Flower Power (15) : Destiny City has erupted with colorful wildflowers, both beautiful to look at and surprisingly fragrant. The aroma is incredibly alluring, and it's difficult not to be tempted to get a closer whiff. As expected, it smells even more amazing up close, and immediately after inhaling the aroma, colors seem brighter. Lights appear softer. The world takes on a warm, dreamlike quality where everything feels just a little more magical. Some describe glowing trails of light, shifting colors, or patterns that seem to move when they aren't looking directly at them. Others find themselves unusually cheerful, creative, or sociable. Unfortunately, not every experience is pleasant. What begins as a pleasant daydream can quickly become overwhelming, and the same flowers that inspire wonder in one person may leave another feeling confused, anxious, or trapped in an unpleasant hallucination. The effects always fade with time, maybe a few minutes, maybe a few hours, but no one seems quite sure why these flowers have such unusual properties. If you're the type to stop and smell the roses--be careful.
Rakovanite was not a 'stop and smell the roses' kind of man. It seemed unnecessary, tedious, left him prone to all manner of pollen, debris, and insects. He wasn't much of an outdoorsman to begin with, even though his typical routine did have him braving the elements for at least an hour or two a day. He did so out of necessity, not for pleasure-
Oh, a figure of speech?
Regardless.
He didn't usually find himself dawdling when he had a set objective in mind. Peace and relaxation were for the comfort of his own home with the person he cherished, not... anywhere else, really. Definitely not out in public. Most of the people he was acquainted with would consider him stiff, uptight, perhaps vaguely judgmental, strict, a little cold and callous... And Rakovanite was perfectly fine with that. The people he cared about knew otherwise- or at least knew other pieces as well. And Rakovanite would have it no other way.
So it was strange, then, that he should find himself practically lounging against the wooden slats of a short fence. It was only about as tall as his sternum, low enough to the ground that he could fold gloved hands atop it and rest his chin on them, body bent at the hips as he peered with dull, deep red eyes into the little garden beyond.
There were so few things he would classify as 'pretty.' Perhaps a particularly well-dressed and shaped passerby or a neatly-arranged array of colorful vegetables. Dusk, his chinchilla. She was pretty. He was sure to call Basyl pretty (or beautiful or stunning or some variant) every day- complements were such easy things to give in a relationship, of course. But besides him and Dusk, Rakovanite saw something notably 'pretty' perhaps... once a month...?
(Was that a bit sad, how infrequently something struck him as such? How infrequently he was called to pause and observe...?)
And yet, today it had. Which was ******** bizarre because Rakovanite did not care about floral arrangements. But this garden was in a myriad of lovely colors, smelled as sweet as honey, made his chest flutter in a way something basically inanimate definitely shouldn't.
It definitely was, if nothing else, very pretty.
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2026 5:27 pm
There were many things on Feronia's mind, ever since he'd been back to his planet and saw line after line of manic writing condemning him for something he wasn't even conscious of. He'd been quieter, unsure of what to do aside from wandering and looking around at the trees.
It had been a few weeks since he'd left the forest immediately around the place he was staying, feeling just okay enough to venture and look into things a bit further out. The usual perk in his ears was gone, at least until he noticed charms and trinkets hanging from the trees. Was it the same festival or gathering as last year? Grabbing one down as he broke through the treeline and headed towards some of the fenced gardens and quiet homes, he noticed something familiar. Someone familiar, and he paused and looked at them for a moment before trying to fix his posture and face so that they might not notice things weren't as okay right now.
As he stepped closer, noticing they were looking over the fence at something, he caught a sweet smell that seemed to tug at him. "Oh, Arakahn," he mumbled softly as he came up beside them. He had to hop slightly to peer over the fence. Again, he found himself lacking in the department of height and struggling on Earth, unlike... He shook the thought away; he didn't want to think of the Vinemoss, of what happened, of what he should do next.
Getting a good look at the flowers, he thought they looked pretty. Something about them, more so than the other flowers he usually saw. Maybe someone was growing them as a gift, or took extra care of them. It was enough to keep his mind occupied for a moment as he wondered if there were more flowers like this nearby that he could actually reach. If Nat were here, maybe he could bother them again for help as much as they had helped with the apples.
