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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:56 am
Little things started to fall into place. Lyon banked facts like they were currency to be spent later.
Every room was at least as interesting as the last and he couldn’t take it in fast enough.
“Brooklyn, huh? I bet someone thought they were real clever with that one,” he hummed.
Julian had talked about Brooklyn. Lyon had already suspected, of course. Dering said he would make sure Stirling got home the night of the starseeding–well, most recent starseeding, apparently. Which would make sense, because he knew those two lived in the same neighborhood.
He watched her out of the corner of his eye, taking in the posture, the tone, the movement.
“Sounds like you’ve had it pretty rough.”
He let it hang in the air for a few seconds but asked, “How’s it doing, by the way? Your starseed.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:56 am
“Absolutely clever, yeah. And a decade and a half worth of embarrassment because of it. But. It’s all great now. I’m living the dream! A school where…I really don’t belong at? Crammed between really rich girls or really smart girls and I’m, really not either. I’m part of a clique? I guess? And one of them is a Lysithea Page and I suppose I thought wow! Fate! But. I don’t know. The starseed is fine. But like. I’m just waiting for the next time it comes out. I wonder if it’s going to be easier now that it’s been out twice? Like…oh no, there it goes.”
She chewed her lip and shrugged. “Sometimes. I can’t decide if I hope I’m with people when that happens or alone. Really, it doesn’t feel like it matters sometimes. Like, when things aren’t great. It really doesn’t feel like it matters but. I’m still standing, so. Yay.”
That had…definitely been too much. She hardly knew Lyon besides his name and now here she was just. Going off. But. it was absolutely one of those times that things weren’t great so…maybe it was good to get it out to a Stranger. Or. A strange enough acquaintance.
“Up one more stair is this really pretty bedroom, um.” She pointed to the painting that hung on the wall. The one that she either avoided like the plague or stared at for far too long. “There’s a ghost up here but she doesn’t bother anyone much. Um. That’s me, apparently.” She pointed to the child with pale blue skin and honey colored eyes, dark purple hair with lighter streaks at the bottom, a huge smile showing three small teeth, wrapped in the arms of two women. “The blue one, with the webbed hands? That’s Dagon. She’s. Nice. She’s uh. Here on Earth. Her sister was the former Stirling…and uh. Her daughter…me. Got reincarnated and…ta da. Is the…current Stirling. So…yeah. That’s my real family and one day.”
Her expression grew hard and she shrugged. “I’ll get to live happily ever after with Dagon. Eventually. Maybe. Most likely not at this point but. Whatever. I don’t need anyone.”
Turning her back on Lyon and the painting, Stirling moved to the door at the end of the hall and opened it, blinking hard to remove any and all traces of angry tears. “You’re good for more stairs, yeah?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:56 am
Stirling was a chatterbox. Lyon wondered if she just had that much pent up, or if she was just smitten by his natural charisma and that alone was enough to bring down her walls.
He nodded along as she spoke, and despite his distant expression, she had his full attention. There was a lot to take in; he couldn’t afford to fall behind. Mentally, or physically.
“Uh, yeah. I’ve got good legs. They’ve never given out on me,” he said, drumming on his thighs as he followed.
His eyes lingered on the painting for a moment, both on the little girl and the blue woman. “That’s wild, by the way. We’re going to have to go back to that some time,” he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the painting before crossing the distance between them. He didn’t ask why they were heading to the bedroom.
“The ghost thing is kind of wild. Gonna have to touch on that, too.”
Later.
He watched Stirling closely, but she’d have been easy to read even if he wasn’t paying that much attention.
“...So, this might be TMI or something, but like…you’re not suicidal, right? You’ve got that kind of… ‘if it happens, it happens’ vibe going right now. And don’t get me wrong, I love some dark humor, but.” His eyes followed her. “...You sound like you’ve got a lot going on, so–you know. Just checking.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
“Just checking. Don’t want you like. Crippled by my stairs. Cahir would just love that. And I’m sure I’d be banished from the party without hesitation. Hah!”
