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 Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 1:21 pm
It was bad luck, Ariadne supposed, that this particular youma had singled her out. She'd stumbled on it, almost literally, in an alley--a low-to-the-ground, dark-furred, long catlike creature that, when it opened its mouth, revealed rows and rows of nastily sharp teeth. Like the joke about cats yawning made into a real, horrible little monster. It moved sinuously as it followed her, chasing her as she bolted out of the alleyway and into the nearest street. ]
Problem was, it was a street dotted with little stores, and all of them were closed and locked. Nowhere for her to duck into, and no mirrors to dive in and escape. And those teeth were getting ever closer.
"Oh, s**t, s**t, s**t," she gasped, darting forward--and then, in one terrible, unlucky moment, she stumbled. Felt her ankle twist on her fancy little heel. And went ******** could probably dust the thing, sure. But maybe not before all those teeth sunk into her leg, and probably that would be rude? To the Negaverse? Or something?
What a shitty predicament to find herself in.
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 1:51 pm
Vesuvianite didn't usually deal with youmas. They didn't enjoy handling them, but they were practiced enough to deal with them when it became necessary. Like now. "Can't ever just have one night of peaceful energy draining, nooo," they mumbled to themselves as they hurried forward to rescue the poor Dark Mirror Senshi who'd gotten on the bad side of a youma. Not that there seemed to be many good sides to youmas. "Off!" they shouted, throwing as much weight behind their voice as they could. "No biting! Off, now!"
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 1:58 pm
Of all the rescues she could have expected, right as the little beastie was about to sink its teeth into her leg, a Captain arriving to send the youma running off was not really on the list. She hadn't even realized anyone was nearby--totally focused on not getting ankle-bitten rather than looking out for anyone else coming. Her bad, probably, but hey.
Meanwhile, the toothy void-cat whipped around in a very uncanny, loose sort of way, made an unhappy hissing noise, and scampered off into the dark, which made Ariadne let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks," she said, and she sat up, wincing as she did. "I didn't want to dust one of you guys's youma and have it be a big thing, but I also, uh, did not want my ankles bitten off by whatever that was, so, you know, dilemma."
She shifted to start to stand, and then winced again.
"Uh. Also, this is embarrassing, but I think I twisted my ankle?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 2:13 pm
Vesuvianite scowled at the youma as it listened to them and ran off into the night. Eugh. Creepy little ********. Turning back to the senshi, they winced. "Hey, they respawn, and if you need to protect yourself from a dumb animal, you gotta do what you gotta do," they said. "s**t. Do you know anyone with healing magic or something?" They offered their hand to help her up. "I'm Captain Vesuvianite, by the way."
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 2:21 pm
"Oh, that's actually really good to know," Ariadne said. She took their hand, letting the Captain help her to her feet, and carefully keeping her weight off her damaged ankle. Oh, this was going to suck. "And it's nice to meet you, Captain Vesuvianite. I'm Ariadne."
They seemed so nice. How had the Negaverse gotten them?
"And, uh, I do, yeah," she admitted. She hadn't spoken to Lacerta in a while, but that wasn't the only healer she knew, when she thought about it. Persephone was an option, but she was not going to enjoy the tongue-lashing she got when the other Senshi showed up, even if she knew she would probably deserve it. Eugh. "Do you mind helping me to that bench over there? I can sit and wait for her once I'm sitting down."
At least Persephone would almost certainly be awake at this hour, and probably powered up, so she could definitely be reached. Hopefully a twisted ankle was minor enough for her magic to heal, and if not, a little pain relief and possibly a compression wrap or something would at least get Ariadne home.
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 3:00 pm
Vesuvianite looped their arm around Ariadne's waist and carefully helped her make her way to the nearest bench. "Nice to meet you too, Ariadne." She seemed sweet. They liked her. They sat on the bench beside Ariadne, just in case. If some White Moon jerk came along and saw some kind of easy prey to pounce on, they would make sure Ariadne wouldn't face it alone. Or, y'know, if another youma decided Ariadne looked like good snacks. Ugh. Those things always seemed like so much more trouble than they were worth—to Vesuvianite, anyway. "I'm glad you've got someone you can call," they said. "You'd think carrying a first aid kit would be the smart thing to do, and you'd be right, but nobody ever said I was smart."
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 3:11 pm
Once she was seated on the bench Ariadne stretched her leg out, like that might partially satisfy the "elevate" part of "RICE." Not her first rodeo with ankle injuries, probably wouldn't be her last, and at least this one mostly felt bruised. She sighed, heavily.
"You know what really sucks about this? I'm a figure skater," she said. "I need my ankles. Thank goodness for magical healing." It was probably the biggest reason she wasn't a stronger Senshi; her career came first, and so she traveled a lot for competitions and such.
"And, anyway, if I was smarter, I'd carry one too, but I think Persephone does," she said, and she produced her little Comvpact, with its lovely stylized mourningbride cover. "Hey, Seph, it's Ariadne, I could use some backup! May have hurt my ankle getting chased by a youma. I'm safe now, and I'm on Sixth, sitting on a bench with a nice Negaverse Captain who helped me out."
She closed the compact--Persephone would get the message.
"It's enough that you're helping me out. I really haven't had the best experience with the Negaverse, so...thanks."
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 3:32 pm
Vesuvianite hummed. "Figure skater? That's pretty neat. I don't do anything special; just work in a graveyard. Keeping the tombstones of loved ones clean and all of that. Unfortunately, I've never had to do deal with any Scooby-Doo villain shenanigans, which you'd think would happen once in a while. No, worst I've seen is a few goth teenagers trying to be really edgy." They rolled their eyes. "So you guys communicate using compact mirrors? I guess it has to be effective, or it wouldn't work... It's very, hmmm, Stargate, I think." They paused. "And, uh. You're welcome. I'm sorry you've not run into many nice people. I just... try to do the best I can. Hey, uh, what's your favorite song you've done a figure skating routine to?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 3:36 pm
"Hey, no, you do a really important job," Ariande said. "I....have an occasion to visit a grave pretty frequently," maybe not as frequently as she should, but frequently enough, "and it's always really nice to be able to tell that someone else cares, you know?"
If she'd ever found the cemetery messy and unkept when she went to visit Mama...that probably would have been devastating.
"We do, like, everything with mirrors," Ariadne said. "It's kinda cool, actually." Then, she grinned. "I did one to 'How It's Done' from K-Pop Demon Hunters and it was so much fun. Huge hit."
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2026 4:35 pm
Vesuvianite couldn't stop themselves from squeezing Ariadne's shoulder at hearing she visited a grave "frequently". That wasn't always something pleasant to do. "Yeah. I get it. I'm glad your someone is placed somewhere with care," they said gently. They nodded at the answer about the mirrors, then grinned. "Man, that was such a good movie. How It's Done is the best Huntrix song in the movie, in my opinion. It's such a good banger to really start a movie off with. Good choice."
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