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 Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2026 6:37 pm
Honestly, despite his repeated bad experiences, Prismatine couldn't help but enjoy the rush of power he felt when he got to be magical. It was as electric as being on stage, knowing every eye was on him, and he wanted more. And there was, he found, nothing comparable to the rush of draining energy. No, it wasn't directly affecting him, not when he was just collecting it into an orb that could be brought back to Negaspace, but the power it represented, the feeling of a person falling unconscious in his arms--that was something special.
Perhaps Mother hand known he would take to this well, and that was why she had chosen him, why she had done so much to ensure he and the rest of the band were brought in. He wanted to prove her right, to make her proud; certainly there were plenty of opportunities to do so. That he liked the work was, much like his musical ambitions, merely secondary.
But he was fairly certain there was someone strong nearby, and so he guided the older man he'd been draining over to a bench to sit down--it had been such an easy pretext, "helping" him and scraping a little energy on the way.
Best not to get into yet another fight he couldn't win. That, he had to admit, was the one downside--a tube of glitter was not, on the whole, exactly a powerful or dangerous weapon.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2026 6:35 pm
Riker had noticed the man first. Someone slumped too heavily against another person, steps dragging in a way that looked awkward and wrong even from across the street. It might have been nothing. Heat, exhaustion, too much to drink —
Something about it didn't seem right. So he disappeared around the nearest corner without a second thought.
By the time he stepped back into view, it was as Reims, his sword already in hand and his expression dark enough that there was very little mistaking his intentions. Especially as the Chaos aura hit his senses. And he knew his own aura would have been felt in turn.
His attention went immediately to the older man on the bench. Pale. Barely conscious. Reims's jaw tightened. Then his eyes lifted to the Lieutenant.
"Give it back."
There was no greeting. No attempt at diplomacy. Reims took another step closer, sword hanging loosely at his side for now.
"You get one chance," he said. "Give back whatever you took from him, and then slink back into whatever shitty hole Chaos dragged you out of."
His gaze flicked over the Lieutenant, lingering for a moment on the decidedly unimpressive weapon before returning to his face.
"And if you're thinking about trying your luck anyway—" Reims gave him a humorless little smile that was more of a snarl. "Please do."
He rolled one shoulder, shifting the sword comfortably in his grip.
"I've had a bad week."
Probably not the most responsible thing to say to someone whose aura barely registered next to his own. Reims didn't particularly care. His expression sharpened again.
"Give back what you took, walk away now, and maybe you get to keep pretending you're dangerous."
His eyes narrowed.
"Make me come take it from you, and I'll make sure you remember this every single time you think about powering up again."
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2026 3:05 pm
Hm. Well. This was quite the unsatisfactory situation. The Knight in front of him was taller and magically more powerful than him, and Prismatine did not like the look of that weapon.
"It's literally just energy, he'll be fine," Prismatine rolled his eyes. "Extremely minor consequence for getting super drunk and wandering around alone at night." Also, he had a job to do, and while he was sure that "someone much stronger than me demanded I hand it back" was probably considered a viable excuse for not having energy to hand in, Prismatine was not inclined to just give up without at least some kind of fight.
"But sure, tough guy, take your bad week out on someone we both know is weaker and less prepared than you. You've got a big, sparkly glass sword--bet that's not as fragile as it looks--and I've got glitter. Gonna make you feel like a big righteous hero, picking on me?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2026 6:42 pm
Reims stared at him for a moment, jaw tight.
He knew exactly what the Lieutenant was doing. Or at least, he was pretty sure he did. Trying to make this about Reims being stronger. Trying to make him feel guilty for threatening someone who was obviously outmatched. Maybe hoping Reims would get angry enough to forget about the man on the bench and turn the whole thing into some stupid argument about who was the bigger a*****e.
It was working enough to piss him off, which only made Reims more irritated.
"Oh, ******** off," he said flatly, tightening his grip around the hilt of his sword. "You're the one who picked somebody too drunk to stand straight because you knew he couldn't stop you."
His eyes flicked toward the older man again. Pale, slumped over, barely aware of what was happening around him. Reims didn't care if he'd been drinking. He didn't care if he'd made a dozen stupid decisions that night. None of that made what the Lieutenant had done any less disgusting.
"So don't stand there and whine about how unfair it is that somebody stronger came along."
He took another step closer, not raising his sword yet. He didn't need to. The difference between their auras was obvious enough, and Reims wasn't interested in pretending otherwise just to make the other guy feel better about himself.
