|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:14 pm
There was something inexplicably intense about taking on the guise of Zircon, something that felt absolutely alive. Gone was Suri Ellis, the mild-mannered college graduate with a slight astigmatism that prevented her from her dreams. She had traded in the mundane tasks of grading lab reports and quizzes for something new, something that Zircon wasn't entirely aware of, but something greater than she could have possibly achieved. The world felt new, refreshed, but she understood that she was the one that had been reborn, remolded from the firey pain of her starseed corruption, whatever that meant. Either way, the stars never felt closer than when she could feel the gentle weight of a pair of aviators on her brow.
The concept of a Negaverse meeting was something new and exciting as well, and something stirred within Zircon, a pressing need to see her colleagues, to finally be amongst peers worthy of her, those hand-selected and groomed, the best of the best. However, the sight that met her in the dead of night atop an old warehouse roof was something that did not put her at ease.
Children. So many of the other recruits were just children, like the girls she taught.
Regardless, Zircon was an obedient lieutenant who lingered towards the back of the group, making way for those senior to her in rank. She listened attentively, back straight and eyes glistening, and when their General-King dismissed them, she nodded and quietly turned to leave. However, the sight of one of the other lieutenants rushing for the edge of the building gave Zircon a reason to pause, and she silently gasped when he lept from the building's edge. To her silent amazement, he landed gracefully on the other side, bounding away to places unknown. She blinked, then looked back at the motley group of lieutenants and captains, most of whom had left with the General-King. However, a scant few remained behind, some to chat with one another, others seeming to spar with their 'weapons'. Zircon looked down at the two paper airplanes in her hand. Though she would never question it to a figure of authority, she did wonder how she would do any damage with something so childish.
But, if the other lieutenants were practicing, then it was up to her to take the initiative and practice twice as hard to make up for lost time. Curiously, she aimed one of her planes towards one of the rooftop generators, letting it fly with a gentle toss. The flight seemed like it was on a steady path, but before it could reach its target, the March wind swept it away from its intended course, sending it careeling into the back of one particularly small negaverser's head. She winced as it made impact, then stepped forward hesitantly, unsure of whether or not she had just pissed off a captain. There were so many new faces, it was hard to remember.
"...My apologies," she said stiffly, bending down to pick up her weapon from where it fell to the ground. "It's very windy tonight."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:28 pm
His hand flicked to the back of his head at the surprise impact, he expected such behavior within the confines of class, but not -here- of all places.
However the hint of a frown that had creased his brow vanished in a flicker of briefly unmasked surprise to see a, well, older woman than he had grown accustomed to seeing.
He had begun to assume that all the recruits would be his own age or perhaps even younger.
"Quite alright" He said politely, if a touch briskly, bright blue eyes doing a quick search of her face for malicious intent as he too stooped to help her reclaim the paper plane.
"Lieutenant Zinkenite" he added by means of introduction as well, it would have been rude not to offer introductions first as she was his senior in age. Was she new? Or had he simply not met her prior to this?
"Are, these your weapons?" He asked more tentatively. He had no desire to insult as he knew at least from word of mouth that some other Lieutenants, such as Moonstone could be physically violent at times.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:08 pm
Zircon was still kneeling when the boy decided to introduce himself (by Negaverse title only, she noted), and looked up at him with a nod, admittedly relieved that she hadn't run into someone with any higher credentials than herself. "Lieutenant Zircon," she responded lightly, returning to her full height with the paper airplane gently craded in one of her hands as she looked down at it shamefully. "And...yes, these are my weapons. I guess I'm going to have to get creative if I intend upon actually doing anything."
It occured to her that perhaps she was speaking out of turn, and she quickly straightened her posture, trying her best to remain professional. "Not that I won't do anything...I simply need to figure out what to do. Training, I guess." A pause, while Zircon thought about her options. "They don't do official training classes or anything, do they?" The question was one posed out of curiosity, and based upon the way Zircon was looking at the other lieutenants, it was fairly evident that, despite her front, she was pretty green and needed the practice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:34 pm
Zink fished in his pockets for a moment and removed a cheep wooden slingshot and a handful of small pellets. Smoke pellets you might realize after a moment's inspection.
"Yes, I fear some of us need to be more creative than others, though I am given to understand that Captain Linarite started out with a large squeaky hammer."
It was said in a wry if still respectful tone.
"I believe we're either assigned to someone or, we find someone to give a basic introduction, Scheelite..." he waved his hand towards a rather loud, exuberant young man with glow sticks hanging from one hip and a plastic Guitar on his back.
"Showed me some of the ropes, at least in so much as he knows them."
He paused tilting his head to one side gazing up at her, you could almost see the gears turning behind those icy eyes, respectful as they were they were still calculating.
