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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 10:56 am
There could have been a million things he could have been doing right now, and yet, here he was, once against wasting his time. That's all that General Sarras seemed to be doing nowadays. Patrolling the streets to track down his former allies and wasting his time dealing with other officer's bullshit. On a normal day, he'd simply accept his fate and deal with the task at hand as quickly as possible so that he could go about with his own plans (plans that he wasn't going to bother other officer's with and was beginning to wish they would practice the same courtesy). He understood that sometimes people needed an extra hand, and if asked politely (or in this case, ordered to by one of their lovely General-Queens), he'd do the task without whine or complaint, or any words exchanged between them at all.
Like with the knights and the White Moon Court, Sarras was not here to make friends, but he knew the importance of working together. After all, was it not why the Negaverse had won this war and why his former allies were on the run? He understood that much and had parted with the old ways, though there were several factors involved besides jumping ship when the opportunity presented itself. He felt all of his reasons were justified and thus far he didn't have to explain himself, either to his former allies nor current and for that, he was thankful. The less talking he did to either side, the happier he'd be... talking would endanger his plans and himself, and then where would he be?
So, he was content to just get this meeting over with as soon as possible, with few words exchanged between them, and yet, he knew it to be impossible. Because he knew who he would be assisting today, and the mere mention of who he was suppose to be helping just made his blood boil. Anabel, prized pet of Sakuradite and crazy gadget tinkerer.
The only logical explanation as to why he was being ordered to assist her was that he had displeased a higher up and was now being made to suffer for it. He could only hope that with the tests involved, he could have least suffer in silence, because he had nothing nice to say to someone who would see him as nothing more than a lab rat.
He waited as patiently as he could within the confines of the warehouse, eager to get this task out of the way. He had other plans for the evening... big plans.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:32 pm
It was supposed to be a teleportation extender. Anabel examined the little pendant with the Rift crystal chips; it was cute. Attractive. In another life she might have been a jeweler, or a… or a designer or something. Right now, she was a designer of sorts, playing a delicate balancing game of useful enough to be protected, but not so useful that Order loses. She tilted the pendant to catch the light from one of the great open windows. The reflections were pretty. There was something wrong with her, she thought, something… strange, since she'd started working with these. She sighed and clambered out of the car, Mendel following, a cane in her hand--the pendant was tucked into her other hand as she limped towards the warehouse. It wasn't exactly that she needed it, but it helped cement her image, and every single part of that cemented image helped when it was a choice between life, the sacrifice of more first-level senshi and knights, and her death. If this worked--if this project worked--she could stop. It would, hopefully, pull her test subject directly to the Resistance's prison, safe inside the teleportation and communication inhibitors. They were matched pairs, after all. "Captain Sarras," she said, settling herself into a chair some lieutenant had brought to her. "Could you put this on, please?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 10:13 pm
At least she was prompt in her demands, Sarras thought, glaring over Anabel and not even bothering with introductions at this point. He knew her through Sakuradite, and Sakuradite obviously informed her of him, so that spared him from having anymore of his time wasted. Why would the Negaverse allow for a civilian to continue helping them like this and not simply bring her into their fold, he'd never understand... perhaps it had to do with the fact that she needed a cane to walk, or perhaps she requested not to be corrupt, though it wasn't as though they honored everyone's choices, he reminded himself, never once smiling or expressing any sort of emotional reaction to her arrival, though the dog he gave a friendly nod towards. Smart woman, bringing a dog for protection, he told himself.
Not that he'd think of hurting her. What honor came in attacking one with a cane, and was Sakuradite's precious little pet? If Sarras was going to die, it wouldn't be raising a hand against this one, that was for damn sure.
