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 Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2026 9:47 am
Blarney had celebrated his one-year anniversary of awakening just a few days ago, and that meant only one thing: The Demon Chickens were bound to show up, any freaking minute now. He had a tiny scar right at his hairline from where the one last year had clawed the daylights out of him - it had been magically healed, so Blarney had thought that it wouldn't leave a mark, but he had apparently been incorrect about that. The closer it got to summer, the warmer it got, the more he could've sworn he felt the tiny scar pulsing, like a warning, like a countdown. So he started going out more again as the days began to get longer and longer, patrolling in general, but specifically on the lookout for-- SQWAAAAAUKFor that. Blarney grimaced to himself and ran in the direction of the terrible noise, shillelagh in hand. Whoever it was that the bird had found - and he was sure that the bird had found someone, that was a hunting sqwuak if he had ever heard one - would probably need help. Especially because - oh no - Blarney realized the faint plink at the edge of his consciousness meant that there was a Page on the other end of that sqwuak. Blarney ran faster.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2026 7:22 pm
"Where is that smell even coming from?" the young Page murmured to herself as she went, flute in one hand while the other was covering her nose and mouth. Some kind of stench seemed to suddenly surround her, and along with it came the eeriest feeling that she was being watched or followed. Maybe both. Which would be one of the worst things for her, she thought as she rolled the idea around in her mind.
She wasn't very strong, physically speaking. She had no magic. She wasn't a good runner. Powering up and wandering around on her own probably wasn't the greatest idea. Heck, it probably wasn't even a good one, but recently she'd been feeling a tug to at least become Weser and settle somewhere quiet and comfortable so she could practice her flute. Which was where she had been going when this...smell...started following her.
Glancing to her left she saw what seemed like beady little red eyes, and then...
SQWAAAAAUK
Like a bat out of hell, a mangled, chicken-like thing bolted out of the darkness.
Straight at her.
She screamed. Of course she screamed, but she had at least enough of a mind to turn and run as she did. She'd only been running for a few seconds before she felt her body already starting to give out on her, but thankfully a half-alive looking chicken-creature was plenty of motivation to keep on running.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 6:57 pm
Okay, that was a good sign - the Page was terrified and was running away. That meant the Page was alive! And had the common sense God gave a prey animal to get out fast. "Keep going!" Blarney shouted as he met the Page halfway and zoomed past them. He threw up his magical wall between himself and the Page, putting him and the demonic chicken on one side and the Page on the other - hopefully far on the other side, still running, if they had any sense. Blarney didn't lose his momentum, though, in the casting of the wall; in fact, he sped up and ran straight for the demon chicken, taking aim with his staff - a slightly more substantial weapon than he'd had the last time he came face to face with this ugly thing before he pulled back, swung, and-- CRACKBlarney, panting, grinned as the chicken went flying like feathery grand slam, an angry, confused SQWUAAAK ringing out before it hit the nearest tree with a satisfying thump. He was so focused on the demon chicken that he didn't even notice the bright little drop of light that hovered approvingly near his shillelagh. Blarney knew better than to - pun intended - count his chickens before they were dead. He'd hurt the thing, sure, but that didn't mean it was down and out. He stalked closer, hands still gripping his staff like a bat, ready to - if necessary - beat the cluck out of this creature. It had got him last year, and it would never get him, or any other poor defenseless Page, ever again, if he had anything to say about it. ...Or if it did, it at least wouldn't get both of them. Blarney had no idea where the Page had gone, but his wall had crumbled away into nothingness somewhere many feet behind him. If this chicken got up and went after the Page... Well, no it wouldn't. No matter what.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 12:31 am
If she hadn't been so winded she would have cried out a loud, "Wait, where are you going?!" at the other knight that zoomed past her, toward the chicken-thing. But no, she was too out of breath to do anything more than huff and puff and nod as he went. She came to a skidding stop not too long after. It was mostly because she didn't think she could keep going without collapsing, but also as soon as he'd darted past her she felt suddenly guilty for running away instead of trying to help somehow.
Weser quickly hid behind some bushes, a thankfully easy thing for her to do thanks to her relatively slight frame. She heard some frenzied squawking as she slunk her way closer to where the other knight and the unsettling creature were duking it out. She didn't have magic or anything, but maybe she could chuck rocks and sticks at it or something, distract it just enough to give the knight an opening to take it down.
On the ground now, she was holding her nose closed as she crawled, because the smell had gotten particularly awful. Bad enough that her eyes were actually watering, but the last thing she wanted to do was get in the knight's way. She crawled closer, peeking through the bushes occasionally to keep track of where she was in relation to the demon chicken.
