Welcome to Gaia! ::

Flouncing around the park as a cat-girl and giving off a massive beacon of energy in the hopes of attracting someone for her index had become a fairly routine activity for the parallel.

Usually someone showed up quickly enough, even if the short wait was boring, and then she could power down to something less attention grabbing. And usually it was a fairly harmless page or talkative lieutenant, not including the various un-indexable people who occasionally got caught in the net, but they were interesting too.

Tonight didn't start out too much differently. The camera she had set down before powering up to keep it safe from subspace was a source of entertainment as she fiddled with the settings and rejected photos already on the memory card, but the energy signatures that came on her radar caught her attention.

And then made her freeze.

One general usually meant trouble, and she was sure she could feel a second one as well.

Lilac ears stood at attention as she stood stiffly in place. It would be a fantastic opportunity if they were talkative, but so far every general she approached had attacked. Two could easily corner her, and she knew that.

So it was a testament to her goal of gathering data that after she got over being a deer in the headlights, instead of running like experience taught her to do, the Mauvian called out to them instead. "Hello?"

Nothing felt quite as wonderful as changing into his General’s uniform. The garment alone was a prize, bedazzling in its detail as much as the Captain’s had been compared to the basic lieutenant’s uniform. The weight of the quilted armor settled comfortably on his shoulders, hardly a nuisance given the increased strength the Dark Gift bestowed. The cape would take longer for him to grow accustomed, but the clear delineation of his rank and the potential uses of the cloth were well worth the learning curve. His new, longer whip likewise met his exacting standards and provided a worthy vessel for his augmented power. The florist could feel the Chaos circulating with every heartbeat, and he luxuriated in it. Let it announce his presence, and that of Buddingtonite, to any that dared approach - what need did these two have to hide?

He had never been afraid to investigate, though he was indulging Buddingtonite’s voracious curiosity more than anything else. The aura was new to Serpentine as it was to his more vocal partner, though he had experience ones… similar. Much as coffee shifted in taste with cream or sugar, yet still generalized as ‘coffee’, he could detect hints of ‘cat’ and ‘Dark Mirror’ as being similar tastes in this case. Yet… neither were quite correct. Both the ragamuffin that had stolen his hat and the Dark Mirror Senshi he had encountered had been distinctly different. The only feline features, aside from a certain air of grace, were lilac ears and tail on an otherwise human form. A ‘cat lady,’ indeed, as his friend so dubbed her.

Her greeting went ignored, but his partner’s comment earned a snort. “Obviously, she is different.” Serpentine’s hand ghosted over the brass hilt of his whip, but he did not yet remove it from his sash. The creature had not yet struck, and he knew it was the ginger’s way to discover rather than to lash out. Now that they had attained their ranks, he felt they could finally afford to make decisions for themselves. Besides, indulging Buddingtonite also meant obtaining information about…whatever this creature was to share with the rest of the Negaverse. “What do you want?”

Buddingtonite knew better than to belittle Serpentine in front of their ‘guest’, both because he had long since learned that there was a time and place for that with his friend and now that he had gained general rank with him, and his blows would have been much more painful now had he gone too far. So Buddingtonite did what he felt was the smart thing and let Serpentine do his thing, ask his questions in the good, ol’ fashion Serpentine fashion, while he waited eagerly for answers of his own, all the while trying not to fantasize about the beauty in front of him.

He failed miserably. She was just too damn good looking.

She seemed genuine enough in her quest for knowledge, at least from Buddingtonite’s point of view. He suspected that Serpentine would have openly expressed a more practical and understandable cautious approach to her documentation, and he also knew and trusted his friend to reign him back in, because he knew he had a tendency to talk. And why not, when he liked the way he sounded in his own ears? “Pleasure to meet you, Zirconia. First we get invaders from space, from mirrors, and now from a parallel universe? Hitting all sorts of sci-fi here- personally I’m waiting for the giant insects to give us a visit myself… I’ve always wanted to mount a giant praying mantis.”

He glanced back at Serpentine to get his reaction to Zirconia’s approach, and as eager as Buddingtonite was to talk his enemies to death, he couldn’t help but feel some bit of skepticism for himself. “Here that, Serpy? Not an enemy! Guess we better put away our swords and daggers and pull out the party favors- I didn’t bring any kazoos but I do have something to blow.”

However, for all of his mockery and rambling, he hadn’t made for his own weapon, though he did tip off his hat as he introduced himself. “General Buddingtonite, member of Infiltration and recruiting enthusiast.”

"...Infiltration?" She repeated when Buddingtonite introduced himself with an additional identifier to his rank and name. A branch? A team? No one had explained the divisions to her but suddenly getting a whiff of Negaverse infrastructure, the smile that spread on her face was positively dripping with smarm.

"That's interesting."

She straightened up and squared her shoulders, though, obviously repressing something that made her twitch about the redhead's words. "The members Black Moon Court are the only authentic mirror users, for your information. The youma-dolls Ares created and called her little imitation court are just that, weak imitations.."