He didn't acknowledge of care for the lieutenant's presence nor how she was being treated like a pampered pooch, only looking down at the device she presented him. It looked nice, and he should have just said nothing and obeyed the request to end the ordeal, but he wasn't keen on just following blindly into gathering or testing gadgets. A certain Mercury page ruined that for him. "What will it do?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:16 pm
She frowned. Of course Sarras would still be skeptical. He seemed to remember more of his powered life than not, so that would make his experiences on Mistral… influential. Anabel lowered her hand. "It should extend your teleportation abilities," she said, closing her fingers over the pendant. "Otherwise it may simply pull you down to the Rift. I assume you'll have no trouble getting out." There was a momentary curl to her upper lip, and a glance down to her closed fists. She still wore her signet ring, but none of the Negaverse would recognize it unless they already knew what lay on the other side of her glamor. It was there for remembrance, and as a reminder: she wasn't as lost as Order thought she was. "If you're unwilling to comply, I can ask Sakuradite for another Captain," she said. "Of course, I'm not sure the consequences would work out for you, sir."
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 12:48 pm
It was still strange to hear civilians talking about the Rift and matters within the Negaverse for Sarras, considering years ago they played completely dumb about the whole war. Amazing what finally exposing the city's dark underbelly did and the cooperation that came from mandating where one's interests should be, Sarras thought bitterly to himself. He half wondered if this Anabel even knew that she was being used right now, nor just how easily the tide could change if she displeased the Negaverse even once. He almost pitied her.
Almost.
She appeared dejected that he didn't just take the pendant without question, and it took everything within his willpower not to roll his eyes and huff. He didn't like this situation, but there was no need to act like a baby over it, he reminded himself. He listened to her explanation, mildly interested though not enough to go rushing forward to take the pendant into his hands. What did the trick, however, was that passive-aggressive threat at the end, and that only made his expression sour all the more, if that was even possible.
"I'm not a fan of trinkets, so don't take it so personal," he said with a huff, before extending his hand. In all honesty, he didn't give two shits about displeasing Sakuradite nor offending her little pet, but he had no intentions of being killed before a certain someone's starseed was clutched in his hands. For now, he'd wear the stupid trinket, and hope that this wasn't all some grand scheme to end his life early. What a waste of his plans if he were to die here... "Once I put it on, what should I do? How will you know if it works?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 1:29 pm
Sucks to be you! I'm not a fan of Negaversers and here I am. She dropped the pendant into his hand, a little mental sigh behind the action. At one point, maybe Sarras could have been saved. But that point wasn't right now, and probably… wasn't ever. She'd never heard of him being one for regrets. "Questions first," she said, reaching for a clipboard from the long table beside her. "How do you feel, energy-wise? On a scale of one to ten. What's your usual average of teleports before exhaustion? Would you categorize yourself as more or less capable, compared to other Captains?" She adjusted her no-drain bracelet as she waited for his answers. Hopefully he'd continue to cooperate without her having to call in a higher-ranking 'coworker' for backup; she didn't want any more witnesses than she had to have for this, if it worked exactly as it was supposed to.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 8:14 pm
The pendant dropped into Sarras' hand and Anabel wore a well enough poker face as he did not suspect a thing from the motion. He was just happy that it didn't self destruct in his hands or turn into a singularity and sucked him into oblivion, along with Sakuradite's pet and her pet too. For now, it seemed just like a regular pendant, and he complied with her request, placing the device on his person and waiting for... something.
Thus far, he felt nothing, but that didn't mean it wasn't working. He kept his doubts to himself and listened to her question, not really caring just how quickly she whipped out that clipboard nor how her questions were worded, but once again, for the sake of getting this ordeal over with and keeping Sakuradite off her back, he complied. "I feel normal. Eight, or nine, I guess? I don't really keep track of that, but I guess three, one if I'm carrying a passenger. Which I did once and never again."
That last question made him curious, but he answered truthfully, suspecting she wouldn't like the answer and would accuse him of ruining her precious experiment though he would not lie. "I wouldn't know. I don't care about my other officers- what they do is none of my business, so long as it doesn't get in my way."
'Just like the knights, they're just people I put up with...'