"And don't give me that righteous hero bullshit either. I don't need to feel good about myself." His expression twisted into something colder. "I need you to give back what you stole."
Maybe that was exactly what the Lieutenant wanted him to say. Maybe every second Reims spent arguing was another second wasted. He could practically hear Elliot telling him not to let somebody get under his skin this easily, which was irritating for an entirely different reason.
"You want to call me a bully? Fine. Cry about it all the way back to Negaspace." His sword shifted slightly in his hand. "But you're done stalling."
His eyes narrowed.
"And if you're trying to piss me off enough that I forget about him and start swinging at you, you're not nearly as clever as you think you are."
Reims glanced toward the man on the bench once more before looking back at the Lieutenant. The anger hadn't gone anywhere. If anything, it was heavier now, sharpened by the sheer nerve of someone who'd deliberately preyed on a person who couldn't fight back trying to make himself sound like the victim.
"You knew exactly what you were doing when you chose somebody helpless," he said, lip curling into a sneer. "At least I had the decency to warn you first."
He stepped closer again. "Give it back."
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2026 12:25 am
Ragebait was not working. Or, well, it was working, perhaps, but it was only keeping the Knight's eyes on him, and Prismatine wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of what was happening here. He'd really hoped that he'd be able to make the man feel guilty, maybe get him to back off a little, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen.
Honestly, if Prismatine hadn't been so annoyed about it, the laser focus might have been impressive. Unfortunately, it was desperately inconvenient for him, right at this particular moment.
He weighed his options, while the Knight monologued away threateningly. He could try and call the man's bluff--but the trouble was that he couldn't be sure it was a bluff. Maybe that sword wasn't sharp, with the metal edging around the glass, but that didn't mean he didn't have some other nasty trick up his sleeve.
An idea came to him, suddenly and foolishly. He was probably going to regret this, somehow, but he also wasn't fond of the idea of just taking being bullied by some a*****e who thought he was so special and powerful.
So, he produced the energy orb, and sighed.
"Fine, fine. You're very big and scary, you have successfully intimidated me, I am shaking in my designer pumps," he said, deadpan. Except in his other hand, he shifted his grip on his little glitter tube--and he threw it, hard, aiming for the Knight's face, and then turned to run. Maybe the surprise would slow him down enough for Prismatine to get some distance.
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2026 7:11 pm
Reims should have expected something.
The Lieutenant had spent the last several minutes trying to get out of this without actually doing what Reims told him to do, and the sudden surrender was almost suspiciously easy. But there was an energy orb in his hand, and for half a second Reims's attention caught on it instead of the other hand shifting around the little tube of glitter.
Which was probably why the stupid thing nearly hit him directly in the face.
"What the—"
Reims jerked away and threw an arm up too late. The tube glanced off his forearm instead, enough to make him recoil a step and stare after it in disbelief.
Glitter.
The a*****e had actually thrown glitter at him.
By the time Reims looked back, the Lieutenant was already running.
"Oh, you little s**t."
He swung his sword almost instinctively.
Red stained glass tore upward through the ground in a rapidly growing line after the fleeing Lieutenant, brilliant shards racing forward to cut off his escape. Reims knew what looking at them did, that strange pull to stop and stare, and right now he was counting on it.
"Seriously?" he snapped, already moving after him. He had to adjust his grip on the sword after the abrupt swing, nearly clipping one of the rising shards himself. "You throw glitter at me and run?"
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew Cassidy would have something frustratingly unhelpful to say about that.
Later.
"I gave you a chance!" Reims called after him, keeping the magic trained ahead. "That was the nice option!"
He wasn't trying to tear the Lieutenant apart. If he stopped, Reims would stop the magic.
"Drop the energy!" Quote: Knight MagicWith the swing of his sword or throw of his fist, shards of red stained glass rapidly shoot up through the ground in a straight path towards his opponent, easily covering the max distance of fifteen feet in a second. These shards can grow up to four feet in height and nearby targets will be overwhelmed by their extravagant beauty. A wave of indulgence may prompt them to stand still and admire them. The shards will crumble as soon as the magic is no longer being channeled. Only one path of shards can exist at a time. If struck, the exposed, sharp edges of glass can cause the sensation of moderate to severe lacerations. Players can choose to take lasting damage. This magic pool lasts for 45 seconds.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2026 6:59 pm
Prismatine really should have expected some kind of bullshit magic trick, but he was still not entirely used to the sudden presence of it in his life. Not when it came to things like this, at least.
