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 Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:27 pm
Sensing another signature became less of an aversion and more a point of interest while Umber learned the streets he should call home. Excessive lamplight cloyed the streets, leaving him embittered by the brightness of night, but he still trawled through the city's offerings amidst rooftops. However, upon sensing another of his kind in equal level, he found no reason to continue avoiding confrontations.
I wonder who you are, he considered during a leap from a shop bearing an apartment to an adjacent coffee house. Are you as new as I am? Have you been around for a while? Maybe you're still adjusting to the Negaverse. What kind of person might I be approaching, and how should I greet them? All answers in time; not everything should be overthought. He descended down the front of the parapet, atop the overhang and slid slowly down the fabric until he could drop to the sidewalks beneath.
The signature lingered somewhat near the stretch of bars that framed the side of the road, where few loiterers stood outside their doors. Some appeared more upscale than others, with a mix of sports bars in between. Umber found it quite fitting that most simply lingered with their drinks where it seemed no monsters might reach them - unless those who took the next seat down wore the Negaverse's uniforms. Was that where this shadow of a lieutenant hid? Among the bar stools, waiting for a lonely face to turn up in their midst? It seemed plausible, but unlikely - what he experienced came from elsewhere, but not far beyond his location.
Finally Umber climbed the strip of buildings in a series of jumps, landing neatly on the parapet. Still no signs lingered of his elusive lieutenant. While beginning to doubt his ability to sense auric energy accurately, he elected to find the officer in question through a more traditional route.
"Hey!" He called out between cupped hands. Someone leaving one of the bars stopped to look around, but no obvious signs indicated that he had been heard by the other lieutenant.Shazari sorry it's kinda crappy; hard to write rn
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Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 9:03 pm
For a number of reasons, Quartz didn't meet many other lieutenants. He'd run afoul of a few of them, passingly, on larger missions: the Funhouse operation at New Year's, the strange battle in the woods. But there'd been no particular conversation to speak of. Quartz imagined it was felt that it would be better if they didn't let him speak to other lieutenants. He imagined it was, equally, felt that it would be better if they didn't let other lieutenants speak to him. Best if his interactions were mostly relegated to captains and generals, people above emotional influence. Forcible corruptions were, he supposed, less desirable than willing ones. Hard to control, maybe never capable of being as reliable a commodity as a soldier who'd enlisted of their own will. He suspected he was Schörl's experiment in that regard, too: to prove that with the right methods, the right effort, a perfect soldier could be repurposed from any circumstances. She was meticulous about what she exposed him too, and when. It was, therefore, a little oddly exciting to feel the prickle of a lieutenant's aura nearby. Doubly tempting to hear a voice call out in search of his own signature. Quartz, a pocket full of expediently-acquired energy spheres, climbed down from his stargazing perch atop one of the buildings' water towers and made his way back down toward the bars he'd just left, curious to meet the new arrival. He dropped into a crouch with the landing, catching himself on four points instead of two. He was pretty sure it was still early by night life standards -- not nearly his curfew yet. Would Schörl really have sent someone to track him down and escort him home? "Can I help you?" he offered with guarded neutrality. Strickenized pffft, your post was fine, no need to worry~
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Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2015 4:34 pm
When the shimmering sheen of gold caught his peripheral vision, Umber finally discovered an officer descending the old water tower. It both started and irritated him - for what man called himself a hunter and failed to track allies? Knowing that self-deprecation offered no use to him, he compartmentalized the thought neatly and brushed it aside in favor of actually initiating an interaction. Most officers probably preferred a little more to a greeting than a curt comment hurled out into the night.
And, as he could tell quite clearly, this officer's uniform spoke much of night, right down to his oil slick hair. His question offered no insight into his reception of other officers. His demeanor knew polite professionalism.
Umber, however, never actually learned how to hold himself in a culturally-acceptable, 'official' manner. His body often held a slant, and one or more hands lingered in his back pockets when standing idle. Some of this found correction by General Xenotime when in the presence of other officers, but with a peer, he wasn't certain if such a stance was required or considered rude. Much of military culture was lost on him, but he tried to fumble his way through most interactions unscathed. He wasn't certain if he would escape this one well off or not. No point in making predictions, he reminded himself.
