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 Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 12:47 pm
Quote: Snowy Showdown (16) : There’s something magical about fresh fallen snow–completely undisturbed and untouched by the rest of the world. It should be relaxing and peaceful–a sign that no one has been around and you’re perfectly safe. Except, the best predators lie in wait, completely invisible to their prey. What do you do when a patch of snow starts clumping together and taking shape right before your eyes? When it all comes together, it looks like a person, only there are no features, just a snowy white form. Maybe there wouldn’t have been an issue if you hadn’t seen it, but it’s too late. In frantic, panicked movements, it lunges at you with icy fists. It feels like being pelted with snowballs, but each hit lowers your core body temperature–rapidly. The creature is highly susceptible to heat and will melt if exposed to it; if you hit it, snow splatters everywhere. It may attempt to reform, but eventually it loses strength. You might not want to stick around to see if it just needs a little more time. If the creature manages to knock you unconscious, you may wake up covered in snow and with a bad cold. You may be more aware of strange, snowy figures that seem to be standing around in odd places; who knows where these things are hiding?
From the shadows of some Destiny City park or other, waiting with Ympe and surrounded on all sides by freshly fallen snow, Cryptomelane had an easy enough time of draining off pairs of people without taking so much that they might get suspicious. Sure, they might have felt more sluggish and exhausted, but who didn’t feel that way during the winter holidays? As Preston, Cryptomelane didn’t even have anybody to impress or any engagements to keep up with, but he’d still worn himself down.
(Maybe he didn’t have anyone to impress, but Cryptomelane had, rather abruptly, found himself with two people he wanted to do right by, somehow. Brassite had been a bit of a struggle to find something for, with Preston……really not understanding what teenagers were into in general, and being quite a bit different in his own interests from America. He’d eventually settled on getting her a brightly colored planner that promised 365 days of girlboss motivation and a little cake that she didn’t need to share with anybody. Not the most expertly made cake, but Preston had tried his best.
Lucette, on the other hand, had gotten a box of tiny cakes. Again, not the most expertly made, but they’d been assembled with heart and care. Accompanying the gift had been a tarot deck that had turned up in stock at Lavender Haze, featuring black and white illustrations that, in their stylings, fell somewhere between Gothic and Noir.)
For his own part, Ympe had mostly gotten starseeds, which seemed to be one of his primary interests. Indeed, right now, in the middle of their draining adventure, Ympe tugged on Cryptomelane’s trouser leg. “Melly,” he hissed. “Mellyyyyy~! Hey, Melly!! Are we gonna steal any munchy-munchies? Draining’s great and all, but we oughta steal some munchy-munchies!!!”
Cryptomelane hummed, but before he could answer, he felt the unmistakable flare of an Order aura that matched his own. “Patience,” he told Ympe gently. “None of these civilians are Knights or senshi, not that we can see. But one of those might be coming around the corner.……”
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Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 9:37 pm
Being Carterhaugh felt...comfortable. Slipping back into that flowy dress and twirling his little crystal rose between his fingers felt like rediscovering something he'd been missing. There was a rightness to it, a sense of belonging, of...fulfillment.
He hadn't been back to his Wodner yet, but that was the next step. To visit that crumbling ruin and ensure it was still...well, as dead as it had been, and not any deader. But that wasn't the priority tonight. Tonight, he was looking for the Negaverse.
It felt brave. And dangerous. Perhaps he had been forgotten--that was the ideal. Perhaps not. But he could feel a Captain's aura, and he both hoped and feared it might be Aegirine, but--
No, no. No point in considering. It would be or it wouldn't. There were plenty of other Captains in the city.
And as he came around the corner and spotted the one there with his youma, he sighed. Not her.
"Up to no good?" He asked, idly. One hand rested on his hip, and he quirked his eyebrows at the stranger. "Surely it's too cold for villainous nonsense, no?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 9:34 pm
Just their luck. Or at least just Ympe’s luck.
Someone did indeed come around the corner, and from the look of them—from the look of the golden circle-and-cross symbols all over their dress—they were a Knight of Earth. Or whatever, Squire of Earth, as though the difference mattered. Apparently, it didn’t matter for Ympe, who scrambled not to hide behind Cryptomelane, but to climb up his leg, then up his torso and jacket. Finally, perching on his shoulder, the little youma hissed at the approaching Knight, sounding very much like a cat who wanted someone else to go away.