It was apparently enough to make her gloss over his joke about something to blow.

Gold eyes flicked to Serpentine, and she repeated his branch name was well. "SpecOps..." Like it was a memory trick. Internally she was rapidly comparing and cross examining the differences between the two generals trying to assign qualities knowing the Negaverse now categorized them in such a way.

"I don't have anyone to share it with. I don't have a side, if you've noticed," She said, feigning as much innocence as possible. "Between the White Moon's genocidal little pink princess and the Dark Mirror Court trying to take over our legacy I'm afraid I'm all that's left. I'm an endangered species, you know," She said with a quick wink in Buddingtonite's direction.

"But I'm a guardian cat. Collecting information is what we're designed to do, even if I have no one to share it with. And the Negaverse is very interesting. They don't exist outside of this specific universe, you know?"

Serpentine did not like the smile that crossed Zirconia’s lips, but vanity had ever been his Achilles’s heel. For someone, anyone, to express obvious, intelligent interest in him and his work (which in his mind included the hard built friendship with Buddingtonite) was a form of flattery he found hard to resist. He might not be as openly swayed or communicative as his partner, but he was invested in the conversation here. Someone was giving the both of them the treatment they deserved - shameful, really, that it had to come from someone who they could not trust.

“Endangered? More the pity, when you fall.” Not if. When. A lone survivor of a universe could not last forever. As to the rest of her point, he huffed in response to her coy reply. Her charms held little appeal to him, though her interest did. “Everyone has a side, even if only your own.” It made her unpredictable, dangerous...though her obvious hatred of the DMC was another point in her favor.

Serpentine was aware of how often his partner looked to him. Each time, he merely inclined his head, a silent allowance to continue although, in truth, he did not seek to command his friend. Buddingtonite shared his rank, his strength… the two were equal. All the same, he squeezed his partner’s arm to make sure he had his attention to impart a few, firm words, before allowing him to completely take over, “Buddy. Do not flirt with her.” It was a warning more serious than it might have sounded. The ginger had gotten himself into the most danger when little head took control over his large one.

With an overly dignified air, the florist swept up his cape over one arm and seated himself atop a large, plastic mushroom clearly meant for a child to scramble upon. Their conversation clearly showed no signs of ending, and he could at least take some degree of comfort. He gave a small nod to the cat-girl, akin to a judge hearing testimony, “Make your offer. If it is enough, we will answer your questions.”

What did the two of them have to fear? Should she suddenly shift into an attack, it would mean facing a double team. Should the conversation continue, then they could learn potentially useful information for their cause… and perhaps to gain an upper hand over not only the White Moon but also the Senshi that walked through mirrors, if not glean out further information. He had patience to rival Job’s. He could wait to hear everything she said...and decide what would be of most use. They had already learned, for instance, that the Negaverse did not exist in her universe, despite it being parallel to their own. What else could the lilac girl tell them?

By this point it was impossible to ignore Serpentine's hostility towards the anomaly known as Zia, and while Buddingtonite wore the mask of humor, he could not blame his friend for his icy and downright mean tone. Serpentine simply didn't trust anyone that did not radiate the same aura as him, and even then, there were those among their ranks that Buddingtonite knew his friend not to trust. He also came to trust his companion's judgement on the matter as well... after all, there were few times that Serpentine was completely off.

Even his warning was taken seriously, despite the faux hurt expression he flashed him and the steep intake of breath as though to gasp. "You never let me have any fun! Very well, I'll humor you..."

Not that flirting with her was a good idea. Oh, yes, she was definitely attractive, but he could not, for the life of him, ignore those ears and tail and how inhuman they were. Buddingtonite was definitely the type to indulge in the on-the-job flirting but even he had limits. What a pity... she looked like she would have been fun under the sheets. Nevertheless, he was willing to hold down the urges and he listened intently to what she had to say, hand on hip and taking in her corrections. "You act as though they're primitive life forms that just crawled out of the primordial ooze with the way you go on, my dear. I've managed to talk to a few and they sounded fairly educatd and classy... you know, for people you don't consider whole."

Buddingtonite had nothing against the Dark Mirror Court, though his loyalty would always lie within the Negaverse. Protect one of his own before he'd try to save one of them. What he liked the most of out them was their attire, but it wasn't really enough to sway him over... or really care. He was indifferent, for the time being. He thought little of them or what Zia had against them so much, as he was far more interesting in the offer to trade intel. It was a risky thing to do, but it wasn't as though they weren't going to take things with a grain of salt anyway, right?

You'd have to be stupid to believe anything she says at face value, and she suspects the same out of you.

He scratched his chin. Raised a good point! He whistled loudly when she revealed her age, as though impressed, and that finally encouraged him to ask a question that was burning in the back of his mind for awhile now. "Alright, riddle me this, Granny... why you do consider them unwhole people? I've heard out how they see themselves, but how do you see them? What makes them different from you?"