"Yes. It's been some time since I joined the Negaverse and I've run into another lieutenant exactly once. We didn't have much time to chat. I've heard it's a better choice to build interpersonal relations among peers than leave them all as stranger. They're supposed to... Bolster morale, improve teamwork, or... Something." This sounds so stilted. 'Care for a chat' might've been a better approach.
Umber sighed through his nose and his shoulders dropped slightly while he looked elsewhere. After gathering his wits, he looked back to Quartz for a second try. "What I mean to say is, I wanted to chat with a fellow lieutenant."
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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 6:27 am
Quartz studied this man, wondering if Schörl had sent him -- another watchdog, another spy. He didn't seem much like Schörl's type -- dry, awkward, a little stilted -- but with Schörl, you never could tell. She knew plenty of actors, and could get an award-winning performance out of a box of rocks. And there'd been that time with her cousin, sent to . . . sent for whatever that was. A test. He wasn't interested in being had twice in a row. Well, he'd keep this to the technically unimpeachable, then. After all, all he'd been doing was lingering a little bit past when he'd finished his work. He hadn't blown his curfew -- he'd just been looking at the stars. Well, imagining the stars. There wasn't much to be seen of them in the heart of the city, no matter how high up you climbed. "It's an admirable goal," he agreed. "Very wise -- my general would certainly say so. Though I should warn you, you're probably not supposed to be talking to me." Quartz wiped off his hands on one of his glittery silk sashes. The water tower didn't see much use, and its ladder was filthy with rust and dirt. "Have you been at this long?" he asked. "Being a lieutenant, that is -- not trawling for conversations."
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:26 am
A response of that nature demanded an entirely predictable answer - one that Umber figured was socially acceptable and therefore proved he could integrate well into a different society. It was easy, quick, simple. "And why would it be such an offense if I talked to you?" I've never encountered any bans from speaking with another lieutenant. Unless he means that he's on duty and interaction discourages efficiency. But how might he be so terribly busy on top of a water tower.
Hands slipped into back pockets readily; it corrected his posture and often distracted him just enough from the slight seethe at the implications behind 'trawling for conversations'. "It's been... Two months." Two months of an unsteady gait through learning Negaverse protocol atop the strange and often confusing intricacies of knights and senshi. Two months spent holed up in someone else's tiny apartment, in a city he didn't like. "Two months and some days."
Long enough to recognize that I know nothing.
Umber reminded himself that he needed to address the formal introductions, with names exchanged like greeting cards, and asking his business atop a water tower might sate some of his curiosities. Inquiring about his time and experience in the Negaverse also offered some insights, and was of plain interest to him. And there was the question of the general he mentioned - perhaps one he knew? The chances ran slim with how few he encountered to date. His uniform also looked markedly different than most - it lacked a certain official capacity sometimes recognized in other uniforms (not that his held any sort of business casual about it). But, despite the laundry list of questions, allowing silence to hang procured no answers.
"I should ask the same of you. It might be of interest if I shouldn't be talking to you."He side-eyed the man coolly before shifting his attention to the water tower, now proudly displaying a few gleaming handprints on its tarnished, grungy ladder.
"My name is Umber," he finished without looking at the man.
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 8:03 pm
Two months -- evidently not enough to realize anyone he talked to was probably going to be an a*****e. Poor schmuck. Nobody here was kind, and the ones that had been had probably died fast. Quartz took out his two energy spheres of the evening and started rolling them around on his palm. "I'm called Quartz," he answered, not offering a handshake. "I awoke some time in . . . maybe July or August, last year. Some time in the summer -- I don't know for sure. They conscripted me into the Negaverse in September -- but I wasn't allowed outside until New Year's Eve. When I'd learned to -- behave myself." He smiled, and it was a little wolfish. "Good behavior earns me time outside -- but they still don't exactly put me in a room with anyone on my rank. I think they have some idea I might not be a good influence."
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Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:31 am
'Awoke', then 'conscripted'. He must be one that the Negaverse reclaimed from order. And the admission of behavioral issues - I expect there will be a great deal of bad blood to come if he was conscripted. He wondered if this Lieutenant, Quartz, might be considered for youmafication if his behavior was truly so troublesome. For now, he seemed decent enough - no outward indications that he might attack, and he minded himself well in this social situation. His chest piece indicated an interesting progression to the eclipse, which might've drawn more attention had Quartz's explanations of his keeping hadn't been so interesting.