A loud CRUNCH announced her presence, not too far from where the two were facing off. The smell erupted from the source of the sound, just beneath her, though Weser didn't have time to regret taking in a sharp breath as she lifted her hand to see remnants of egg shells digging into her palm.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2026 8:25 pm
Blarney was too late to stop his swing, and the momentum carried him forward, through the space where, until just a second ago, a flailing screaming sqwuaking chicken had been, and fully into the tree behind it. "Ow," Blarney said, rubbing his forehead. At least it had gone better than the year before...no bloodshed, no needing to phone a friend and get immediate magical healing. "Guess it's a good thing I've got a hard head," Blarney muttered, then turned and spotted the Page, lurking and looking terrified in the bushes. "Thanks for the assist," he said, moving over to them and offering his hand to help them up-- away from the smell, which Blarney was only partially avoiding by breathing through his mouth. "I think technically you're the one who gets to notch that on your tally," he added with a chuckle, then looked them over more carefully. "Are you okay? Do you need first aid? Or healing-healing?" Blarney himself could not provide that, but he knew people who could. But the Page looked okay--the dress was messy and the bow was askew, but otherwise it didn't look like the chicken had gotten a chance to really lay into them. Phew. "I'm Blarney, Squire of Earth," he added, extending one gloved hand to them. "You're...from Lysithea, right?" Once again, he was grateful to know Halle - not only because he recognized their shared symbol, but because he'd encouraged Blarney to really nail down his memorization of all the symbols and who they belonged to.
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Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2026 7:53 pm
Weser dry heaved from the smell and quickly got to her feet in the hopes of getting away from it as soon as humanly possible. She might have actually thrown up if not for the presence of the other knight; the sight of him rubbing his head caused her eyes to widen as she moved toward him.
"OhmygodI'msosorryare youokay?!" The words tumbled out of her in a single nasally breath—she was still holding her nose closed, which was helping her to not throw up. She only registered his thanks after the fact, and on that note she glanced around and saw that the demon chicken was now nowhere to be seen. Surprise came first, then relief, and then she unpinched her nose.
"I'm fine, thank you. Are you okay?" she asked again, looking him over for any obvious signs of injury. Not that there was anything she could do besides maybe apologize, or if he needed to go to the ER or something she could at least go with him!
"Um– oh. I'm Weser," she soon followed his lead to introduce herself, taking his offered hand as she did. "Of– yeah, actually, Lysithea. How'd you know?" Though she imagined his answer would be that he'd met another knight of Lysithea before. "Also, I'm not sure I can really take credit here. I didn't actually do anything..."
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 12:51 pm
Blarney chuckled. "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks, Weser. Don't worry about it," he said, waving a hand easily to dismiss her worry. "Takes more than that to knock this outta place," he said, playfully knocking his knuckles against his own temple. "Friend of mine's a full Lysithea Knight," he added, smile still in place. "He's a good guy--Halle is his name. Maybe you know him? If not, I'd be happy to do a little intro. Plus," he added, "I marathoned flashcards matching the symbol to the court," he admitted with a chuckle, "so I'd never have to be like uhhhhhhhhhhh about it," he said with a shake of his head. "It was boring, but totally worth it. Sometimes it makes me look like I know stuff," he added with an impish grin. "Which, speaking of," he added, glancing back over his shoulder to where the chicken had sqwuaked its last, "I think you did do something. That chicken didn't disappear 'cause I whacked its noggin," he said, spinning his shillelagh absently. "Whatever you did back there worked well enough to make it go away, so I'd call that a win if I were you." Blarney gave her an easy smile, then rested the shillelagh on his shoulder. "How long have you been doing this whole thing?" Blarney asked, not unkindly. "I haven't been a Squire so long that I've forgotten how much being a Page kinda stinks sometimes."
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2026 10:15 pm
She shook her head, though kept her lips sealed by way of a little smile. She could probably count on one hand the number of other knights or senshi that she actually knew and was comfortable calling an ally or friend. Somehow she felt a little embarrassed by this fact, given how important the work seemed—keeping DC safe from chaos and all—but she'd rather not admit that a perfect stranger. Helpful! And friendly, by the looks of it.
But still a stranger.
So she glossed over the offer of introduction and went straight for a mostly comfortable topic.
"Hey, that's pretty smart," she commented on his study method. It was definitely better than hers—learn along the way. Her problem was that, unfortunately, she wasn't really going anywhere yet so there hadn't been much for her to learn. She thought about this once in a while, and she had mixed feelings about it. She always landed with school as a priority by the end, so her knight situation was mostly fine.
Mostly.
"And whatever I did, it was an accident so I'll take the win but maybe not the credit."
Glancing back down at her hands, she scrunched her brows together and dusted off the egg shell remnants and quietly hoped that the smell would disappear once she became her normal self. "Mm. Well, I don't usually go around like this when school's on so I guess if I string the time together..." She looked thoughtfully up at the sky for a second before slowly adding, "six...ish... months?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2026 6:27 am
Blarney nodded in understanding. "That's good. School's important. Y'know how people talk about work/life balance? Sometimes I think there should be lessons on Knight/life balance," he said with a laugh. "C'mon. If you don't mind, we can patrol together," he said, leaving out for the moment that it was safer for the two of them, with their combined auras, to stay on the move. He tucked his hands in his pockets, feeling the familiar shape of the yellow Starcharm he'd picked up earlier nestle between his fingers. "If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can." He kept himself from saying more than that - for now - but what he really wanted was to see if she'd be interested in and willing to join their maybe-brigade. And the way to do that... "What's one way you think this," he said, gesturing between the two of them as they walked, "would be better or easier for you? Aside from like...not having to do it, 'cause that's a little bit above my paygrade."
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