The Reservoir (4) : The Destiny City Reservoir opened about two years ago and is an easy escape from the big city. It's a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It's a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but it's been in the news for mysterious reports of some strange, aquatic monster. Some accounts say they've spotted a twenty foot long, snake like creature capable of rearing a long neck high above the water. It's hard to tell if the videos are doctored, but there are too many rumors to dismiss easily. Something strange might be lurking deep in the water. Or it's just a hoax to get people out to the Reservoir!
But–Sometimes, people feel like something is grabbing their ankle, even if they are just wading in the shallow end. In the deeper parts of the water, it gets a little more intense: something has been said to grab onto ankles and pull. People have been warned about dangerous pranks, but so far no one has been caught. In the shallow end, anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted may feel themselves being knocked off their feet and tugged into the water; anyone in deep water may feel a firm grip on their ankle, tugging them lower and lower. Somehow, anyone it targets is freed--either by wriggling and fighting, or because someone intervenes and pulls the would-be victim up. No one has drowned in the lake. Yet. It's impossible to see who, or what, is doing this, but it usually gives up after one failed attempt. Usually.
While you may find yourself harassed by the supposed cryptid, or see something visibly odd in the distance, you cannot take any pictures of the creature. Who knows if you're even being attacked by the cryptid–or just another youma?
Daylight hours were starting to stretch on forever these days, making nightfall feel a little more special. Something to wait for, just like sunrise in winter. Tonight, with its clear sky and slip of a cool breeze to counter the heat, had Brassite feeling pretty sociable. Honestly, it was the sort of night she'd rather be out and about as just another girl, ready and willing to make some bad teenage girl decisions.
But there was her quota to meet, after all, and she wasn't about to be one of the Negaverse's charity cases. She could and would pull her weight. That said, the reservoir was a pretty good place to keep a foot in both worlds. There were plenty of parties around, dotting the shore with bonfires, fairy lights, and the soft glow of paper lanterns about to make their way up into the sky. It was easy to slip into the edge of a large, rowdy group of teens, they were a little older, maybe college kids? But she was starting to pass a little older now, especially in her uniform, even stripped down to her shirt and slacks, legs and sleeves rolled up, feet bare as they dug into the sand.
She looked like someone who went to important places, and did boring things for a paycheck. Hella adult s**t. Accepting a red solo cup from an overly "kind" guy wearing too much aftershave, Brassite gave him a friendly side hug, sloughing a thick veil of purple energy off him before sending him off to nearly stumble into the fire.
"Huh, guess he can't handle whatever it was he was drinking." The comment was idle as she looked around casually, pouring out whatever was in the cup. Now where was that squeaky bleachy senshi aura coming from?
xorangeish sherbert
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2026 7:33 pm
Winters had been so pleased to find some nightlife here. It wasn’t exactly in the city, but it was close enough, and her cousins were nowhere to be seen! Which meant she could be all powered up and sexy and fantastic and magical and they wouldn’t know, couldn’t stop her and couldn’t yell about her living the way she wanted.
It was perfect.
Sure she looked a little out of season but. It was fine. She pulled it off perfectly.
There was a funky feeling nearby and she made her way over, towards it, eyes narrowed slightly. She saw a redhead a few years older than she was almost throw a man into a fire, and Winters paused, frowning slightly. Was the feeling coming from her?
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2026 7:43 am
Well, Brassite hadn't yet met a senshi or knight that could be accused of anything like subtlety or stealth. Hands on hips she sauntered over to the girl who looked pretty confident for her age, rank, and being dressed Like That. There didn't seem to be much in the way of backup, but maybe she was really tough or something?
Looking the senshi over, Brassite's lip curled up, "Well, well, well if it isn't Christmas in July. What are you, the senshi of..." she glanced at the bonfire, "...yule logs?"
Outside of the few needling words, she wasn't really gearing up for a fight, it just felt like something of a well, professional responsibility to s**t talk the other team. Though if the other wanted to fight...
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2026 8:28 pm
“Tradition, actually.” Winters paused and then narrowed her eyes at the girl. “...You know what Senshi are? So you literally are the weird feeling that I’m…feeling?”
Smooth. Very smooth. LIke she actually knew things. LIke she wasn’t absolutely new at this.
“I’m totally cute though. My outfit is perfect for what it is. I think I can make an excuse for it anytime of the year if I have to…and I think I will because it’s not changing with the seasons. Yule Logs would be interesting though. I wonder if I could just chuck logs at people.” Now she wanted that as a sphere…maybe it would make even more people cry. Not just Mads.
