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 Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2026 6:39 pm
[dated to early jan 2026] Months of planning, of observing. OF making sure that the boys were as good a fit as they could be. So far, Aglaya had to admit that she was impressed. The five of them had come together. They were working hard. Rehearsing well. And they'd taken to Destiny City well enough, too.
She had flown down from New York for the new year, and that had given her the opportunity to spend a few days making her final observations. Connecting with the General-Sovereigns. Confirming her plan, and the slightly unusual means she intended to use.
She'd brought the boys back to the Starbright Theater, to the back office, and sat herself behind the desk. Out in the halls, the Guardian Cat she had borrowed for the occasion was providing a sort of security. And on the desk before her was a strange crystal, devised in Destiyn City and given to her to test.
Normally, a General could not Awaken five new Lieutenants in a single night. Even with the crystal in front of her, designed to give her extra energy so that she could even attempt it, the results were uncertain. But Aglaya Voronin had not become the woman she was by being unafraid to take risks.
She was taking another one, now.To say that Vasha was antsy was to greatly understate the situation. It had been nice, having Mother visit to look over their progress and keep an eye on rehearsals, giving her signature clipped but encouraging feedback; she was always looking for better, of course, but that was only because she knew they were up to the task.
But she had been cagey on her reasons for wanting them to stay after rehearsal. To speak with her in the office, privately, with coordinators and coaches sent away. There was, equally, something ominous about the strange, black-purple crystal sitting on her desk, though Vasha wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"You said this was important, Mother. What is it about?""I will be forthright with you," Aglaya said, and she stood up, taking the crystal with her. "I am giving you all an offer. The privilege of being inducted into something greater than yourselves. To serve an organization that may well hold the fate of the world in its hands."
A dramatic pronouncement, certainly. But Aglaya trusted that the boys well knew she did not exaggerate.
She adjusted her glasses. And in an instant, she was transformed. Her business suit became a sharp, formal military uniform in black, decorated with gold accents, and a jet black saber appeared in her hand.
That, she set on her desk.
"I am General Vinylite, of the Negaverse. And if you wish, I will make you into something greater than you are."
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2026 10:27 am
Rory had followed along behind the others, curious and maybe just a tiny bit resentful that they’d been asked to stay after practice. He wanted a shower, not to be holed up in Ms Vorodin’s office. Still, when the lady who’d given them their big break asked for a thing, that thing ******** happened. He knew better than to even look like he might be considering crossing her. And if Vasha wanted to speak for them all, bless the sweet little twink, Rory would let him. Besides, letting Vasha do the talking gave him more time to look around the office curiously. And his eye had fallen on the large, strange crystal. It wasn’t the sort of thing one expected to find in an executive’s office.
And based on the little he’d gotten to know Ms Vorodin, it really didn’t seem like the sort of thing that she’d be into.
Turning his attention back to her face, he ran his fingers through his hair and wondered if they were being pranked. An offer to be inducted into an organization out to save the world certainly sounded very like a Kpop storyline, but she sounded so serious that he wasn’t sure what to make of it. And before he could open his mouth to say anything, she’d picked up the creepy crystal and changed, suddenly appearing in a military uniform and holding a ******** sword. He watched her for a moment, eyes cutting between the sword she’d laid down, the crystal in her hand and her face before finally turning to Vasha and saying in an incredulous voice, “You never told us you had a magic mom! How do you have a magic mom?!?” Because there was zero doubt in his mind that he’d just witnessed real magic. There was no way in any hell that Ms Vorodin was the showy, theatrical type. Therefore, magic.
And it was that, more than any words that she could have said, that convinced him that she wasn’t here to blow smoke up their collective asses. Super scary, stern Ms Vorodin was out to save the world and she was asking them to join her. Letting out a half-delighted, half-terrified laugh, Rory couldn’t help himself. “Oh my god, Kpop band by day, superheroes by night? Or, y’know, whatever. I’m so down.”
Stopping to really consider possible ramifications had never been Rory’s strongest suit.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2026 4:53 pm
Not that Alyosha needed additional motivation to stay on top of things, but he’d gotten it anyway in the form of Ms. Voronin being with them for New Year. One did not simply allow oneself to disappoint Aglaya Voronin, especially not when one’s position as the eldest member of Star Eclipse carried with it the implication of responsibilities in assisting one’s bandmates.
Or, perhaps more accurately, not when one (namely, Alyosha) already owed her everything. Maybe nobody had ever said as much, but they didn’t need to. Alyosha knew perfectly well that, without Vasha’s mother offering him a chance with the band, he’d still be back in Hamilton Heights, trying to put himself out into every venue that would book him and putting his music on every service where he could register an artist account, getting nowhere slowly, and pushing to make it without relying on Mother’s industry connections.
Accusations of being a plant wouldn’t have made much difference for a boy band. People knew that boy bands were, by and large, constructed by the corporate influences around them rather than coming together naturally. That was practically expected, and nothing that would ruin them as getting called an industry plant would have done to Alyosha’s solo career, had he insisted on pursuing that unreachable star. Maybe Star Eclipse wasn’t how he’d originally pictured himself Making It™ in music, but it was the road open to him, and he owed all of that to Ms. Voronin.
In the same way that this sense of obligation toward her motivated Alyosha to push himself at rehearsals, it now underscored the flat, unimpressed expression he cast sidelong at Rory.
“Ms. Voronin—or, uh, that is, General Vinylite?” A quick glance toward the General—the General who was standing in the same place as Ms. Voronin, because she (Vasha’s Mother and a professional colleague of Alyosha’s own mother; someone whom Alyosha had known for quite a long time) had apparently been an officer in this organization for long enough to attain that rank—to make sure he’d gotten her name correct. Then, Alyosha looked back to their group’s little maknae and continued, “She’s standing right in front of us, Rory. Please exercise your manners enough to not speak about her as though she isn’t right here.”
Not that Alyosha disagreed with Rory’s assessment, only with the way he’d delivered it.
Obviously they were standing before someone who possessed real magic, which hardly seemed the strangest thing to find them since they’d come to Destiny City. Even things that Alyosha hadn’t seen personally, he tended to overhear people talking about at the gym, at the dance studio where he had his extra lessons, in his therapist’s office, and at the farmer’s market. Honestly, compared to stories like the demon chicken, the six-sided dice that dropped people into a magical death game, and more recently, the apples that grew in winter and knocked anyone who ate them out cold as though they were on some Snow White bullshit? Ms. Voronin secretly being this General Vinylite felt as (relatively) normal as death and taxes.
Nevertheless, in the part of his mind that recognized how objectively insane this situation was, Alyosha briefly allowed himself to wonder whether this “Negaverse” thing had more people aside from Vasha and the others who wouldn’t have minded his friendship.… But that was probably asking for too much, wasn’t it? At least it was for Alyosha specifically.
“May I ask, General,” he said, looking to her in the way he did when he was taking something very seriously and, moreover, wanted that recognized, “what duties will we be taking on in service of this Negaverse, to help influence the fate of the world? How will we be expected to help?”
Although Alyosha’s phrasing technically left open the possibility of refusal, his tone took for granted that all five of them would eventually agree. Obviously, in his mind, they would all do so. General Vinylite was making them an offer, but her current uniform did not stop her from being Ms. Voronin most of the time. Therefore, this offer was tantamount to an order from someone who was functionally already their superior officer. When Ms. Voronin said “jump,” you did not stop to ask how high and if she wanted you to do a flip; you simply jumped and allowed her to critique your efforts when you’d finished.
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