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 Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 6:08 pm
Despite Vesuvianite's current doubts floating through their head, compounded by meeting that wolf-like alien and listening to his stories, they did still have a job to do. Especially if they didn't want to be caught having these thoughts. Whatever fate would have in store for them then would be... they didn't even know. But obviously something terrible. So distracted by their thoughts, though, they drained too much from someone. The civilian became limp. Too limp. No breathing. With a shudder of realization, Vesuvianite frantically shoved the ball of energy back into the person and dropped them to the ground, watching anxiously.
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 6:26 pm
Probably, Kerberos should have been at home, sleeping. The fatigue that weighed him down was not going to get better by spending late nights wandering the streets of Destiny City, after all. But on the other hand, the idea of sleeping when there might be people in need of help didn't sit well with him--not when he could try.
He'd feared falling asleep if he waited at his bench like usual, so instead he was walking the city, patrolling and sort of privately hoping for a quiet night--butt here was a captain somewhere nearby.
Ugh. More power, more causing problems, in Kerberos's experience, so he picked up the pace a little, trying to seek whoever it was out.
And of course, of course, he had to come on some startled-looking Captain standing over a limp body.
"Please tell me you have a really good explanation for this," he said, striding forward. "Or, conversely, if you don't have a good explanation, tell me you're getting on fixing it."
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 6:58 pm
Vesuvianite did not squeak. He would deny that forever. "I, uh," they stammered, swallowing, because a transcended eternal senshi who had flowers growing where he ******** walked had to be a very, very dangerous one. "Well, it's not a good explanation, but..." they swallowed again, risking a quick glance down at the person who still wasn't moving. Oh, thank ********, the guy was breathing. "Oh thank ********, he's breathing. Uh. Fixing! Very... very fixing." They gestured vaguely at the barely perceptible movement of the stranger's chest.
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 7:02 pm
Kerberos was not used to being treated like he was intimidating. He supposed that something about him had to show that he was dangerous; it was sort of nice to be....correctly-ish estimated, all things considered.
And it was clearly useful right now.
"Well! Good, then. I'd have hated to make this a real problem." He smiled, all sunshine and friendliness, which was probably more intimidating to a scared Captain staring down an Eternal. "I'm Kerberos. I'm going to assume that whatever happened here was a terrible lapse in judgement, which is unfortunate, but it's easy to forget that when you're draining energy, you do and can hold someone's life in your hands."
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 7:09 pm
Vesuvianite blinked in shock. They knew that name. They had obsessed over the database for long enough. "Kerberos the Traitor," they said aloud, barely audible even to their own ears. Ohhh ******** felt numb. This was not good. And... They couldn't think enough to teleport. They had to concentrate to do that. They could not concentrate well enough right now. Not when Kerberos the Traitor was standing in front of them, acting like he was three seconds away from blowing Vesuvianite up with his ********, their head was going in circles. "Yeah," they finally exhaled, agreeing. "It's... too easy. I..." I didn't want to do that. I've just been going so crazy. Everything feels so ******** up and I don't know what to do or even what to say or who to say it to.
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2026 7:16 pm
"Oh, wow, that's fancy," Kerberos said. Were they really calling him that, now, or had he found a particularly dramatic Captain? Sort of flattering, either way. "By my count, the Negaverse betrayed me long before I betrayed them, but I hold a petty little grudge about being locked in a closet in Negaspace to sweat out alcohol detox." He shrugged, like it didn't matter.
It did. It always would. But he liked to think he had a handle on that weight. He rarely jolted awake from nightmares of being in that place anymore. Dark spaces and small, enclosed ones still set his heart pounding, but he was better at managing it. He almost never wanted a drink legitimately.
Time moved on.
"Listen. Why don't we leave this poor sap to get himself up off the ground, and we find somewhere you can sit and catch your breath. You didn't do anything permanent tonight, Captain. It's okay."
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2026 11:50 am
Locked in a closet in Negaspace? What the ********? Hold on, didn't the Negaverse have, like, excellent healthcare? Vesuvianite was pretty sure they did, or else their credit score was about to be in a huge amount of trouble from all the doctor bills that were going to go to collections eventually. Why the ******** would someone just lock a guy in a ******** closet to detox when they could've put him in a program or something? He recognized, though, that the casualness with which Kerberos exposed that information was as much of a defense mechanism as never letting anyone know that information would be. By acting like such a thing had no power over you, people couldn't use that information against you. Even if it would always hurt, at least people were much less likely to try to hurt you with it. They glanced down at the person they'd drained. Slowly, color seemed to be coming back to the guy's face, so it was probably okay to just walk away from the accidental coma victim and head... somewhere else. They weren't sure what Kerberos would do, but they doubted they could just get away, even now that they were calmer. Besides. They also doubted Kerberos planned to hurt them. "Yeah. Alright," they agreed. If they needed to, they could still teleport away, now that their thoughts were less panicked.
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