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:04 am
That was limitedly helpful, she thought with a small scowl. But this was the officer she'd been sent to work with, so she'd make do. "Alright," she said, capping her pen and putting it beneath the clip of the board. "What I want you to do is teleport from where you're standing now to the other side of the warehouse, and then back. Nothing's going to happen to you except you might end up in the Rift, in which case, take off the pendant and teleport back, because I will need to recalibrate the amount of crystal I used." Hopefully he'd end up with the prisoners of Order, she thought, but… it was a first go, and she also needed it to work as what she'd advertised it as to get to the bigger targets. Sakuradite. She wanted her revenge for each and every child she'd turned in, and she would have it, even if she died in the doing.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 8:22 am
He couldn't quite make out her expression but he had a feeling that his honest response wasn't quite as helpful as she would have wanted. He should have cared. After all, if she was as petty and as surly as he was, she might have accused him of sabotaging her precious experiment and reported him to Sakuradite. Or maybe she'd appreciate his honesty and spare them of their continued tolerance of one another. He didn't care.
He took in her instructions and thought little of it. Teleporting to the other side of the warehouse was easy, even for a captain, but the part that did intrigue him was the part she mentioned about ending up in the Rift. How much had Sakuradite told this one about the Negaverse's inner workings and why on this great blue Earth would anyone make that a side effect? Sarras thought little of it except faulty designs, but he appreciated her warning him of this possibility. It'd at least make the change of scenery less jarring.
"Alright, if that's all." He took a step back and committed to the act, concentrating his efforts on making it to the end of the warehouse. A seemingly simple task that he could complete without the trinket, and yet...
He wasn't exactly sure where he had ended up, but it was certainly not the other side of the warehouse.
"Sonofabitch..."
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:13 pm
And just like that, he disappeared. She waited for him to reappear, and waited a little more, and nothing. Anabel tried to quell the instinctive swell of triumph, because talk about unhelpful: he could have just gone to the Rift. Or maybe there was a side-effect she hadn't predicted, or one that she had considered so unlikely as to not even be an issue. "Lieutenant Emprite," she said, as she recorded this test result on her form, "Please call Captain Sarras and make sure he's alright." Behind her, she heard the teen talk to Sarras: "Sir? Captain Sarras? Are you alright? The engineer thinks you should come back if you can."
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:19 am
He tried to take in his surroundings, looking for something, anything that might have looked familiar. He wanted to say it was the Rift, but this didn't look like any part of the Rift he recognized. There wasn't much light, if any at all, and there were no crystals nearby or in the distance. None that he could see.
"They picked the wrong officer to be a lab rat," he muttered, hearing the voice chime in from the crystal and knowing better than to leave them waiting any longer. If Anabel thought he was shirking from his responsibilities, then he'd be in trouble, more trouble than she was worth. "I'm fine. I think I might be in the Rift... I sense Chaos aura around me, but it's too dark to see. Coming back no-"
A low growl caught his attention, and the eyes that glistened in the darkness to his left offered him some well desired lumination, though he wasn't quite pleased with what he saw. Yes, he was in the Rift, because what he saw was a youma, and, probably having sensed that he wasn't an animal lover, the youma looked pissed. This was NOT his day!
He teleported away, forgetting for a moment that the pendant was still attached and active, and where he ended up now was back at his original destination, simply a different viewpoint. He was on top of the roof, and thankfully, no youma in pursuit. "Lieutenant, I'm on the rooftop and heading down now."
He took the pendant off, moving towards the edge of the building and working his way down. If he didn't care, truly didn't care, he'd just break the device and throw it in her face, but what good would that have done by completely waste his time? Sure, he'd feel good about it, but that'd be a temporary comfort and nothing compared to the relief he'd feel later when he had a certain General's starseed in his hands.
The moment he made his way back into the warehouse, he whistled and tossed the pendant to Anabel, before casting an angered glance at the liuetenant. "If I can?"
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