Welcome to Gaia! ::

"...hand stays out." came a lilting voice from behind the blonde.

Another corrupted sauntered up behind the new recruit, a newly-minted Super. Carnelian wore a look of concern and mild sympathy for the senshi he'd never met before. Red boots clicked along silent rooftop until he stood behind Vespa, hands in his coat pockets. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Sailor Carnelian. And you are...?"

This young man wasn't at the meeting - he would be recognized in that sort of getup, plus the visor? Never seen one like it, not on this side of the war anyway. He definitely resembled a bee or maybe a beetle? The redhead wasn't much interested in insects - they were disgusting and you had to call a professional with smelly and dangerous chemicals and have them removed. It was gross. Carnelian didn't like gross.

He lightly tapped Vespa on the shoulder. There was no telling how old the blonde war, even with facial hair. He seemed young. "Definitely keep the hand-on-the-chest thing for special occasions. Believe me, it rattles the senshi and gives you time."

Carnelian was taken aback and pulled his hand away as if Vespa was a hot stove. "Sir?" A hand anxiously went to his cheek. "...have I gotten that old? Maybe I need to borrow Euclase's wrinkle creme or something... she'd be so ashamed of me..."

Another sigh from the super and Carnelian shook his head in defeat. He'd have to get some cucumbers for his eyes. They reduce those awful bags, or so people say. "Please don't call me 'sir'. It's so... militaristic. And besides, we're both senshi, right? Leave the sirs and the ma'ams to the Negaverse. Sir makes me feel about forty-five and believe me, nobody wants to feel middle-aged before their time."

The sailor senshi in red decided then to take a seat next to Vespa, Senshi of Wasps. Thank goodness he was on their side - Carnelian hated wasps, bees and the like and he suspected an allergy was to blame. "As for when sticking your hand in your chest is a good idea... If you get pinned or something, threatened by a senshi of the White Moon and you can tell they're nervous, sticking your hand in there seems to rattle them. It worked on Sailor Pasiphae, for example. That distraction allowed me to get away with all my limbs intact."

Carnelian stared off into the distance for a moment. Chainsaws... always the chainsaws... maybe laser.

"Anyway, did you awaken recently? Is anyone assisting you or are they letting you fly on your own for now?"

Carnelian was rather shocked at Vespa's reaction to his request of not being called sir. The young plan placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder with the express intention of calming him down. "Now why on Earth would I report you to someone? This is so minor in the grand scheme of things... Hardly worth bothering anyone about and either way, I'm not offended. So please, don't worry about it, okay?"

If anyone should be called a coward, it was the senshi in red. He hated fighting more than anything else and was more than happy, usually, to allow his girlfriend--no, fiancee-- to do most of the beatdowns. He'd been trying desperately to gain more courage but it was a very slow process. Luckily he fit in well with the Infiltration branch. "Running when you know you can't win isn't cowardice, Vespa. It's smart - it's survival. You're much more useful to the Negaverse alive than you are dead, for example. They may not trust us much but why lose an ally when you don't have to, you know?"

The newly-minted super chuckled for a moment, drawing one knee to his chest. "I don't like that they awaken us and just leave us to sink or swim. It seems to me like we're no better off than the damned White Moon. But anyway," Carnelian spat with a shake of his head. "Do you have somewhere to go? Euclase and I try to take care of the lost and ill begotten. Corrupted Senshi aren't liked much, near as I can tell, but she and I have an apartment. You could always come stay with us if you need to."

Carnelian cast Vespa a worried glance. Poor thing was so incredibly new that people had already instilled a kind of hysteria into the blonde. The corrupted super would report people for things, certainly, but never something so minor. It just seemed ill-intentioned. Mean-spirited. "Vespa, you don't have to worry about me reporting you for," Air quotes. "The slightest offense." End air quote. Carnelian sighed. "There are far worse things to report than calling someone 'sir'. Really."

