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"...I don't hear either, I hear laughter..." Moonstone said after a long pause of considering what to answer. "... no I take that back, I've heard a voice too but it's the same as the laugh. It -is- from my nightmares though. Have either of you seen a mask?"

She regretted it almost as soon as she said it, she could even swear she felt it peering and leering over her shoulder but would honestly have bet that neither of them could see it, and she was afraid to look too.

God help her if they asked about it, oh yes, my weapon as a Negaverse agent haunts my dreams, I'm perfectly sane...you?

"No masks here. Just crying."

Ares didn't plan on making much conversation. These two had no more answers than she did. They were merely rats scampering around on the same wheel as her. As she walked, Ares could not stop her bobbing head, looking every which way. They made a racket as they moved over the dead grass, but the senshi of smoke doubted total silence would save them from anywhere.

The sign signaled for them to follow a bend, so they did, and Ares reached out toward Moonstone. "I can take the sign," she said, and did so. Holding the sign made her feel less useless. She might look like her senshi self, but Ares lacked all the magical power and strength that the fuku usually gave her. It made the girl feel... weak. Very weak.

That was not something she wanted to think about. "What do you remember before you woke up here?" she asked the other two. If she knew more about the circumstances that led everyone to Tartaros, then maybe she could figure out if Selene was here or not.

Calintha's head perked up at the new conversation, and she forced herself to relax. "I think I was gardening. It was an odd job, in a small Greenhouse. I...don't remember much other than I was watering some of the carnivorous plants there." She didn't remember anything after that. Calintha hoped that the man who had hired her would be understanding; she really needed that paycheck. When she woke up that is. If you wake up. She brushed off the voice as if it was a fly.

"Whose Charonite?" It was random, but the girl was still learning about the new world of magic. Calintha might as well learn as much as she can, while the opportunity presented itself.

"Your shallower than pita bread aren't you" Moonstone said glancing at the 'senshi'... she still had her doubts. The only senshi SHE had seen before with black tops were utterly in the sway of the Negaverse.

"But the shallow people like Lea there... and I... are just cannon fodder. Though what she is NOT telling you is that Black really is the color of villains, That negaverse agents don't all wake up one day and say YES! I feel like joining up with Darth Vader, and that senshi are never there when real people need them. Wake up princess, we're neck deep and sinking in a world you pretend to understand but so far we are even steven on trying to figure out where the ******** we're going so call it a -salad- if you want but if your not trying to kill me then pull the rest of the sticks out and admit its a demi truce...you can "kill" me when we're out of here or keep blowing smoke up everyone's a**"

"What she means..." Moonstone addressed the civilian.
"Is that she has the sign... she's so frustrated that I just pointed out we ARE at truce that Lea that keeps pretending that I have somehow denied that I have been dragged into an organization of murderous ******** who is trying to destroy the city...and that somewhere in her too tightly knotted head of hair there is the lingering thought... for clearly only one is supported at a time... that I enjoy this."

She smiled, a fake smile..

"But to add to her gems of truth...which may make them look SLIGHTLY less polished than her a**, or her tightly oiled hair... It's making me crazy, if someone says join us or die, ******** how scared you are... just die... because we are are cannon fodder, we aren't the cannon, we're what gets shoved into it to make the casualties no mater what they tell themselves to make sure they can sleep at night. But then... she's pretty much peta bread, I don't expect any more thought than a gun has when its pointed at someone's head and I haven't been disappointed or surprised yet."

Moonstone didn't get it. She just didn't. Ares didn't care how she had come to be in the Negaverse. She was there, and that was all that mattered. Her starseed was blackened by the tar of their evil faction. A stronger person could have resisted it. That is what Ares told herself.

She let out a brief sigh. It wasn't pointed. Ares was simply tired of running in circles with someone whose life she cared so little about. "Poor little you. Go cry on to the mountain of innocent dead bodies created by you and your coworkers, okay? Cheer yourself right up." She had no idea what the 'Lea' thing was about. Was that supposed to be funny? Was she supposed to understand that?

No matter. There were more important things afoot.

