#ᴋʏᴜ. [f!trailblazer]

[stardustaces]

There is a chasm in the reflection where the Trailblazer should see their face.

It used to scare them, seeing a void of black where an eyes, a nose and a mouth ought to be. They got used to it- too used to it. There wasn't exactly a point in looking themself in the mirror after washing their face when they wake up, so... time saved. Some sort of silver lining, right?

The first time they saw their face was in a photograph- one of March's. One of the crew of the Astral Express, all together in one picture. The tall one in the dark coat, with hair like an overcast sky- that person was them?

That... couldn't be them. That smile was too... bright. Too bright to be theirs, surely.

Not to say they weren't smiling happily in the moment, but... could that face really be theirs?

Over time, though, they grew curious about the face in the photograph-- just to test something, they looked in the mirror one morning, and stared into the void. They stared, unsure of what they'd find, only to notice something.

Hair.

Eyebrows.

They... they could wiggle them. Furrow them. Scrunch them up, so that the skin between them wrinkled all angry-like.

Someone had to knock on the door and tell them to hurry up in there for them to snap out of it-

More mornings passed. More things began to make themselves visible to the Trailblazer. A jaw that could clench, lips that could purse, and frown, and smile, and smirk- grin, even. Cheeks that flush if they held their breath and tensed everything up for a moment- though that made them feel light-headed, as if their body was about to give out underneath them.

"You're smiling more often," said one of their friends. Friends, colleagues, coworkers, partners- it seemed that the more the Trailblazer did, the more they talked with others, lived with their heart and soul stapled to their sleeve for all to see- the more of their own face they began to see.

Their eyes- those were the last things revealed to them.

Bright, burning amber, like lance they wield- full of anger, sorrow, hatred, fear, doubt- but other things, too.

Love, kindness, compassion, elation, hope.

Determination.

There was a chasm in the reflection where the Trailblazer now sees their face.

The Trailblazer has the brightest, most earnest smile- and now, they know it, too.

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"Well? Didn't think this far ahead, didja~?"

Snickering to herself, struggling to hold on to March.

"Say uncle and we'll call it a truce,"

This tight hug is indeed TIGHT. Her limbs flail about similarly to that of a cat whom is eerily close to a tub of bathwater.

"....T-Touché....."

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{ ,,,,,,,, }

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"You know, the more I talk to him, the more I think I like this guy."

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Whispering 'pspspspsps' as she traverses the streets of the Luofu.

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grabs you. hi <3 i wanna see you write more of your hcs in the open, so!!

what are Sei's and Kyu's thoughts on Dr. Ratio? how did their opinion of him differ between first impression to the end of the 1.6 mission?

“Great, another of you insufferable geniuses.”

That was the first thing that came to Kyu��s mind, encountering this strange masked man talking to himself as he played chess- against himself. This opinion only sunk upon meeting him face to face for the first time.

Kyu, put simply, isn’t a fan of people who make her look stupid. That’s her job. The way he talked (Aeons, did she find his cadence obnoxious), the way he carried himself, the way he referred to himself as an ‘actual genius’ as if almost everyone she’d met who said that didn’t all carry the same attitude- all of it rubbed her entirely the wrong way, and being interrogated as though she had something to do with the attack on Herta didn’t help matters. Were she not wary of embarrassing Asta in front of a colleague, she’d probably have sternum-checked him straightaway. Her attitude was very much on the defensive, and despite her best efforts she very nearly lost her cool.

As the 1.6 mission progressed, she began to develop a greater respect for Ratio’s way of thinking, and as a fellow combatant- maybe he wasn’t so bad, when he wasn’t carrying a preconceived bias against her. His actions, to her, spoke far louder than his initial accusatory words (and his speech pattern, which she'd come to be less grated by over time). To say nothing of the kind of thinking he displayed in their DMs- I can’t express to tell you how Absolutely On Board Kyu was with the idea of retrofitting the Astral Express into a giant mecha before she realized what Himeko would have in store for her.