Stirling fell quiet as they climbed and shrugged finally when they reached the top. Another hallway. Smaller and filled with windows overlooking the thistle strewn lawn. “Don’t think so. Though not sure I’d really know for sure, like, what would that even feel like? Have you ever been suicidal? Do you have a base line I should be watching out for?”
She didn’t look at him, just stared out the window for a moment before continuing. “Cause, I’m not sure I have an idea of what that would be like. Though, do I think that if I had to jump in front of Cahir’s sword to stop him from skewering one of you and I don’t think it would really be much of a loss? Then. Yeah. That’s true. But. Yolo, am I right?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
“Yeaaaaah,” Lyon answered slowly, brow arching as he looked her over.
“So, maybe it doesn’t sound like you want to die. But when you say it like that, it makes it sound like you wouldn’t try very hard to avoid it.”
He tilted his head slightly. “You can shut me up and say ‘boys are stupid’ or whatever if you don’t want to hear me talk. I might listen.” Might not.
“I like living too much to humor dying. I’ve got way too much left to do. So I don’t think I’ve got a good cautionary base-line, sorry.”
But it didn’t take a genius to clock the way she kept minimizing herself. Deflecting with humor? So obvious. She was self-sacrificial, but he figured that already. Didn’t seem right to call it out.
Coming up behind her, he placed a light hand on her shoulder. If she was a boy, he’d have given her a little shove. Maybe hugged her tightly.
Girls weren’t always so comfortable with that sort of thing, and she didn’t know him well enough for him to be so bold.
“It’d definitely be a loss if you got skewered. What makes you think that you’re so disposable?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
At that last comment, Stirling finally turned to look at Lyon, giving an expression of disbelief, amusement and sass, much like the meme of the white blond girl with all the braids from the show with all the death and whatever. It hadn’t interested her but. The face worked.
“Would it though? I mean…I saw how things went when the first attack happened. Everyone went to their little groups and I just. Stood there awkwardly and cut plants as best as I could. Like, I know Dering would be upset and Mary and Effie. Cynthus too, for a bit but. It would wear off. They’d forget about me. And I’d make sure that there wouldn’t be any way for Effie or Dering to like. Blame themselves for ‘not doing more’--” She said with heavy emphasis and air quotes. “So like, that would be fine. I just. You realize that we’re a group of people. Young people. People still in school, I would think. We’re literally being hunted by a sociopath and our idea of how to meet up is go to space. We have cell phones. We have houses we can visit but. I’m still not trusted enough to even know who a bunch of these people are so, yeah. No. It wouldn’t be a loss at all, Lyon. Though I really appreciate the thought.”
Turning away again she pushed the door open for the bedroom and gestured around. “Like, at least I had a nice place to sleep when I was here. The windows open so I was able to get all the dust out. And Dysmina, my ghost said she didn’t mind me using her room, so that was cool. Super fancy, huh?”
A grin that absolutely didn’t meet her eyes and a double thumbs up and she was golden.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
Lyon stared at Stirling for a long moment but his expression was fairly unreadable despite the intent gaze.
“Girls are wild,” he said after a moment.
“I know you think boys are stupid, but like.” He gestured to himself, from head to toe and back again, “I don’t look that stupid right?”
He’d trailed after her and positioned himself in her periphery to make sure she could see him, no matter where she might have pretended to look.
“I haven’t swapped names with anyone,” he reminded. “But I’m new. And it makes sense to be careful, especially right now. I mean, if I got captured and Cahir decided to torture me,” he shrugged, “Maybe I’d squeal.”
He shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal to him. Their situations were different, he knew that.
“I haven’t gotten the chance to hang around most of you. When the attack first happened–I was carrying Rose, wasn't I? I think she was having a panic attack. I felt bad for knocking the wind out of her. There was a lot going on. But I don’t think they’d forget about you.”