But Cryptomelane refused to let the Knight have even that much. Who did this Squire think they were, coming on with such a casual tone and using such condescending terms—up to no good, like they were talking to a child; villainous nonsense, like they considered all of this a joke—as though Cryptomelane were too beneath them to merit taking seriously? If that was how they thought to approach him (and before he and Ympe had actually done something more than draining a little bit of energy from some people who probably hadn’t noticed!), then fine, Cryptomelane would meet them with a cold glare and refuse to rise to such obvious bait.
“Oh, what? Are you Knights trying to claim every park for yourself now, too? You……” While he meant to keep up with that, taunting this idiot right back, Cryptomelane trailed off and looked past the Squire. Something, out in the fresh snowbank behind the Squire……seemed to be moving. Brow furrowing and mouth turning in a frown, Cryptomelane pointed in the direction of whatever he was looking at. “……Are you doing that?”
Somehow, Cryptomelane doubted it. There tended to be distance limitations on the magic that Knights and senshi wielded, and the moving snow seemed like it might have been outside a potential area that this Squire might have been able to. But Cryptomelane didn’t feel any other Order auras lurking. Nor did he feel any youma aura besides Ympe. Someone had to be making the snow move like that, making it rise in a shape that looked almost humanoid.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 10:02 pm
Carterhaugh sighed. Well, at least this one didn't know who he was. Maybe the Negaverse wasn't even looking; maybe a failed recruitment was just...filed away like that. As a failure. Or maybe this one wasn't up on the information he needed. Or maybe any number of things.
A Captain and a youma, and Carterhaugh did not necessarily love his odds in a physical fight, but he'd make it work. There were ways to throw a punch that might overcome the difference in capabilities betwene them. And if all else failed, Miss Congeniality had his back. Solar plexus, instep, nose, groin!
Either way, Carterhaugh shrugged. "Not trying to claim anything, but it is part of my Knightly responsibility to--what?" He wrinkled his nose, looking thoroughly puzzled. "I'm not doing anything."
But the Captain seemed to be looking past him, and though he was loathe to turn his back on someone he very well knew could be extremely dangerous, he did, following where the man pointed, to the...
Moving snow. Snow that indeed seemed to be standing up.
"Oh, yeah, that's definitely not me," he said, stepping back, closer to the Captain because somehow, that felt safer, actually. "Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot," the creature began to form, large and hulking, and Carterhaugh felt a deep sense of urgency about getting help because he did not want a fight on two fronts, "but what are your thoughts on forgetting we're on different sides of the Chaos divide and fighting that thing together, because I'll bet it does not care who we are? My magic can give you a little boost." He held up his crystal rose, waving it a little, like an offer.
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 10:20 pm
Under normal circumstances, Cryptomelane’s thoughts about fighting alongside members of Order were simple: No, unless your name is Sonora, Knight of Ida.
Ympe seemed equally ill at ease about the idea, tensing up and letting slip another hissing sound (lower and softer, more of a warning than an outright get lost!). However, the circumstances that started shambling into something loosely akin to life distinctly were not normal. A split second to choke back his stubborn pride, and Cryptomelane nodded.
While he knew better than to leave his back exposed to an enemy, the Earth Squire, at least for the moment, got the title of Trustworthy. Calling his flail to hand, Cryptomelane darted in front of the other and planted his feet. The snow-creature let out a guttural, bellowing sound as it turned in their direction. As it lumbered toward them, he watched closely, trying to judge the distance as best he could. Knights, he had learned, only had so long to channel their magic. If Cryptomelane needed all of what the Squire could offer, they needed to be judicious with it.
“Do what you will,” he hissed to the Squire, tightening his grip on his flail and readying himself to tangle with the beast. “I’m ready.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 10:34 pm
The nice thing about fighting with someone else by his side, Carterhaugh found, was that there was a certain clarity. A moment where things simply made sense. He was built to be a supporter, to help people from the backlines, and he would gladly continue to do that.
Here, he had someone with a real weapon he could back up. And even if they didn't like each other, even if the little youma (probably fairly) mistrusted him, even if after this they might go right back to being enemies--in this moment,t hey were doing this together.
So Carterhaugh concentrated. The scent of roses bloomed all around him. And he gave the Captain a sharp nod.
"Go get it."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 11:56 pm
The smell of roses took Cryptomelane by surprise, even having seen the Squire’s crystal rose. (He hadn’t wanted to assume what the Squire’s magic might’ve been. Weapon shape and magic didn’t always align. The shielding dome that Sonora could summon didn’t entirely line up with her weapon being that elaborate folding fan, but—anyway, that was beside the point.)