The uphill trek was more challenging without her senshi strength. Despite what she had done in recent times to whip herself into peak physical shape, Fallon was not the same machine as Eirene. Eirene worked out every day since she was old enough to lift a weight. Fallon grew up cooking. Now, Ares tried to make up for lost time, but that didn't change overnight. Nevermind that this was Tartaros where things were always a bit wonky.

When Calintha asked a question, Ares actually took the time to answer. Both questions. "A starseed is your life energy. It is what certain religions would consider your soul, or at least it has the same sort of metaphysical property. Without it, you slip into a coma and eventually die." The second question was more complicated. It took Ares several months of close calls to realize that the tingling in her neck typically coincided with a youma approaching.

Since she became a senshi, those things had gone away, replaced with her senshi abilities to sense. Azzo had spoken to her of similar senses. Cali, too. Even Imogen had said something. It seemed to Fallon that it was some side effect of what had happened to them during the organ ring scandal. The least she could do was try to help Calintha figure it out. "And those things you sense in your head are, I think, youma. I have met others who have expressed the same feelings, sensations that come right before a youma attacks. The people I spoke to were all involved in the organ ring." Or Barren Pines? The sight of the reversed uniform in the tree flashed back to Ares. She still had her doubts on both sides of the issue. "If we get out of here and make it back to Destiny City, just run away when you feel those things. Get as far away as possible."

"Believe me, I have no intention to chase evil currently. But...I guess its good to know what those feelings are. I don't know why I have them, but I guess its better than not." At least, this way, she could avoid things that were apparently evil and trying to eat her. And steal her starseed.

Watching the philosophical good vs. evil debate between the two individuals on either side of her was interesting. Ares did seem to view things as black and white, but it made Calintha wonder if it was a bad thing? In some cases, black and white made things easier. However, Moonstone made a point too. Clearly, not everyone enlisted because they believed in it. "It seems to me like both sides might have people enlisted who don't have a particular stance on the apparent war between your two factions."

It had taken her a while to word the sentence correctly, but she felt proud of it nonetheless. She didn't like feeling dumb, and she wanted everyone to like her. "I also don't have any plans to enlist any time soon. For every side there needs to be a neutral... though it seems hard to be neutral when you admit evil." It was confusing. Falling silent, the girl stared downwards, trying to sort out the thoughts in her head.

Maybe you're neutral because you just can't do anything at all. Calintha sighed. It was going to be a long walk through Tartaros, apparently. She ripped another rose off of the sleeve of her sweatshirt. ******** roses.

Ares was done attempting to put together the pieces of Moonstone's mottled mind. None of it mattered to her. If Selene asked her to take out the Negaverse, then she would, whether they had volunteered or were corrupted. Moonstone was a Nega who never wanted to be a Nega? Well, boo hoo. "If you're so terribly conflicted about all those nasty things that you do, then why don't you just kill yourself? Then you wouldn't be so compelled to follow orders. If it mattered that much to you, you would have already solved this problem and taken some work off of my hands. Oh, that's right -- you're too selfish. How noble. How deep." It was an honorable death, or it would have been. It would have been if Moonstone actually meant a damn word she said.

Ares wasn't one to admit fault, and on this particular topic, she could not agree with a Nega. She was more of a fighter than an idealist, but that didn't make it any less laughable that Moonstone was trying to playfully skirt over what her day-to-day service to the Negaverse entailed. "Whatever you say, however you got where you are, it doesn't matter. This is all a lot of pretty talk avoiding the fact that you kill people like Calintha. On a daily basis, is it? I noticed you didn't let our friend here know what your kill count is. How many little old ladies have you ambushed on a dark night? I guess the lives of innocent Destiny City citizens are somehow less important than -- what? -- a few family members. It's a numbers game. You destroy more than you save. End of story."

The path bent again, with Ares still leading the way, the two others at her back. "I'm bored with this. You're boring. I'm bored." Apparently, Ares was done talking. To Moonstone, at least.

Her eyes moved to Calintha. "If you want to kill innocent people, then, by all means, go throw yourself at the feet of the Negaverse. If you want to look in the mirror everyday and know that you don't live to kill the innocent, then maybe you should reconsider your ambivalence on the situation." The sticks continued to crunch under her feet.