Lyon wasn’t arguing; there wasn’t any bite in his voice, but he was insistent all the same. “It’s not so black and white, is it? After the whole starseeding thing, Dering was like–you know, out of it. I don’t even think he should have gone home alone, but he said he could make sure you got home safely. And Mary and Effie checked on you, they were worried because you were still unconscious. But you were breathing, I checked your pulse myself. So I kept an eye on you while you were out. I didn’t think groups were that strict? But if it does, it means you’re part of mine. So–yeah. Like I said before, it’d be a loss.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
Stirling rolled her eyes and felt a little better that at least it wasn’t just her that this one didn’t want to know and be friends with outside of this but.
“Yeah, yeah. I guess so. But I don’t think you’d squeal. You seem like you’d be the kind who would try to win him over by flirting. Which, if you meant it. Ew, you have terrible tastes, but then again, the whole thing is very…on brand for the little I’ve seen of you and whatever. But. Okay, that’s cool at your theory, um. Yeah. You can go try out the bed or poke around, there’s not much in here that I haven’t seen but…”
She shrugged and let out a breath, wandering over to the dresser, yanking the veil off of her hat and beginning to dust with it, as best as she could.
“How did you get roped into all of this if you’re new? Like. Kind of sucks for people to have sucked you into literal uncharted, violent s**t when you’ve just started as a Page?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:57 am
Lyon laughed despite himself.
“You’re ragging on me for my survival strategies and telling me to go try out the bed? Mixed messages much?” he teased, but sauntered across the room with his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels as he stopped by a bedside table. This room might have been familiar to her but it was new to him.
He wanted to go through the dressers, through the chests. Wanted to raid the closet, and explore under the bed.
Lyon wanted to break things apart too, but he kept that thought to himself. Instead, he flopped down on the edge of the bed and slid his fingers between the mattress and bedframe.
He wasn’t sure what they were looking for, but he looked for it anyway.
“Don’t worry, Cahir isn’t my type. I could dabble in some enemies-to-lovers, but toxic yaoi is not my trope. I want to be wined and dined, not grabbed and stabbed. Anyway, if I’m going to go after an old guy, he’s gotta be loaded. Gold-digger, not Mold-digger. Ugh,” he paused and brushed his shoulder absently, as if that would dispel the dusty old basement smell he’d been stuck with for weeks.
“I only got roped into all of this because a youma was chasing me. I got hurt, but while I was dealing with that, I ran into a Vanguardian–Aliez. He helped patch me up. And we’ve been best friends ever since. I got roped it because, well.” He tipped his head back and looked at her ceiling thoughtfully. “See, I’m a meddler. If I just minded my own business and kept my mouth shut, none of this would have happened.”
…Literally.
He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and shrugged before flopping back on the bed.
“How did you get roped into all of this? I mean, did you have crazy stuff like this going on when you were a Page?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:58 am
“My bed isn’t dangerous. And I could honestly see you getting yourself out of some situations with flirting. Maybe not with this loser but. Someone else, I guess. I’m glad that you had someone there to help you when it happened. That sounds gross. Also, mold digger. A+ jokes you got there, it would be funnier if I didn’t still dream about that smell sometimes. But.”
Stirling kept gently dusting and paused at an ornate jewelry box that she hadn’t ever opened. It hadn’t felt right, going through Dysmina’s things without permission, but she supposed that they were her things now, really so…there couldn’t be too much harm in it.
Pulling out the bottom drawer of the box, she glanced in at a few lovely bracelets, one that was some kind of pear that shimmered kind of like an opal, and one that was some other stones, light pinks, blues and purples. Very Lysithea-esque, or at least that was what it reminded her of. There were tiny golden unicorn horns dangling from it too.
“Me? You know. Found out that. There was magic. Wanted to be magic. Found out friends were magic, got friendly with I think a corrupted Senshi who promised me new clothes and whatever and a chance to be magic. Powered up as me, was told that I was taking risks, blah blah blah, and here I am.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:58 am
Lyon tilted his head when he noticed Stirling examining something. It was interesting, but not enough to sit up, so he just watched her.
“You know, the ‘blah blah blah’ part actually sounds pretty interesting. You’ll have to tell me more about that sometime.”
Lacing his fingers over his chest, he pressed his cheek to his shoulder as if by doing so he’d be able to see around her and examine what had captured her attention.
