat mar ahnerjih bihfar dee ihvahn rihleeze dee've last anih," she said, sounding unimpressed. "Would you prihfer Ee teek ahnerjih fram pihple enstahd? You, perhops?"
She narrowed her eyes at his claim. "Oll sanshih see dot. But en truth, you are eelihans first ond faremast, just rihencarneetahd ahn Earth to bahlihve ya're humon. Meebih you ectuollih denk dot now, but oll sanshih proirehteeze der owan hoamewarlds ihvahntuollih once dey feend aout abaout deir pest leeves ond deir salf-reetchous 'dutihs' to deir lang-gane kengdahms."
Azalea's comment about the Negaverse name caused Forsterite to raise her brows. "'Hiro neem'? Whee should wih fexeet ahn neems? Yar sanshih neem es 'Azeeliha', but ya're nat de Sanshih of Azeeliha, saw dat just gaws to shaw ho meslihdeng ond piontless neems con bih. Just bihcause de word 'nega' es en aour neem doesn't mihn what wih're doeng es wrang. Just leek de term 'negateeve speece' doesn't rihfer to ee cansapt dat es nahsasserelih 'behd'."
The senshi seemed to be quite inexperienced if he didn't realize Negaverse agents didn't have spheres, which it seemed he didn't. "Wih dan't hev sphirs ar plehnahts ar hoamewarlds ar wonders leek yar cart does. Wahll, wih ded once, but...dose pleesas are gahne, now. Naw piont en cree-eng awver spelt melk. Now, wih work togader os ee sengle argoneezeetion, halpeng one onother. Nat dot sanshih would knaow ahnihdeng abaout dat. Ich of you are oanly aout far yarsalf ond yar owan lang-dad hoamewarlds."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:23 pm
"I'm supposed to be stopping you guys from stealing energy from people. How is stealing the souls of living things a good thing? You're not helping anyone but yourselves, with that," Azalea pointed out, head quirked curiously, "if you're not here to help your own home worlds, what's your mission here? Because it's clearly not coexistence."
Maybe he had it all wrong, but it didn't seem like his magical guardian cat had been lying. He was fairly genuine, as far as Arlen could tell.
He was generally a good read of people! Mostly!
"And I may be an alien, but I like earth more than I would ever like any far-off planet, thank you very much. Too many cool things we have going on down here. So I'm here to keep it safe."
He hummed, trying to reason out the explanation that the woman was giving him. "So you don't have names or spheres like we do? Do you guys call each other by your real names, then? Or do you have code names? Or like, numbers? Are you guys like an organisation like an army? Or like... A club? A business? How does that work? Do you guys have like... Quotas of how much energy you need to take? What's the energy for? How---"
He was going to go on forever at this rate.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:24 pm
"'Suhppaused to bih'? Who's gaweng to meek you?" Forsterite asked incredulously. "Naw one's gaweng to punesh you ef you doan't. Naw one ahn yar seed rihlih cahrs ahbaout ahnione but dahmsahlves."
Planting a hand on her hip, she scoffed. "Hevn't you behn lehsahneng? Aour argoneezeetion es hir to prahtact de warld, ets pihple, ond ets rihsawrsahs frahm de leeks of you ond yar keend en dehs war. Dahr mee bih some cosuoltihs, but deht con't bih halped. Ahnideng es bahdder dawhn lihveng de plawnaht to yar laht to bih ehnveedahd ond strehpped daown."
The lieutenant sighed in exasperation before subtly attempting to siphon the senshi's energy by concentrating on doing so. She was betting he wouldn't notice if he kept yammering on like he was. "Naw, wih hev mehnerawl neems es aour eejahnt neems," she answered. "Yahs, aour argoneezeetion structure es mehlehtarih-beesed, naht deht deht's rihlih ahnih of yar besnahs. Ond yahs, wih hev quawtas. Aour argoneezeetion would bih nuhdeng wedawt dehsehplen ar dutihs. Just leek yar Wheet Moon Cawrt es asahntuollih nuhdeng."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:25 pm
"Well, who's making you steal the souls of innocent people? Like, seriously, only demons and monsters do that. Have you ever read a book?" Azalea retorted, not entirely unkindly so much as incredulous, "most people wouldn't classify that as 'protecting'. And anyhow, the only thing I've even seen the Court get up to is stopping you guys from hurting people. You ah---you see what I'm saying here? I haven't seen any of them stripping the planet down. If I did, I'd stop them, too."
Azalea crossed his arms. "My loyalty is to earth. And whether they're on my side or yours, I'll stop them if they start hurting anyone."
He was very serious about that, at least. He didn't think he had the capability to hurt anyone, really, but that was where his dumb power came in handy---put the threats to sleep, and ah... Tie them up? Keep them all in Ye Bochord's basement? Maybe? Something like that.
He was quickly distracted by the conversation, though.