"They're very pretty. Something about this planet always leaves the flora growing so quickly and heartily." He had a few ideas about why, from the things he'd causally tried to look into, but right now he was looking down just out of reach on the other side of the fence.
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Sara Draconia
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 2:42 pm
Sara Draconia
No matter how alluring and charming such a beautiful arrangement of flowers was, Rakovanite was not so out of it that he missed the emergence of a Senshi aura nearby. As he wasn't doing anything that would attract Order's attention, Rakovanite stayed as he was, leaning over the fence, but he didn't numb himself to the aura's presence- or how it moved nearer to him.
A little spike in his agitation drove much (but not all) of the serene tranquility away. They could have completely ignored each other. Left each other alone and everyone would be happier for it. He was not on the hunt, and if no one approached him, he'd be content to leave it that way.
...Things so infrequently went the way he wanted or hoped.
Rakovanite steeled himself for whatever a Senshi approaching him might want to achieve. They weren't always violent- but 'not always' wasn't the same as 'never,' and he wasn't delusional enough to think that no one in existence would take the chance to kill him if his back was turned. And so even though he didn't turn to greet his company, Rakovanite was very aware of every quiet footstep, listening for any shuffle of material that would signify a weapon, waiting for some press of unfamiliar magic.
Instead, slender fingers came to rest on the fence next to his. A bob of bright green hair appeared at his side, and a name whispered on the wind that he had given to very few.
This Senshi had grown since they'd last seen each other, and that made Feronia quite a bit less welcome. "What do you want," Rakovanite asked, voice low and terse.
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 5:10 pm
Flinching ever so slightly, Feronia noticed their voice was a bit different this time, something he was starting to understand more about people after meeting a few others. Fidgeting with his hands, picking at the wood of the fence as he looked down, he wasn't sure what to say at first.
"I thought... I would say hello, since you've been friendly before..." At least they'd helped him and given good advice over the times they'd both met. Now he wondered about that as well, if it wasn't as he thought after what he'd seen in those scrolls on his planet. It didn't feel like home anymore, and he still wasn't sure what to do. He had a responsibility, but... it wouldn't fix anything, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go through it if that was what the people who raised him and taught him had thought.
"Sorry... If I'm bothering you," his voice got quieter as he leaned down to rest his head on his hands, staring down at the flowers but not really seeing them. He could almost hear what the Vinemoss had written, each voice of the people condemning him.
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2026 7:13 pm
Sara Draconia
It was very infrequently that anyone called any encounter with him a 'friendly' one. Rakovanite should be pleased with himself- that he was capable of concealing the immense disdain he felt for nearly any Senshi that crossed his path was news to him, as most people in his life, powered or otherwise, tended to call him directly to his face cold and unfeeling. Perhaps it was not meant as an insult, but Nataniel hardly considered it a compliment, either.
The 'friendliness' was what he wanted, Rakovanite tried to remind himself. It did him literally no good to have an enemy out running free and being aware that it caused him no mental anguish to end their life. He didn't want his adversaries to consider him a violent, cold enemy until they were a moment from death. Until his hand was in their chest or his blade at their throat.
Rakovanite was not friendly. Most who crossed paths with him were aware of it. He should be grateful for Feronia's ignorance, regardless of how it grated on him.
He inhaled deeply and released a shuddering breath, lashes falling heavy against his cheek as he tried to 'relax' against the fence again. If it was possible, the volume of his already quiet, deep voice dropped another octave: "You are bothering me," Rakovanite admitted, eyes opening to peer ahead into the garden. "But this is not inexcusable."
...And he was not infallible, nor a skilled actor. "Still, I have very little patience or compassion to offer you."
Feronia was an Eternal Senshi now. And he had been on this planet for... an entire year, at least? He should know to come into a conversation with a Negaverse General with little expectation. And if he didn't, he was much worse off than Rakovanite thought. If he didn't by this point in time, he was of no use to Rakovanite either, and it was probably not worth even the hope of getting anything out of him.