"I can show you what I know if you would like, it may not be exemplary but better perhaps than no instruction at all?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:21 pm
Zircon eyed the other weapon curiously, and listened carefully to Zinkenite's commentary. Captain Linarite...that had been the young bluenette with the staff. At least it was to be noted that the better weapons came with a higher rank, though Zircon still had to get past the fact that the girl could be one of her students in her day to day life. It was disconcerting, the knowledge that some of the agents were Crystal girls, especially when she couldn't even vaguelly recognize any of them. Then again, no one seemed to particularly recognize her, so perhaps it was simply the fact that neither party expected to see the other in such circumstances.
At the mention of Scheelite, Zircon stared curiously, then ultimately frowned. "I wasn't assigned anyone, to my knowledge..." Zircon said dejectedly, thinking to herself that, in hindsight, it probably hadn't been the best of ideas to assure all of her betters that yes, of course she knew what she was doing, and no, she wouldn't need any assistance, everything was under control. Just as she opened her mouth to ask for help from the boy, who seemed intelligent, if on the small side, she heard him make the offer himself and smiled softly.
"Any help would be much appreciated," she said, looking out to the remaining agents as they left the area. "After all, there wasn't much I was told in the first place, and my attempts at research from outside sources have all been speculation, and wild theories at best."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:37 pm
He nodded seeming satisfied and at least a little understanding.
"I, had the 'good fortune' to be..." He paused weighing his words diplomatically.
"Previously acquainted with Scheelite prior to...recruitment. He said the words with a slight grimace that bordered less on fear and more... irritation and something else that was more or less lost in said irritation.
"May I ask, what your already aware of as far as, what we do, what we are able to do... anything? I'd rather not go over ground you're comfortable with unless you have questions."
He glanced at the other's, the remainders sparring with each other... was that a jumprope?
"Perhaps, someplace where we won't be casualties of the zealous."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:32 pm
Zircon took a moment to reflect on the question asked, though she at least nodded in agreement, moving away from the melee and closer to the staircase that she'd used to get on the roof in the first place. It had made no sense to her, why they had decided on the top of a building to hold a meeting, but looking at the way the one Captain had simply leapt away like he was Spiderman, she decided that it probably made sense to people like that.
The question was, was Zircon a person like that?
To be fair, she felt good--amazing--as Zircon, but she wasn't sure if she felt good enough to be jumping off of buildings. That sounded like the sort of thing you'd have to be drunk to do, and as far as she'd seen, she was the only one old enough to legally touch alcohol (except, of course, the General-King and the Queen). Looking back to Zinkenite, she leaned against the railing of the stairway and looking downwards, still curious but not quite that courageous.
"I was told that the Negaverse is a military operation, that if I joined this faction, I could do something significant with myself. That you...we...the Negaverse is on a mission, and that it's more important than anything I could have possibly done before." The woman's voice was distant, as if she were reading the words off of a card, and she looked down at her chest. "I know that General-King Charonite did something to me, but...he never explained it. I've been looking up possible explanations for a week, and nothing shows up except the few articles about alien abduction."
Zircon scoffed, unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the concept of knowing so little about a subject. "I imagine there's quite a bit I need to get caught up on."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:50 pm
He watched her face as she spoke, trying to find written there, what it was she wanted, what drove her, what did she have to gain.
He thought he had an idea, but he wasn't willing to commit that thought as fact just yet.
He had also followed her to the fire escape, did she simply prefer this route? Or had she not tried leaping around like a spider monkey yet the way D... Scheelite had. He suspected the later to be honest.
"He did something to our 'starseeds, or whomever turned you did I should say, I know the queen is capable as well." He said with a small nod as though to reenforce his knowledge of the subject without expressly saying how or why.
"I am given to understand that, the offer is not common, there is a desire for people of.. at the very least Drive." He followed her partly down the escape, clanking down its metal stairs before reaching a spot where he himself was more comfortable making a spider-monkey leap over the railing and to the street below.
His landing was not as graceful as the 'spiderman' from before to be sure, but there was really nothing 'sporty' about him.
He stood and spread his hands as though to say 'and then there are the benefits of these alterations to be considered, and inviting her in that same quiet gesture to join him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:14 pm
"Starseeds?"
Zircon would have asked more into the information she was being fed, but she found whatever words strangled as she watched Zinkenite go careening over the railing and landing...actually, she noted with a flustered expression, he landed with not so much as a scratch on him. She supposed that jumping off of buildings was a fairly standard practice in the Negaverse, if everyone was so good at it. However, she was not entirely fond of the look the boy was giving her, and she frowned, her hands securely rooted to the railing of the fire escape exit as her eyes narrowed.
"...How did you do that?" she asked, the implied after-statement being, 'Because there's no way in Hell you're getting me to do it'.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:23 pm
"For... lack of a better word starseeds seem to be, life, soul, what keeps us moving and conscious. That's why it's at the -best- of times uncomfortable to have someone reach for it...as an understatement. And as for the Jump, you -could- make that as a civilian, part of it is not thinking about the distance, the second is bending your knees, if you don't your going to jam them and then lurch sideways into something when they go numb on you in retaliation, and when they return to feeling like their there, its going to feel like they made a concerted effort to pop off... " He flashed a small smile and it vanished.