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 11:49 am
"Whoa...that sounds like, really weird. Yeah, at least you could bonk people with a yule log." Honestly tradition sounded like the sort of magic her Aunt Prudie would've liked. Or manners. Was there a Senshi of Good Christian Modesty? People running around who were born chosen and special was a lowkey bone of contention, as their number didn't include her, the most specialest girl in the world. But on the other hand, some of them were tied to stuff that seemed super weird and random.
Who wanted to find out they were the Senshi of Paperclips, or like, the Senshi of Ingrown Toenails? And not being able to do anything to change it, even if they decided to join up with Our Lady of Metallia, they'd still be chained to that.
Suddenly in a much better mood, Brassite decided to leave off the factional bullying a bit. "It is a pretty cute outfit, but hmmm..." she stepped back and took the outfit in again with a more professional eye. "If you took off the train and hood, and switched out the gloves and boots with other colors? You could totally make it change with the seasons."
Red, white, and plaid could go a lot of places. Or even, "If you slipped a St. Mags top over the bodice, you might even be able to blend in with a crowd."
Oh wait, she really shouldn't give her protips to random order senshi, even if they did have an awkward magical theme. "But that's just me giving evil advice, okay? Only magical evil-doers want to do things like blend into crowds."
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 11:58 am
“I mean! Maybe. I made someone cry with it though, so clearly it does something cool.” Either that or Mads really was just going through a mid-life crisis…ugh so sad.
“I mean…I’m not really a bad girl and I don’t think I’d even want to pretend to go to that school. My mom told me it was for people who didn’t fit in with Juvie…”
To be honest, she had liked the uniform. It was cool but…it was fine. The Meadowview one was fine too, and she was going to do fine there in the fall. “Are you a magical evil-doer?”
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:11 pm
"Like crying for cool reasons, or crying and getting their feelings all over you reasons?" There was a big difference. She couldn't imagine the horror she'd feel if every time she had to fight someone, they ended up treating it like a therapy session. Gross.
The St Mags slander was both typical and justified. "I hear the nuns there are pretty wicked, like wicked awful, as far as that goes. So yeah, you;d better avoid it." Close one.
Was she a magical evil-doer? Yeah, like, Brassite was pretty sure you couldn't just go around killing people and not end up kinda evil for it? No matter how justified it happens to be. It's just that, sometimes sacrifices needed to be made, even if that sacrifice happened to be her own general goodness.
"Yeah, I am really a bad girl." This was accompanied by a wink and a pair of fingerguns. "If I was a senshi I'd probably be something like super edgelord. Like Senshi of Bloooood or Paaaaain. And end up in a slutty Halloween costume, 'cause that's how Metallia likes 'em."
She couldn't even blame the God Queen of Chaos for it. Hot was hot.
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:31 pm
“Honestly? I’m not completely sure. Do you want me to try it on you?” She couldn’t very well try it on herself, even if it would be rather educational. Some kind of instruction manual for what your magic actually did would have been helpful.
Then again if she actually had stayed and listened to the talking cat…maybe that would have been good too?
Alas, no way to change that now.
“Well, if you’re not a Senshi, then what are you? And the using magic on you isn’t because you’re,” She held up her hands, making quotations in the air. “Evil, it’s mostly just for science. I can’t use it on myself so. And like, the one I used it on got really mad and threw rocks at me. Bitchy move.”
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:43 pm
"Whoa you're like, really for real new, huh?" Brassite's eyebrows were raised as ********> And they didn't even give Miss Christmas a newbie pamphlet or orientation seminar or anything? Kinda messed up!
Patting her chest, she explained, "I got a bit of chaos power injected into my starseed. It made me stronger, faster, jumping buildings yadda yadda, you know the deal. And I ranked up into a captain, and got weapons," and suddenly at her fists were a pair of rather toothy looking knuckle dusters. And then she did a little showing off, and appeared behind the other girl, "And I can teleport."
She had to show off a little bit first, because she needed this senshi to understand that whatever her whatever tradition crying magic did, Captain Brassite is a badass and not to be messed with. And she had to say yes to getting whammied with magic because cataloguing senshi magic was a thing they were supposed to do and also because she was a badass and totally could take a little magic attack or two and still look really cool.
"Okay, shoot me with you whatever crybaby tradition laser."
