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 Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 7:08 am
Quote: Set a few days after this. The first thing Alex had done upon breaking out of his horrified stupor and returning home was fall asleep. He slept for 20 hours. The next thing he did was call the emergency room and get his head examined, because wild and vivid hallucinations were symptoms of many neurological disorders. But all the tests he could think of to run came back clean. There was nothing wrong with his brain, his eyes, his spinal cord - nothing. He was healthy as he could be. Then why had he seen a demonic chicken force his not-quite-girlfriend to become some Earth-bending superhero right in front of his eyes? Alex had thought and thought and thought about it for days. He didn't post on Youtube. He even took a few days off work, citing a non-specific family emergency. He thought and he thought and he thought. He knew, if he never wanted to see Halia again, he could. This was his moment to jellyfish away and chalk it up to--a bad dream or bad food or something, anything, and then put a considerable amount of effort into repressing the hell out of it so he'd never think about it again. Except. Except he liked Halia. He liked Halia a lot. And he was pretty sure she'd saved his life. So. So Alex slunk into the bookstore she worked at, bouquet of flowers in his hand, and looked around; maybe she wouldn't be here. Maybe she would. He didn't know which he hoped for.
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 7:15 am
Halia had been far gloomier than usual for the last number of days. Her smile didn't reach her eyes, and her eyes seemed tired. Akito had done his best to try and coax it out of her, but she had simply waved it off with the explanation of a bad date. Naturally, this had only served to make him offer to do such things as "having a very private talk" with whoever made her wilt like an overheated flower, but she had managed to persuade him to leave it be. Instead, she simply picked up every extra available shift she could for the week and threw herself into work at the bookshop. Maybe, she hoped, it would get her mind off it. The distraction of work had been going swimmingly. Well. Perhaps not swimmingly, but it had in fact made her focus at least a little. She had only thought about the sheer terror on Alex's face one time today and had been proud of herself. And then the door opened, signaled by a little chime of a bell above it, and Alex walked in. Halia froze, her stomach twisting in knots as she looked up from the inventory sheet. "Hi..."
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:53 am
"Hi," Alex replied, a tentative smile on his face. So far so good - she hadn't cursed him out, thrown a shoe at him, or burst into tears, all of which were possibilities in Alex's mind of how this might go. "Is there--oh, um," he said, remembering the flowers in his hand. "These are for you," he said, approaching her with arm outstretched. "Um. To say--sorry and thank you," he said. "Mostly thank you." He hesitated a moment, and dropped his voice. "Is there someplace we can go and talk? Please?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:56 am
Halia hesitated for just a moment before taking the offered flowers. She set them on the counter for now, intending to find a vase for them later. "Thank you, they're lovely." The smile she offered was awkward and a little tense. Who wouldn't be tense, however, in this sort of situation? Glancing at the door, she thought for a moment before nodding. "I'm the only one here today. I can close for my lunch break though, so give me a moment to lock up. Unless you'd rather go....somewhere else?" She had a feeling she knew what he wanted to talk about, and that sort of thing wasn't exactly a public sort of discussion.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:59 am
"Wherever you think is best," he said quickly, eyes darting from the flowers to her face - he wasn't completely confident that they wouldn't find their way to the nearest trashcan the second he left the building, which didn't seem fair, it wasn't the flowers' fault, but--that wasn't his biggest concern at the moment, so he let it go. "Wherever you would feel most comfortable," he amended. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands now, so he shoved them in his pockets. "Just - you know. Someplace we can talk. About...about the other night."
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 9:01 am
It only took a few moments for her to flip the sign and lock the door. When she walked back over, she motioned for him to follow her. "Here, there's some comfy chairs this way." She walked towards the little seating area without looking back to see if he was following. Tucking herself into an armchair, Halia took her henshin pen out and set it on the side table between the two chairs so he could see it plainly. "I'm going to assume you have....a lot of questions probably. I'll answer whatever I'm able to."
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 9:03 am
Alex followed her obediently, settling in. His breath caught in his chest as she set - whatever that thing was - down on the table. "Okay, so that means I definitely wasn't having a psychotic break, right?" Alex chuckled weakly and ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. Where to even begin? "I'm...pretty sure you saved my life. Right? That thing wanted to...kill us?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 9:07 am
"Well it definitely didn't want to be best friends and have a sleepover." She didn't mean for the snark to come out, but she was tired. Running a hand through her hair, she checked her attitude and sighed. "Yes. It very much would have made short work out of us. Especially if mine and my friends encounters with it last year is any indication. It's not friendly. At all. And I don't think it would make a good dinner either."She took a moment to watch his expression before continuing. "There are things in this city that aren't so easily explained. I wasn't kidding when I talked about magic..."
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 11:05 am
Alex grimaced slightly - that had been another question. Surely Halia couldn't be the only person in the whole world who could - do what she'd done. There had to be some sort of...Justice League or something for people like her, and 'my friends' confirmed it. The news that this was not her first time with that particular - whatever it was - also didn't really surprise him. She hadn't seemed frightened or even overly surprised, when he'd replayed those moments over and over (and over and over and over) in his mind in the intervening days. More annoyed than anything. Annoyed, and worried for him. "Magic?" Alex repeated, eyebrows crinkling slightly. "I thought you were maybe going to show me where you fell into a radioactive vat or something. Magic? Really?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 12:52 pm
Halia snorted softly and nodded. "Yeah, magic. Trust me, it took a while for me to get used to too. Just wait til I tell you about the aliens." She hoped he would at least smile a little. "But in all seriousness, yes. Magic. A literal cosmic war of good and evil, so to speak." How was this so much harder this time? With Mason, it had been so much easier to explain it all. "I.....know it's a lot. And that it's genuinely terrifying. So um. I.... I understand if you want to wash your hands of it all." She couldn't make herself look at him. She understood, she really did, that it would be a very reasonable reaction to never want to see her again.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 5:28 pm
"Wait, sorry--aliens?" Alex said quickly, jolting as he said the word to lean forward. "Like--real aliens? Real aliens? From--?" Alex pointed upwards, meaning the entirety of space. Magic was one thing (not real, for starters) but--aliens? Aliens? That was thoroughly in his own area of expertise. "This is--this is huge," Alex breathed, leaning back in his seat, lost in thought. "The--they could teach us everything! We could--do they have the cure for cancer? How did they get here? Can they--do they communicate with us? I can't believe--I can't believe I just--it's just--it's just today. Like, it's just a day of the week and now there are--aliens. This should be--a national holiday. An international holiday because this effects the whole planet! Halia, this is-- aliens? You're sure it's aliens?" He may or may not have utterly missed her question.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 5:38 pm
"Alex." Her tone was firm, drawing him back to reality. "They're like me. I'm what's called a Senshi. And most of the aliens are that as well. There's some others that are apparently referred to as the Vanguard? But I don't know much about them." She ran a hand through her hair, trying to gather her thoughts. "This isn't something you can tell people. It's like.... Like Superman, okay? Secret identity. And not everyone is a good guy."She looked up at him, holding his gaze. "I need you to promise me that you won't breathe a word of this to literally anyone. Please, Alex. This is something....it's very serious."
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