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 Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2025 8:38 pm
Quote: Cut Cold (16) : The latest snowfall looks normal from a distance, but the moment it touches your skin you realize something is off--each flake feels sharp, abrasive, and strangely gritty. Brushing against it leaves your skin itching, stinging, or marked with tiny scratches that sparkle faintly as though dusted with crushed glass. Even bundled up, the snow manages to sneak into sleeves and collars, leaving patches of irritation wherever it melts. It’s not enough to cause serious harm, but it's annoying, uncomfortable, and unpredictable. Sometimes a long, warm shower is enough to dispel the agitation, or sometimes it goes away on its own after a day or two. It's not a common feature this winter, but no one can quite explain why the snow has taken on such a biting edge this season.
The unfortunate thing was, it was still coming down, and he was a ways from home. Even more unfortunately, he could sense a Chaos aura nearby, and that meant that not only was there weather trouble, there was potentially annoying Negaverse doing annoying Negaverse things trouble.
At least the second kind was something Catterhaugh was supposed to be handling.
He stomped in the direction of the aura, coming around a corner into a snowy alleyway to see a corrupt Senshi draining some poor schmuck who'd bene in the wrong place at the wrong time, presumably.
"Let him go," Carterhaugh sighed, in the way of someone truly weary with the bullshit happening to him. "Or this is going to get messy." For whomst? Carterhaugh did not know. They'd find out.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 12:58 am
Tyndareus wasn't usually a fan of snow on the best of days, let alone now, when today the snow felt like sand. Coarse, rough, irritating, getting everywhere and causing him rashes. Disgusting. Respectable snow didn't act this way! Unfortunately, he was slightly behind on hitting his energy quota this week, so he had to be out in the wet, nasty, terrible stuff. He took his irritation out on the first person he ran into that simply looked annoying. Some older fellow who was, if Tyndareus were completely honest, a bit of a silver fox—but he also looked far too happy for Tyndareus's liking, so down he went. "I hate this stupid season," he muttered to himself as he watched the happy light in the man's eyes become more of a vacant stare. He twitched when he finally realized there was a trigger-happy Squire watching him, and he slowly looked up. "Oh? Is it not already messy?" he asked sardonically, placing the energy orb into his subspace. "You could have just left me alone, you know. But now..." Now that he was being interrupted, why not indulge in a bit of fun? He reached for the starseed in the silver fox's chest. "Now I feel like taking even more."
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 2:15 pm
Honestly, the whole thing felt annoying and unseasonable. Carterhaugh did not want to get into a drag-out fight, especially when he didn't know what the Senshi in front of him was capable of.
Oh well, he'd already stepped up, and that poor civilian deserved someone standing up for him.
"You really don't want to do that," Carterhaugh said, as he stepped forward. He was not going to hesitate when someone's life was at stake. He'd run away enough for one lifetime; he certainly wasn't going to do it when the threat was right in front of him. So he activated his magic; not that he felt like he needed the boost to his own confidence, but it never hurt.
"I'm going to give you one chance to put that back. Because I don't think you're really so casual about taking another human being's life. I think maybe it makes you feel powerful right now, but have you really considered what you're doing? Ripping a man away from his family, now of all times?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 3:05 pm
"It's fascinating, the things certain people assume about oneself," Tyndareus said in lieu of a real reply, removing the starseed and letting the civilian collapse to the ground. "Like that I cannot possibly be so casual about killing. I killed my first man at thirteen. With a gunshot right to the stomach. Horrible way to die, that slow bleed-out over the course of an hour, and that's if you're lucky. They thought it was funny to only give me one bullet. It was a punishment for that man as much as it was a lesson for me." He tilted his head, looking the Squire up and down. "I've had plenty of time to consider what taking a life truly means, in the wake of so many deaths at my hands. You think this is my first murder?" he asked with a soft, humorless laugh. "No. Far from it. But this..." He held up the starseed, sparing a moment to glance at its unique beauty. "At least this means those deaths are slightly more useful. Harvesting the energy of a person's soul so that, even in death, this man can serve his planet." This time, when he laughed, it was full and rich. "And why should this time of year matter more than any other? Please, go on. Tell me all about how Christmas is so special. Maybe you'll say the words in an order I've never heard before. Perhaps you'll be creative about it! But whatever it is, no, I don't really care about the holidays or family or whatever argument you can cook up."
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 3:20 pm
Oh. Well, alright, Carterhaugh had sort of assumed he was dealing with an ordinary person, not someone who was clearly completely unhinged and perhaps even tailor-made for the sort of callousness about life that the Negaverse seemed to desire. So, then, Carterhaugh was going to have to change his tack.
"I see. Forgive me for my assumptions, then." No point in wasting more time on words, if this was someone so thoroughly numb to the weight that taking a life held. "But I'm sorry you've had to live that kind of life. No one should."
No matter how much pity he felt, though, there was still an innocent life at stake.
So without further hesitation, Carterhaugh swung his fist straight for the Corrupt Senshi's face.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 3:27 pm
Tyndareus had been ready to say something sardonic in response, prepared for this Squire to spout more bullshit—so the punch truly caught him off guard. His head snapped back with the force of it and he staggered backwards, dropping the starseed and reaching up to clutch at his now-bleeding nose. "Save your platitudes for someone who cares," he spat viciously, looking to the starseed glittering on the cold ground. Ugh. It wasn't worth it, not when this Squire was more magically advanced than he was. He backed off. He would find someone else to suit his needs.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2025 4:58 pm
Carterhaugh was prepared for more of a fight, but it seemed the Corrupt had the good sense to back off when he was outmatched. That was almost surprising, given the messy little backstory he'd exposited about.
But the point was, he'd dropped the starseed, and Carterhaugh scooped it up, carefully wiping off the snow (no need to put weird, itchy snow in the poor man's chest) before walking over to return it. Once he was sure it was in, he turned ot walk away--no need to hang around longer than necessary.
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