"Militaristic organisations tend to be pretty organized, is yours like that? How much is your quota? What happens if you don't meet it? Couldn't you pick a different duty? Why soul stealing? And well, I don't know enough about the Court to confirm or deny that, I guess. You might be right?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:25 pm
"You really don't understand what we do, do you?" Tress sighed. "We drain energy. We don't typically steal souls. Starseeds, they're called. But when we do, it's not usually from innocent people. Not that most people are innocent anyway."
She walked up to him casually before attempting to stick her hand through his chest - or, rather, the pocket dimension housing his starseed that could be accessed by Negaverse agents through his chest - and reached in to grasp the senshi crystal. Then...she squeezed it. Lightly, because she knew they were fragile...but enough to cause excruciating pain to its owner.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:27 pm
Azalea was halfways into a response when suddenly he saw the unique picture of the stranger. Fosterite, reaching into his chest like he was a part bag of chips to be opened.
He would have screamed just because of the visuals---was going to make some sort of witty comment that might not be appropriate---
But before he could manage such a daring feat, the woman was---well, she was doing something strange, there was something wrong, and---
And then he was screaming and he didn't even notice it; as someone who had experienced a... Well, a normal amount of physical pain up until this point (his dad hadn't been his friend, and he'd fallen for the wrong ones before. Not to mention that he was clumsy as fu---
But this was something new entirely. This was the sort of fire that crawled beneath his veins, the sort of pain that made a nest of his soul and stayed there, and he felt like he was drowning in it.
He immediately raised his hands to brace on her arm, feeling his knees buckle, trying to get her hand out of... Well, wherever the ******** it was that was causing him pain. And promptly. ******** you very much.
"Hgh---St'p---"
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:27 pm
Forsterite smirked. At least she'd finally managed to dam up that endless river of questions. The screaming was a bit irritating, but it was to be expected. It was his crystallized soul she was almost crushing, after all.
She considered simply pulling the starseed, but since this particular starseed was a senshi crystal, there was potential to corrupt it. She just needed to get the senshi to a general or general sovereign who could push enough chaos into it in order to do so. It wouldn't be pleasant for the senshi, to say the least, but if they could corrupt him and get him on their side...
"I think you're coming with me, little Azalea," Forsterite announced, releasing the starseed and withdrawing her hand from the pocket dimension. If she had pulled it, even with just the intention of it being temporary, she didn't trust herself not to accidentally kill the senshi who owned it. A body without a starseed needed medical attention to sustain itself for even a little while or it would die. So she settled for concentrating on draining as much energy as she could from him as quickly as she could in order to keep him from fighting back too much. At least not until she found a general or a general sovereign to get him under control.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 5:28 pm
Azalea's legs gave out when the woman let him go, and he groaned, wheezing for air and clutching at his chest.
He didn't know what Forsterite had done, but he wanted it to stop, he wanted the pain to go away, he couldn't breathe---
Coming with her? No fricking way---He would absolutely keep this crazy lady from---
He tried to push himself up, but all he managed was a weak grunt, arms shaking and giving out.
He didn't know why he was always so stupid like this. Why he kept thinking that the right conversation would sway anyone in a fight that had been in effect since long before he had been a thought on this planet.
He just wasn't cut out for this fight. He wasn't ready. He couldn't bring himself to hurt anyone.
He supposed that was why his power was useful. He---
His... Power?
Oh, Azalea really did feel like a right git, now. Dumb as a sack of bricks.
Did he even have enough energy to use his power? Unlikely. But he could try---
Jeez, he had to say the cringe little---
"One More Tale!"
Description: The illusion of an ancient library manifests around the target. With soft lighting, soothing smells, and gentle ambiance, the illusion exudes an aura of peace. Targets will safe, but they will also feel incredibly drowsy, and maybe be stricken with a desire to find somewhere comfortable to rest. Targets may also be so fatigued that they begin to hallucinate gentle voices of loved ones reading to them. This magic affects all targets within fifteen feet when cast, lasts for 35 seconds, and has 2 uses!
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 6:38 pm
Forsterite had managed to collect quite a large amount of energy in the form of floating, purple orbs which she sent to subspace until she could return to Negaspace to turn it in. Unfortunately, before she had enough to render Azalea completely unconscious, he thought to use his magic on her with the remains of his energy that hadn't yet been stolen from him.
Forsterite suddenly found herself in the midst of an ancient library. It seemed peaceful which was quite jarring to her in contrast to the situation she had just been in trying to concentrate on stealing energy. She suddenly felt...safe for some reason. Like someone had put her life on pause. Like she was perfectly fine to go take a nap like a preschooler. How...odd.
She thought she heard her sister's voice somewhere among the shelves and smiled slightly as she went to go sit down at the foot of one of them. Her sister seemed to be starting to read her a story. A bedtime story, perhaps, because she was feeling so drowsy. Perhaps all that energy draining had been draining to her, as well.
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