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 Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 3:57 pm
Bélénos hummed to herself happily as she sat on a bench in a park, the summoned mirrorwraiths released to scamper about and steal energy from various civilians. It was easy, she'd found, to do as Lete did and be a little lazy about it all and let the cute little animals do the job instead of running around on her own. Because she was less exhausted from doing most of the work herself, she was able to focus more on her environment and keep an eye out for anyone who might want to try to fight her. Give herself some time to try to escape and all of that. Of course, such a plan only worked if one actually paid attention to their environment, instead of the steamy romance novel they were reading and the snack they were eating. Some book about two wizards who totally hated each other (except Bélénos was already very sure that the one who was an elf had been in love with the one who was a human for a long time, or else none of his reactions made any sense). It was so much fun. Digging into her cheesy fries, she gasped when the human guy's father astral projected himself into the bedroom while the two college graduates were in the middle of.... well, typical bedroom activities.That couldn't be good. She turned the page eagerly, completely lost and barely paying attention as a mirrorwraith returned and nudged her. She absently flipped up the mirror shard and pet the wraith for being such a good little wraith as it returned home, fat with energy.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:01 pm
Pyrrhus only occasionally tangled with the Dark Mirror. He got the impression that they were mostly harmless, or at least not nearly as active in doing cosmic level damage as the Negaverse. Also, there were fewer of them, which meant he had fewer opportunities to get into it with them.
But here was one of their little ghosties, fat with the energy of the people it had drained, not seeming particularly aware of the looming threat of a Senshi. No, instead it seemed to be heading somewhere--and wasn't that interesting.
Pyrrhus followed it, silent and careful, back to its master--who seemed far too absorbed in her novel to have noticed his arrival.
Good.
He moved forward slowly, carefully, deliberately. Not hiding at all; plenty of time for her to notice and address him. And once he was close enough, he reached for his magic.
"Nihility's Breath."
Color and sound drained out around them. Could never be too sure--if she had offense-oriented magic, Pyrrhus wanted none of it, so it was better to deploy his own and keep hers silenced.
"Find another hunting ground. You're done here."Quote: Pyrrhus speaks the name of his attack, and all color and ambient sound bleeds out of a twelve-foot area around him, creating a zone of nihility. Within the area, all active magic is paused, and new magic of first or second stage level cannot be cast. Third stage or higher magic may have the sensation of feeling harder or more draining to cast, leaving those who try with a sense that there is only nothingness where their magic should be. This has a moderate effect on third stage magic, but still cannot effect fourth stage magic. When the magic ends, any paused magic that had been cast will resume again. This effect lasts for 30 seconds, and Pyrrhus can cast this spell twice per battle.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:33 pm
Bélénos blinked, noticing the edges of her book, painted blue, fade to a light grey. The gold bracers on her arms also faded, and as she looked up, she realized the entire world had gone gray and silent, like one of those ancient films from a hundred years ago. Then a man behind her spoke. Ah. Someone's magic. Casually wiping her hands and mouth on a napkin (because as much as she wanted to lick the Dorito cheese dust off her fingers, she was at least not going to do it front of someone), she turned around, and paused, her mouth falling open in shock. "You're an alien!" she shouted after several seconds, grinning like a madwoman. "Oh my God I've been wanting to run into one of you! Hi!! And like, okay, yeah, I hear you, just, like, what if I stopped doing the energy thing tonight at all and I could just talk to you?" She clasped her hands together pleadingly, not all that concerned about his magic. She had a feeling it did more than what it looked on the surface, but as long as she didn't try anything in retaliation, she'd probably be okay?
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 5:42 pm
Well. That was a new one. Pyrrhus was not used to people that weren't Imnolu or Heibing--and, more recently, his housemates here on Earth--being actually excited to see him. Usually, he was a problem, or a threat, or something else like that, rather than someone to....what was the word he'd heard? Squee over? He was definitely not sure he was using that right, given he'd only heard it in passing from a group of excited women talking about some kind of animated movie or other.
Whatever, that wasn't the point. The point was, apparently his intimidation tactics had....worked...? Maybe? By some definition of the word "worked"? She'd said she wasn't going to drain anymore tonight, so that was a step in the right direction.
So, fine. If she was curious, maybe Pyrrhus could indulge some curiosity as the price for getting her to quit draining people. That wouldn't be so bad.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, I'm an alien," he acknowledged. "And if you call off your mirror beasties, I'm happy to talk about whatever you want."
Honestly, this was probably better than getting into a drag-out fight, for a lot of reasons. And if nothing else, he'd get to tell Imnolu he used his diplomacy words.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 6:26 pm
Bélénos happily complied once Pyrrhus's magic faded, putting her fingers to her mouth and letting out an ear-piercing whistle. The last two mirrorwraiths came running after a few moments, and she encouraged them to get into the mirror shard. Putting her book back into her subspace, she stood up, stretched, and grinned at Pyrrhus. "Thanks," she chirped. "For, y'know, not just coming out swinging and for indulging my curiosity."
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2026 6:35 pm
Pyrrhus opened his mouth to admit that he had technically come out swinging, but before he could get the words out,t he part of his brain that knew that was a stupid idea caught up with him and he stopped.
Instead, he nodded.
"It doesn't hurt me to indulge you," he said, "and in a twist that would shock a lot of people I used to know, I actually don't feel like getting into a pointless fight for no reason if you're gonna cooperate."
Maybe he was learning to put some of his battles back, or whatever. For the moment, he looked for somewhere they could sit down and chat. Since he was going to indulge her anyway.
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