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 Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2026 7:05 pm
Edam was getting a lot of use out of her ring. She'd cautiously reached out to Grieve. The name had stuck in her head since her conversation with Aruna, and coupled with the faint recollection of having seen the Senshi at Joy's party, Edam had decided to bite the bullet, be brave, and ask to meet up. So there she was, in the park again, twirling her weapon over her hands as she thought about what she wanted - what she wanted to talk to Grieve about, what she wanted Blarney's brigade idea to become, what she could do now that she was a Squire... Don't be nervous, Edam scolded herself, pressing her mouth into a thin line. Relax. Just because she's a terrifying magical alien from another planet doesn't mean she's not a person. Relax.Of course, never in the history of ever has trying to relax actually made anyone more relaxed, so Edam continued to fidget, and pace, and think, think, think.
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Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2026 7:19 pm
Edam had been treated to a series of thumb's up emojis as basically the sole form of response to her messages, which also might not have been the most assuring of conversations to have. For herself, after having Muri read it out for her, Grieve decided that of all the soft little knights running around this world, Cybele's were the most worth her time and attention. No training recall from a past past life, the Code ******** sucking even worse now, and being Cybele's made them her like, Ex's step children. So sure, why ********' not? Squatting on high up in a tree, she watched the little squire pace and play about with her... was that ********' sling?. Cosmos, why not just give her a ********> rock tied to a stick? "Always some park with your lot. Is it 'cause you want to smell grass when you die?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2026 8:18 pm
Edam jumped in surprise - she'd been expecting the Senshi's voice to come from...well, from the ground, for starters, not--up a tree? Why was she in a tree? Edam blinked owlishly up at Grieve, taking in the creature that had responded to her meek and meager cry for help. If Edam hadn't known better, or if she didn't have the side-sensing radar in her mind, or if she ran into Grieve in an unsuspecting back alley, it wouldn't be impossible to mistake Greive for a youma. It was good for everyone involved that that was not the case, because Edam was sure that Grieve could kick her butt three ways from Sunday with just her little finger, if she really wanted to. "Hello," Edam greeted, because she didn't really know what to say about the whole...dying in the grass thing. Was that a Cybele thing? She had no idea. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me!" Edam tried to still her fidgeting and straightened up slightly. Look professional. "Would...you like to come join me down here? Or should I join you up there?" Edam cast a dubious glance at the tree. Powered up, she could make the jump easily, she just didn't want to think about how bad it would hurt if her hair or her horns or her dress got caught in the trees.
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 6:24 pm
In answer, the figure jumped down. "Just like stickin' to heights." And as she straightened up, height was clearly not just a preference, but Grieve's natural state of existence. Reaching out, the senshi of Long, Tall, and Yellow prodded at the antlers with her index finger. "So why you calling me out? Cybs alright? Need to kill some ********' big'n'ugly?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 7:00 pm
Edam held very still as Grieve poked at her horns. Was this some kind of cultural appropriation or something for people who had actual horns? Sweat broke out on the back of her neck, but she did her best not to show it. "She's fine," Edam said, then paused. "I mean, I guess she's fine. I've only met her once. I--would I know if she wasn't fine? Like, magically in some way?" Edam furrowed her brow faintly and made a mental note: check in with Princess. As far as they knew, there was no Princess of Earth, so she couldn't even ask Blarney if he had some connection to his Senshi, because...he didn't have one. Edam pulled her mind away from that particular yarn-ball of confusing questions, refocused on the Senshi before her. "I...I don't need to kill some--something yet," Edam said, "...but...I think I should know how to do it, in case the time ever comes. And I mean--like, physically," she held up her new weapon, a little useless, "I can probably figure this thing out on my own. And I have magic now, though I--I haven't ever used it, but...I guess..." Edam sighed. She thought for a moment or two, then lowered her voice slightly. "I've heard about the kidnapping. Last summer. I understand you were on the side of 'just kill him'. Is that right?" Edam searched Grieve's face. "Setting aside torture being the worst way to gather information...it sounds like there were all kinds of issues with that particular...attempt. I want to know how to do it better, in case something like that ever--ever comes up again. And...it will come up again, because the bad guys want to kill people and eat their souls, so...it's not like we can throw them in jail, right?" (If there was a magical jail fit to hold their enemies, now would be an excellent time to learn about it, because Edam was not exactly looking forward to potentially committing heinous acts in defense of goodness and light, but...somehow, she doubted that such a place existed.)