Vespa's next question made his superior's shoulders slump a bit. "Honestly? Probably. I've never bore witness to it but I've heard rumors. When I was recruited, Euclase and I witnessed a White Moon senshi trying to... sexually assault a civilian." Simply reliving the memory made the redhead visibly ill. He was so very thankful he was able to awaken on the correct side of things. He didn't want to side with sexual offenders. "One named Tsui, she nearly killed me. Followed me around and assaulted me twice before letting me go. That's what I mean about survival. Some of them are very willing to kill. Too willing, if you ask me."

Looking back at the blonde, Carnelian sat up slightly. "It's admirable that you don't want to get your family involved. As long as you keep your identity a secret, nothing should follow you home. But all the same, you still run the risk of them finding out. My apartment is separate from my family, thankfully. I don't want them getting involved. But like I said, we have a safe house. There are probably several safehouses across the city just for people like us."

The corrupted senshi shrugged, brushing part of his coat with the back of his hand. "It was horrible. Witnessing that made me very thankful we were given the opportunity to make a difference. I just couldn't believe the senshi had the audacity to think they run the place. That they can do whatever they want because they have power."

Vespa's next questions about the safe houses made the redhead to his attention to the blonde fully. "I imagine they'll allow anyone of Chaos to come and go as they need. That's what Euclase and I do. I've housed a few Negaverse officers, other senshi... whoever is in need, really. I'm thankful we have a little organization. We're not awakened and then left to the wolves like the White Moon senshi are. Even if we're not trusted much by the other officers, we're still better off in the long run."

Casting a glance out onto the horizon of the city, Carnelian absently wondered what his fiancee was up to. Was she still dress shopping with her girlfriends? They had a wedding to plan, after all. "Just know you're not alone in this, Vespa. We're here to help you if you feel you need it. There are more like us in the organization than you think."

"Yes, absolute power does corrupt absolutely. But what gets me is... why do the White Moon senshi call us corrupted when they are the ones causing the trouble. They're the ones putting people in danger and perpetuating the war that keeps tearing this city apart..."

...but then, why did they wear white and we wear black? Didn't the good guys always wear white?

It was something Carnelian didn't want to think about it. He pushed it aside in his mind to focus on Vespa and his plight. Vespa was newer, less experienced. He was a bird fresh out of the nest and needed as much guidance as anyone could provide. Vespa's question was something Carnelian wasn't sure he could answer, but the redhead would certainly give it his best shot.

"What did we do?" the super echoed. With a shrug of his shoulders and after a moment, continued. "...I don't know the whole story. I know the Moon Queen tried to enslave the Earth and the senshi were helping her. Something happened and the senshi must've been warring or something... because they destroyed their worlds at some point. Everything up there is dead now. And somehow, the senshi have been revived and now they're appearing on Earth. You and I were one of them, a long time ago." Carnelian shook his head. Sadly enough, the bits and pieces of the story he did know weren't connected very well in his head. "I don't know why they chose us over any of the other senshi. My guess is that it's easier to awaken a senshi into the Negaverse than to convert them but some do join us willingly. Ammolite was Sailor Lyra, for example."

Leaning back, Carnelian sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know the rest."

"I guess I don't blame them for not really trusting us..."

"I do."

It was an admission Carnelian couldn't stop until it was too late. Such were traitorous thoughts but it was true nonetheless. "We atoned for our past sins by joining forces with the people who are working to save the planet. Shouldn't that be enough to trust us? None of us have left our forces as far as I know. Euclase and I have no intention of leaving and we've done nothing but show our loyalty again and again. But it doesn't seem to make any difference."

Those facts had been staring him in the face for so long but it was only to Euclase that he could admit them. Until now. "Perhaps we did destroy our homeworlds and this one, the Earth, is the only one remaining. Taking up arms against our White Moon brethren is, to me, the utmost display of devotion and loyalty. You can't get much more loyal than that. And you and I, Vespa, we were awakened to the correct side; we didn't come here later. We were never White Moon to begin with."

A sigh into the wind. "We were never traitors..."

Carnelian's hand raked through his crimson hair and he shook his head. "Sorry. It's just been bothering me for a while, that's all. I didn't mean to unload on you like that."