The shards of stained glass were eye-catching, that was for certain. Even without whatever pulled him to stop and stare, Prismatine might have at least taken a look--something beautiful and dangerous like that was certainly going to get his attention.
Intellectually, he knew that he ought to keep running. Unfortunately, intellect did not quite match magic, and he found himself entirely stopped in his tracks.
He had meant to only admire it for a moment--but either that was long enough or he spent much longer than the moment he thought he was spending, because the damn Knight had basically caught up with ******** off," Prismatine snapped back, recalling his glitter wand to hand like it was actually going to do anything. "It's one guy! Why does one random guy matter to you this much?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2026 7:09 pm
Reims slowed when the Lieutenant stopped, letting the last of the stained glass crumble away before he got close enough to do something stupid with it.
For half a second, he just stared.
Not because he was surprised anymore. Mostly because he was trying to figure out how someone could say something that stupid with a straight face.
"One random guy," Reims repeated, voice flat.
His expression hardened.
"Then drain yourself."
He lifted his sword slightly, not quite pointing it at him, but close enough to make the threat obvious. "If it's that insignificant. If it's just energy and nobody's supposed to care, use your own."
Reims glanced back toward the man on the bench, then returned his attention to the Lieutenant.
"But you won't, right? Because suddenly it matters when it's yours."
His jaw tightened.
"So yeah. One guy matters," he said as he took a step closer. "And you're still holding his energy." Reims's eyes dropped pointedly to the orb.
"Last chance. Give it back."
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2026 7:34 pm
Prismatine rolled his eyes. Honestly, that was such elementary level moral grandstanding it was almost offensive. His expectations for the other side were already low, but <********> did the bar have to keep getting lower?
"Ooh, you got me, I don't want to turn in my own energy because then I'm exhausted and can't do my job, and I care more about myself than a random stranger."
The problem, of course, was that he was now demonstrably outmatched, and that stained glass had looked sharp, which meant that any more of it coming at him with intent might do real harm. He also clearly wasn't going to be able to run away. He didn't like admitting that he was cornered, but probably this was one of those "discretion is the better part of valor" situations.
His fist clenched around his "weapon," useless and pathetic as it was. Surely having to face much stronger foes with so little was a test of his adaptability and cleverness, but that did not make it less infuriating to know that he was, indeed, utterly helpless, despite having plenty of tools at his disposal.
He was outmatched, this time.
"Fine, there you go." This time, he did toss the energy orb back in the direction of the guy he'd pulled it from. Would it actually go back? He wasn't sure, he'd never stuck around to see it before. "Congratulations, you win."
The underlying problem, of course, was that he was a petty little s**t, and he couldn't simply hand off the victory entirely. And in his fury, squeezing the little plastic toy that was all he was "armed" with, he felt it give. Just a little. But a little was enough to give him an idea.
The thing was filled with wet glitter. It would be back next time he powered up, and he could get in one last little petty slight.
"Now, catch." He threw the little tube as hard as he could, hoping that the impact would be enough to send the glitter and water inside spilling out.
And then he ran, and really hoped that the Knight didn't decide to follow him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2026 7:44 pm
Reims watched the energy leave the Lieutenant's hand, his attention following it back toward the man on the bench. He wasn't entirely sure how any of this worked, but the fact that the orb seemed to disappear back into the civilian was enough for some of the tension in his shoulders to ease.
"See? Was that so—"
Now, catch.
Reims looked back just in time to see the tube coming at him.
"Oh, for ********—"
He got an arm up, but apparently that was the exact wrong thing to do. The plastic cracked on impact, splattering cold water and glitter across his sleeve, chest, and enough of his face that Reims stood there for a stunned second while the Lieutenant took off running.
He could chase him.
The thought had been immediate. Reims was stronger, faster, and pissed off enough that catching him probably wouldn't be difficult.
His sword tightened in his hand.
But the energy was back where it belonged.
"a*****e!" he shouted after the retreating figure anyway.
For another second, Reims seriously considered it. Then he swore under his breath and let the sword lower. Running someone down because he'd gotten glitter thrown on him wasn't protecting anybody. It would just be satisfying.
Unfortunately.
Reims wiped at his cheek with the back of his hand, which only succeeded in smearing the flitter farther across his face. <******** Negaverse."
He turned back toward the bench and hurried over to check on the man. The Lieutenant could run back to the Negaverse and congratulate himself on whatever tiny victory he thought he'd won.
Reims had more important things to worry about.
And apparently glitter in his eyelashes.
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