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 7:25 pm
Grieve shrugged, "If she got got, maybe you'd be kicked off her world until the next one came around and princessed the ******** up." She looked a little cheerful at the thought, less over Cybele dying ( again, like a loser), and more at the idea of knights in general getting ******** with like that. The expression soon grew focused as Edam continued, intent and assessing, though it faded into a derisive snort at mention of the kidnapping. "This is gonna be a real ********' talk, huh?" At least she didn't seem mad about it, just looked around before deciding to take a seat on a nearby half wall. "First, I want you to understand what they did wrong. It wasn't kidnapping the ********, or them trying their hand at interrogation, or deciding to kill him. It was not having a real goal. It ain't ******** wrong to take an opportunity when some a*****e uses your chopping block for a pillow, but you gotta know what you want out of it. They didn't. Indecision is a ********' luxury and most of you Earthborn folk are soft as Cosmos' triple-ply." Her laugh was low and ugly, "And you all tell yourselves it's good guys versus bad guys."
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 7:31 pm
Edam followed, but elected to sit on the grass instead of joining her on the wall. For just a moment, she had a flash of participating in something ancient - like Socrates in the grove, or whichever one of those old dead philosophers did their philosophizing in a bunch of trees. Either way, it felt like she was continuing a tradition here, so she took out her notebook and her green sparkly pen, fully expecting to be made fun of for it, but - well, what else was new? She and her brother got made fun of every day of their lives; she could handle some teasing, as long as Grieve continued to take her seriously. "I wondered about that," Edam murmured as she scribbled notes down. "I find most people are dreadfully unfocused. Most people don't even know how to have a goal, let alone how to accomplish one." Edam sighed and shook her head: goals had been the only thing that kept her alive, for as long as she could remember. As long as she had something to do, some project to work on, something definable and accomplishable, she could always find her way back to sanity. "What do you think their goal should have been? Or--what would your goal be, if you were in their situation or something similar?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 7:49 pm
Grieve began to sneer, teeth jaggedly glinting in the dim, until Edam adjusted to the question. With a nod, the eternal answered, no thought needed. "I just kill them. Best way to kill a general is to kill them when they're a shitty little lieutenant." A sigh like a death rattle followed, "I ********' hate killing their broken a** senshi, but the best way to get rid of an eternal is sending their a** back to the Cauldron and hope their next life is better lived." Stretching her back and flexing her hands, she went on, "But the next best way is to find out their civilian cover." Holding up two fingers, Grieve added, "the second mistake they made was keeping him here on Earth. Taking someone up to space is the best way to secure them. It's not a hundred percent, but there's people like the ********' Merchant who can get to places they shouldn't. That's a small ********' risk compared to Earth, though, their ******** stomping grounds where a small army can just show the ******** up on your doorstep."