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 12:48 pm
“Yeah?” Winters ignored most of what the girl was saying, but her eyes lingered on the knuckle dusters for a moment, hoping that they weren’t about to be used on her. “They kind of look like the fake vampire teeth for Halloween…”
She paused and then laughed. “Woah, you kind of look like Halloween. We’ve got great outfits don’t we. Okay so, here comes the magic, I’m sorry if it’s bad. One cried and one didn’t so maybe you’ll be in the not crying camp?”
For science.
“It’s Tradition!” Winters blew out towards the redhead and felt that thrill seeing the sparkles head towards her.
Lizbot
Winters blows outwards and a flurry of what looks like silver sparkles heads towards an opponent. At their feet, a small one foot in diameter patch of 'ice' appears. In the ice, visible only to the one who is affected by the magic will play memories of some sort of past tradition, good or bad. The memory will last for twenty seconds, and during which, the affected may feel some tingling in their extremities, as though they had been watching for a long time, longing for the memories, and their limbs have fallen asleep. Her magic can go no further than 10 feet and can be used twice.
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 1:04 pm
The sparkles were nice, and Brassite wondered if they were standard for this sort of magic. The patch of ice was uh...well, kinda weird. But also compelling, drawing her eyes and then full attention into its depths. Squatting down, she looked peered down and got lost in the show.
Everybody had piled out into the yard, fussing over drinks, over the grills, over the good chairs and the uneven table. The cake and the presents were done and over with, and the sky not yet dark enough for the fireworks show. Sitting alone with the last of her cake, America smiled for the soft murmurs and raucous laughter that meant she was loved, cherished, and not at all alone.
Sitting alone with the last of her cake, she cut two pieces and carefully set them on plated. Then just carefully added a candle to each before lighting them with cheap yellow plastic lighter she'd fished out of Malby's jacket pocket. One slice for for the one in mourning tonight, another for the mourned.
As always, she got up and turned her back to the table, leaving candles burning and her wishes unmade.
With a twist of the mouth, Brassite straightened, shaking her arms and a leg to knock away the tingles. "Well, that kinda sucked, but it was a little nice too." And, in an even, friendly voice she asked, "Did you see any of that?"
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2026 1:13 pm
“Nope. But you’re not crying so I’m hoping it didn’t suck too badly. Was it like, a sad thing or a happy thing? I really don’t understand. Best I can see is the ice, and like I thought–the first time I used it I just thought it was ice and was pretty proud of myself. Like…who can just make ice? And the sparkles aren’t half bad.”
It didn’t allow her to rationalize why Mads was crying but again.
Her cousin had gotten weird.
“You’re not hurt or anything, are you? I’m sorry if you are, it seriously was just for science…”
And if she got to hear what had happened to the girl?
That would be a successful experiment.
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:07 pm
Brassite's smile remained in place, but her posture seemed to relax as the potential necessity for murder drained out of her. "Some memories, of a thing I used to do. I guess that was a real ********' tradition of sorts, huh?" That last more to herself than the senshi.
"Yeah it wasn't like, super mean and nasty or anything." The near-pitying look returned. Well, it was probably a good magic to use as a distract at least, it wasn't completely worthless.
"Have you tried it on yourself, yet?"
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:15 pm
“Oh. Interesting.” Winters thought about that for a whole ten seconds then shrugged. She didn’t know why Mads would cry over a memory. That was dumb.
“I don’t know if I can? Like. I can’t blow air into my own face…maybe if I tried with a mirror or something, but like. Logistically this doesn't feel like something I can try on myself. I just don’t bend that way, you know?”
Winters looked hard at the other girl and then tilted her head. “Now, are you going to get magic? Some...other people I talked to said they got it when they get stronger but since I'm a Senshi I get it right away. Is that true for you too?"
Lizbot
Orangeish Sherbert
Winter Unicorn
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lizbot
No Faun
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2026 12:28 pm
"Point it at your foot or something," Brassite shrugged. "Worth trying, like, for science. But when you're alone, not with a scary baddie like me around." It'd be unprofessional to watch a senshi whammy herself and then not do a crime of opportunity.
"I might get magic, some do. And a youma partner who will probably do something super cool, but I haven't picked one out yet. Mostly we get scarier weapons and capes." She gave a little grimace. "I don't think a cape will go with my style of uniform, though, so maybe Metallia's House of Fashion won't bother with mine."