“What happened with the corrupted Senshi, is she still in the picture? You seem like the type of girl who isn’t afraid to take a few risks for the right reasons. Glad you powered through all that.”
Which was true. He couldn’t see what she had, so he wiggled a little more, trying to sneak a peek.
“Did you find something?”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:58 am
“Eh, maybe. It’s better off just as a blah blah blah, honestly. No need to let it get to me any more than it does. Uh, jewelry, some pretty bracelets. As for the corrupted Senshi? No, haven’t seen her in ages. Maybe she got saved, who knows. She had good clothes, that was for sure. Super pretty and lolita, so many ruffles.”
Drawing the bracelets from the drawer she held them out for Lyon to examine as he wished. “I’ve never been in the jewelry box before. I don’t know, it felt like stealing, I guess? But…I’m Stirling now so it’s mine? I don’t know. She was my…aunt, so it’s kind of like, it belongs to me no matter which way you’re really looking at it, maybe? Does that make sense to you?”
Stirling hoped it would. Lyon seemed like he understood things so…maybe he would get this too.
Carefully, she pulled apart the small doors that hid the other few drawers in the box, not wanting to break it but…they were caught so it took more effort than she had thought it would but then the doors were opened.
Reaching up, Stirling opened the first drawer, and there sat a very pretty brooch, a stag’s head with a purple jewel in the middle, the antlers forming almost a circle, with thistles woven between the points.
“Oh, this is lovely.” Reaching out she took it and it felt almost warm to the touch. “I like this one. I could see myself wearing this one.”
There was suddenly a loud, almost scary bellowing and Stirling froze, wondering what the hell it was. It wasn’t a sound she had heard before, and when she looked out of the window, there was a large, red stag looking up at her from the grounds. It bellowed again and once again, the brooch seemed to grow warm in her hand.
“Um…”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:59 am
Upon hearing the strange roar, Lyon pushed himself up into a seated position. “You have monsters here?” he asked, and then flung himself to the bed to creep towards the window. He pressed close to her, shoulder-to-shoulder, and looked down at the enormous creature, already dark with shadows from the setting sun.
“Oh, what the ******** is that?”
He leaned forward, forehead nearly touching the glass, and squinted down at it. It probably wasn’t a threat to them unless it could fly. But even then, it probably couldn’t fit through the window.
…Or the door.
They were probably safe.
He looked at Stirling expectantly, just in case.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:59 am
“A monster? No, that’s Damh. He’s been here for far longer than I have. He’s very helpful, and a wonderful being to be around. He’ll help you when you need it, Stirling, my darling.”
The voice came out of nowhere, and Stirling paused, ripping her attention away from the creature outside to the figure in the clothing so much like hers, with the appearance so much like Dagons, just…with green eyes. Pretty eyes, she had to admit.
“Dysmina! I’m so sorry I was just going through your things, I…uh. This is Lyon! He’s a friend of mine…um…what do you mean he’ll help me when I need it…?” Stirling glanced down at the brooch and then over at Lyon. “Like, would you call him…a summons...because…that’s…that’s ******** awesome. Does he have something to do with this?” She held the brooch out, hoping that it would be the case…if so…s**t.
She had managed to do something right.
“Oh, sorry, Lyon. This is Dysmina! The person I told you about a few minutes ago!”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2026 7:59 am
Lyon didn’t know what you were supposed to do when you saw a ghost. Scream? No, that would be rude. Stirling was introducing them.
He faced her with a blank expression, like he was taking everything in.
Magic was real. Why shouldn’t ghosts be, too?
Instinct demanded he extend a hand to shake but, reminding himself that he didn’t know ghost courtesy, he instead raised his hand to wave.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” he said slowly. He had to force his shoulders down to relax.
This wasn’t a prank. She was a ghost.
Be cool.
He flashed a charming smile, but his nonchalance was unshaken despite the sudden absurdities–monsters, and ghosts, and all.
Stirling called him a friend, so that was a win. Already meeting the family, too.
Nice.
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