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 6:22 am
Edam nodded again. "Like the tree thing. 'The best time to plant a tree is yesterday, the second-best time is right now', except...instead of life, it's death." Edam grimaced, but continued studiously taking down her notes, turning over what Grieve was saying in her mind as she did. "I was wondering about that too. Because--and correct me if I'm wrong," she said, glancing back up at the terrifying monster she had willingly sought out to seek advice from, "I understand that only the powered person can come and go from their--planet or their Wonder, and take people with them. Except for this...Merchant person, who I've never heard of, by the way, but that's not your problem." She wrote down 'merchant?' in her notebook, underlined it, and moved on. "A friend of mine took a Negaverse agent to their planet," she began, remembering how furious Mason had been when they found out that Aruna had just - chatted with Faustite, no big deal, on Aruna itself. It was rare for her easygoing brother to be upset, nevermind so angry, and it had surprised her, until later when he'd explained the intricacies of space travel to her. "If they had left that agent there, they would have simply been stuck, correct? I assume they can still attack and kill, but - it's a one-way trip, unless the powered person says otherwise, and if they kill the powered person, they would be stuck there as well. So...if you left someone up there for long enough, they'd simply starve or die of dehydration, all on their own, assuming the place of power doesn't have those resources in abundance and readily accessible." Edam did have water, and technically trees, whose bark or leaves one could probably eat, but whether or not they would kill a human was an open question - at least, so far. Places like the Garde that were more advanced and alive, though; presumably some of the things that grew and lived there were edible... Edam sighed, shook her head, frowned faintly. She knew Blarney had dungeons, but if you didn't even need dungeons to contain someone...Edam thought of Edam again, with an uneasy turn of her stomach. If you dragged someone into the open-air sinkhole that was her Wonder, there was a non-zero chance they'd never find their way back out again. "How do you find out a civilian identity? Just follow them around until they power down?" Edam asked. Blarney had told her, about as serious as she'd ever seen him, not to ever go looking for an enemy's civilian identity. Something about 'blowback'. So she hadn't. But if that was an option...
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Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2026 10:56 am
Though she understood the concept of planting trees, Grieve was had always been more in the business of planting bodies. Even Grieve, the world, was that way. Which maybe explained some of why Earth was some kind of obnoxious utopia while Grieve was a shithole world for shitty people. "Like I said, it's not one-hundred, but every ******** I've left up there alive, was still there and pretty ********' dead the next time I went up to check." She opened her mouth to start criticizing the dumb ******** who brought an agent up and apparently didn't leave them up there, but well. There was the corrupt she'd brought up after she'd first arrived on Earth. Little guy only need a little bit of a threat to get with the program and tell her all sorts of s**t about his organization. And...she'd probably need to to make use of a few agents on her world soon. For ********' science."Finding out identities is spy s**t, not my bag. The one that got caught? Got leaked from their own side. That sort of thing's a weapon in this ********' city. Even if nobody dies 'cause of it, they pretty much lose their civilian life, gotta shuffle on to a new shell by whatever the hell is wrong with this place."
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2026 5:13 pm
Edam shuddered. Mason had - sort of - explained what happens when someone finds out your civilian identity, and it had scared them both so badly they redoubled their efforts to protect themselves and each other that way. Neither of them even had social media anymore, which was fine, because they didn't really have any friends to brag to/be bragged at by. "Why would they do that? The person who leaked that information, I mean. Wouldn't it be better to just come over to our side? Though I suppose it is beneficial to have friendly agents willing to share such information, for situations just like that..." Edam frowned slightly and shook her head. "Sorry, that's not your area of expertise, I apologize." She examined her notes, then looked back up at Grieve. "Okay. They didn't have a plan, and they kept him on Earth. Did they make other mistakes?" Edam asked.
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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2026 5:35 pm
Her laughter he;d a grim sort of malice, but the shrug that accompanied it was wasy and relaxed. "Any a*****e on the street might ******** over a coworker just for the spite of it and these ones are infected by chaos, girl. That s**t don't make people kinder." Remembering the mistakes the knights had made, Grieve rolled her eyes. "Oh tons. They opened the situation up to basically strangers coming and going, trusting that being Order meant..." she picked at her teeth with a long nail. "Well, meant that you don't ******** up and endanger each other. Ain't true, especially for anything that like... tests people, you know? You put another knight or senshi in an uncomfortable position? Or make them question themselves? That lights a fuse, and you can't know which direction they'll take runnin from the explosion." She looked back toward Edam, "Basically, they didn't control the situation. You can never expect things to run a hundred all the way, but you sure as ******** need to make sure to keep as much of it in hand as possible."
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