"Trust me... It's not as terrible a distance as it appears from where you stand"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:08 pm
Zircon did not like the sound of that 'trust me'. It sounded like that snake in the Jungle Book, the one that entranced Mowgli with it's trippy eyes until the boy was nearly eaten. Not that Zircon was implying that Zinkenite was a comic relief python, or that she was wearing a diaper, but regardless of the situation she did not know whether or not she could rely on such a simple two-word statement, especially when the laws of physics told her otherwise. Civilian or not, she was no acrobat, and from this height she could easily break her legs.
However, cowardice was not in keeping with the Negaverse, nor was it a good idea to show to one's equals, especially not to one such as Zinkenite who seemed the type of person to use such observations to his advantage. She glanced to the ground again. It didn't seem like it was that far...Her legs would be broken, but at least it wouldn't be anything like a compound fracture.
With a sharp gasp of air, Zircon held her breath as she vaulted over the side of the staircase, her leg muscles pushing off of the metal grating with ease. Time seemed to slow as she fell, her hair nevertheless whipping upwards from the motion. Her landing was shaky, and she stumbled forward, but she marvelled at the fact that nothing was broken, looking down at her feet curiously. For all it effort she expended, she might have jumped from one stair to the next.
She stood, looking to Zinkenite with a composed stare as she adjusted her hair back into place. "So they tweaked our starseeds? What else does that change, other than heightened senses and athletic abilities?" It seemed that the boy knew what he was talking about, and if Zinkenite had answers, then Zircon would be more than happy to oblige him with as many questions as her scientific-method-wired brain could think up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:52 am
"Your first landing was better than mine..." he mused somewhere between vexed at that and impressed.
"What else... well, do you recall how he did the tweaking?" He asked withdrawing the hand he'd started to offer when she had landed precariously.
"We too can, reach inside people's chest cavities, only we don't 'tweek', our purpose, our TASK is to retrieve starseeds from civilians and deliver them.
I don't know the exact details, to the best of my guesses as some people eat a starseed on occasion for extra energy is... that their energy for something or someone. That said I think the rule is don't eat more than one per night, and to be very honest I'm not -positive- it's safe to eat one as a Lieutenant."
He didn't say it directly, but his tone implied at least a little disgust at the idea of eating one.
"We do have one other purpose though, but we must balance it with collecting starseeds."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:11 pm
Still shaking off the feeling from her jump, Zircon gave the other lieutenant a curious look as she adjusted her aviators back to the top of her head. "Retrieving starseeds from civilians...that sounds the slightest bit invasive." She remembered the choking pressure, the fire in her chest that had sent every nerve ending screaming, and suppressed a shudder, the memory still too fresh and altogether too real for her liking. She averted her thoughts from the phantom pain by looking past Zinkenite to the alleyway, where in the distance she could see the street, the cars rolling by slowly.
The thought of a second objective piqued Zircon's interest, but it took a backseat to the remaining questions she had about the first. "And what happens to the civilian once the starseed is removed?" It made things easier, to call them civilians and give the supposed people a lower rank than herself. As it stood, Zircon had a few theories of her own, and if she was to come to terms with what she had to do, she had to start thinking of starseeds as objects, nothing more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:44 pm
"It is invasive..." He agreed and rubbed at his own chest, the look on his face said his mind was no where near that gesture, but remembering something already past, perhaps long past.
"It depends on the civilian..." he said with a small shrug, intended to convey nonchalance, not quite managing it but intended by no doubt. "Some fall into a coma, that is the mysterious sickness that plagues the city. Other's... well, perhaps their more fortunate." He said it with a small wave of his hand like he were talking about houseflies.
"I prefer myself to target 'Free range rude' but others seem to pick whomever passes by at the time. Really it's up to you...you just need to look out for Senshi."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:21 am
There was a moment of clarity for Zircon, in which things started to fall into place, and she paused as she looked out into noplace in particular. Mysterious diseases and deaths were something of much debate in the science department of her university, and though she had the sense not to be a biology major, she remembered watching friends and friends of friends slave over tissue samples and bones, looking for a mysterious virus or bacteria that seemed to attack without regard to general health and depart without so much of a trace. Granted, it was unlikely that all of the comatose were starseed related, but with as many senior theses gone awry with lack of evidence as Zircon saw, there had to at least be a connection.
Zircon offered a wry smirk at the mention of the senshi--so they were involved, too. Amanda was always the type to look up the viral videos, fawning over the cute costumes and hoping to watch one of the battle in action. Zircon, however, had simple thought the videos to be sparkle raped in Final Cut, but perhaps their mention here lent them some credence. "Oh? And do the senshi collect starseeds as well?"
There was so much hiding underneath the facade of Destiny City, and it gave Zircon a wicked rush of glee to be let in on the metropolis's deep, dark secrets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