"Pleased to meet you, Doctor. I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

Sei, however, being much more rational and cool-headed by comparison, immediately saw the Doctor as someone he could stand to learn something from, regardless of what his attitude on him was. Whether he rubbed him the wrong way or not, there’s always a takeaway to learn from everyone. Dr. Ratio was no different, even if he’s starting to grow weary of the antics of people from the Intelligentsia Guild and the Genius Society. There is respect, make no mistake- mixed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Sei grew to think of Ratio in a similar regard to Kyu, respecting his combat prowess and no-nonsense attitude, even looking to him as another teacher to learn from (something he feels Ratio might not appreciate, for some reason he can't place) but was far less gung-ho about retrofitting the Express into a war machine.

@everlastiingiimmortals

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IMMEDIATELY WALKING BACK HER COMMENT.

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"You and I are going to get along smoothly, Doctor."

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"I don't care what you laced that cake with. I'm not gonna forget you, or what you did here."

"'s not really my thing, to forget."

"I'm gonna remember you, so you better remember me, and when you do, you come back here. You made these things, so take good care of them. And if you don't, I'm gonna come find you, and bring you back here myself."

"Got it memorized?"

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"Once we're done squashing this bug, remind me to put R.uan M.ei in a headlock for everything she's put me through tonight..."

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"..dare I ask, what matter of 'impeccably perfect biological specimen' doesn't have a heartbeat?"

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Her pulse pounds in her ears, as the Trailblazer silently counts off just how many opponents surrounded them- three, four, five of them on her side, likely just as many behind her, facing the other woman she'd run into.

"Count on me," she grins- "I've got your six."

With a flourish, she swings her bat up into a mara-struck knight's side with a crack, momentarily lifting her target off of the ground- and again, and again, as she slams her weapon into the body of knight after knight.

Silently, Kyu curses as some of them begin to regenerate. Without missing a beat, she readies herself for another round- Dodging slash after stab after slash, she raises her bat just in time to shield herself from a soldier's blade-- uncomfortably close as is-- and immediately strikes the soldier over the head with the pommel knob of her bat, knocking them out cold.

"Cowardice, or something of the sort, but..." Red eyes glanced at gold, almost a look of amusement in them.

How lucky that she came across another here. Ever since that crisis she found herself plopped into on the Xianzhou Luofu after her rescue, the turned knights had been fewer... but some still remained. Mara-struck, she heard they were called, and whatever afflicted them didn't look particularly pleasant. Seems separate groups had been chasing the two when they ran into the same area of Cloudford from opposite sides. The hybrid was just looking for a fight, but this other woman, she had no idea what business she had here.

"Good, that's what I was hoping you'd say!" Shikimi added, as a small orb of fiery light formed in one palm. "Besides, it's been a while since I've had someone to fight alongside."

And then, the energy was blasted from her hand into one of the mara-struck.

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"Today makes 255."

"What's that about?"

"It's been that many days since we first joined the Nameless. Man, time flies."

"So, you got the number memorized, do you?"

"Yeah. Have to hang on to something, right?"

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From the moment she laid eyes on the mirror that led to the Illusory Maze, Kyu could tell something was off.

It was the first time she'd ever seen her own reflection, instead of the chasm that typically greeted her.

"That's... that's my face?"

"...No way. No way that's what I actually look like--"

It wasn't until she found her way out through the same mirror that the reflection that greeted her began to look... more familiar.

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{ icon test beneath the cut. what do we think? }

[stardustaces]

thinking about kyu.

thinking about how she puts on a brave face, and talks a whole lot more shit than she ought to, and throws herself wholeheartedly into every adventure like nothing could make her happier.

thinking about how she lives every day to the absolute fullest to make up for her lack of a past. if she doesn't have memories, she'll just have to make them all here and now.

thinking about how she thinks if everyone she meets remembers her, then when she dies at least her life will make one hell of a story- anything would be better than the story of a woman who didn't have a past and never made anything of herself in the present. to be that person who amounted to nothing and no one all her life-- it is her worst fear.

maybe by living this way she'll get to live forever as a story passed down through the galaxy.