The point was the vaguely humanoid snow-beast.
The point was the way that it charged at them.
The point was the way that, as he inhaled that scent, he felt stronger. Bolder. It wasn’t as good as the rush of a starseed, but there was a fight that needed fighting, and Cryptomelane had the strength to do so.
He threw himself into running toward the beast. Although it came right back at him, with its icy fists raised, it made the fatal mistake of leaving its core unguarded. Cryptomelane swung from the elbow. Shoulder-swings felt more powerful, but they were slower, and he didn’t need much force behind him to take apart a creature made of snow. Bisected cleanly, as an upward swiping angle, the snow-man fell apart, collapsing into a pile of useless frozen water.
A deep breath. A quick sigh. On the alert now, Cryptomelane looked around them as he turned back toward the Squire, but he didn’t see any further snow-creatures rising.
“Think we should be safe for the moment,” he said, and considered whether or not to go through with the technically pointless and therefore tedious social nicety.……… Well, it wouldn’t give him anything, but the Squire had just helped Cryptomelane protect the pair of them and Ympe, so he held out his right hand. “Thank you.…… For the idea of working together, and for honoring it.”
………This was a normal thing to thank someone for in this situation, right? He wasn’t being too terminally awkward or too blatantly unsocialized??
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2025 12:13 am
It was sort of impressive, watching the Captain take the snow-beast down. It was a single directed strike, and as far as Carterhaugh could tell, he didn't even get hit. Just bisected the thing in one fell swoop and left it so much ordinary snow again.
Once the creature was down and he could stop channeling his magic, Carterhaugh clapped, grinning. For a servant of Chaos, this man sure was efficient--and it wasn't like he was totally unsympathetic to the Negaverse. In another world, they might have been comrades.
It was a better world that they weren't, Carterhaugh felt, but they could have been.
"You handled that impressively," he said, and he accepted the handshake. "And thank you for not throwing me at the monster and getting yourself and your little friend out of here at my expense." He exhaled.
"Carterhaugh of Earth. I appreciate the backup."
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2025 12:24 am
“Captain Cryptomelane,” he replied, silently grateful that this seemed to be going……not too awkwardly? Social situations had never been Preston’s most favorite thing, growing up. Even as an adult—even as Cryptomelane—it was rare that he didn’t find them at least somewhat draining and stressful (usually, it required someone very special to make them more bearable, like Lucette, Sonora, Jupiter Butterfly, or Dr. Sturm, when he wasn’t completely incoherent). “And my friend here is—I—Ympe?”
The youma did not reply to having his name called.
“Ympe,” Cryptomelane repeated, more firmly, “what are you doing?”
Digging around in Cryptomelane’s chest pocket, apparently. Bemused by this turn in the events (and not entirely fond of the sensation of having his pockets rifled through), Cryptomelane frowned. But at least Ympe found what he was looking for: some of the silver and gold plastic beads that Cryptomelane had helped him pick out of the snow earlier. They’d fallen off one of the holiday tree displays that the Department of Parks and Recreation had put together, and Ympe, in his seemingly infinite fondness for shiny things, had wanted them but had found the snow intolerably cold and wet.
Proffering the strand of beads toward Carterhaugh, Ympe told the Squire, “Thanky thanks.”
Cryptomelane blinked at the offer his little friend was making, then added in explanation, “Ympe collects shiny things.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2025 12:32 am
Honestly, of all the ways to deal with the Negaverse, Carterhaugh did sort of prefer diplomacy and efforts at mutual understanding. Maybe this wouldn't lead to anything, but maybe it would. Maybe it would matter someday.
And maybe it was just a day where they didn't get into a fight, and that was also okay.
"Glad to meet you, then, Cryptomelane and Ympe," Carterhaugh said. he had to admit, he was curious about the little youma, and what exactly it--he?--was doing rifling in its officer's pockets--but when he presented him the string of beads, Carterhaugh blinked, and accepted the gift.
"You are very welcome and thank you," he said, winding the beads around his wrist. "They're very nice. I will treasure them." Maybe he could find somewhere on his Wonder he could put them, as a little bit of decoration.
"I'll leave you all to your business," he said, "and I hope you'll understand what I mean when I say I hope we don't run into each other again? I'd rather not meet under less...cooperative circumstances." He gave a little wave, and turned to walk away.
As long as they were behaving, he supposed he could let them do whatever they were up to.
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