The smile he showcased earned a narrowing of eyelids from Umber. "So what you've just explained to me is that you're a soldier of poor fit to the Negaverse, who was drafted in without compliance, and have only recently exhibited behavior mannerisms that you might be something useful to the cause and therefore should be allowed outside to perform routine duties. That's an interesting introduction, Lieutenant." It did not, however, place the pair on a slanted scale in terms of equality in Umber's mind - the pair were still lieutenants, and despite a rocky start, Quartz might've proven that he's quite adept at energy draining. After all, he already held a pair of orbs in hand, quietly rocking together.
And sometimes, those who fought with greatest difficulty in the beginning became one of the greatest assets.
"So what did they do with you before you learned how to behave? Were you jailed?" The field guide offered so little information on Negaverse protocol with punishment, and any further guesses were shots in the dark compared with what little familiarity he had in old conditioning practices.
Quartz's experiences with the Negaverse might prove useful - as he was unaware of how the organization treated its new acquisitions from the other side. Considering all the times he might attempt to have someone drafted into their ranks, he found it prudent to know what became of them - and how they adjusted. What of those who adjusted poorly, and how well trusted were those who adjusted quickly? And what amount of Negaverse ranks were turncoats and traitors? Conscripts?
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Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:53 am
Unfit. Non-compliant. Barely useful. Barely deserving. These assessments sat ill with Quartz, reminding him abruptly of his place. He had imagined, in what was probably some still-naive part of his mind, that his fellow lieutenants would lack the arrogance, the malice, of his superiors; they they'd be young, trusting, somehow well-intentioned. It was funny to have overlooked the obvious -- that those same lieutenants had willingly joined the Negaverse. They were probably a bunch of entitled shits, or just heartless scumbags. This one, this Umber, seemed to hear nothing but that Quartz was apparently not a very good asset. Evidently he saw himself as superior. a*****e. "Is that what you want to hear?" he said crisply, obviously put off by something in Umber's manner. "Some sort of tragedy porn? Torture porn?" He scoffed, dragging an aggrieved hand through his hair. "Ask General Schörl if you like. I'm sure she'd be happy to enlighten you. Plenty of good, juicy stories for you to get your rocks off to, if that's what you're into. You'll forgive me if it's not how I want to spend the last half hour before my curfew." Strickenized Sorry Umber, he is very touchy and interprets many neutral comments as threatening~
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Posted: Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:48 am
An eyebrow quirked, and the hunter's eyes grew half-lidded while he leaned back a margin from the obviously irritated lieutenant. "I was more interested in the truth." Torture porn? Tragedy porn? What? "It doesn't please me to hear that my peers are suffering, if that's what you're implying. I haven't yet met a Negaverse officer that's satisfied in his or her standing - and everyone I've met presumably stayed with the Negaverse the entire time. I don't know why that is, or how it's so widespread. But you're different from the rest." And what rocks was he talking about? My starseed? I don't understand.
Hands shifted out of pockets to rest against backs of hips. His fingers dug beneath the leather cord that pinned some kind of leather flap to his pants. "What I want to hear is how you've been treated since conscription into the Negaverse. You were not initially part of it, right? That places you in a unique position - a disadvantageous one. But you are, now, one of our rank - not a hostage, or some kind of prisoner of war."
"I don't know much about the Negaverse. You've probably seen the field guide yourself - there's not much information offered on the organization itself. There's nothing to say how it treats the officers that fail to meet expectations, or the ones that grow belligerent. There are promotions mentioned, but nothing in that manual cites that promotion is more painful than corruption. And there's the prospect of youmafication that is a risk for officers, with at least one of my knowledge already a partial monster, but no mention of it. Following that is the New Year's Eve party that I found out about through a knight named Hvergelmir. I'm certain there were prior organized tactical strikes, but there's no mention of those in any Negaverse-issued literature either. The only way to learn anything about this organization is to talk to the people within it."
"That includes you." He left the phrase to linger while maintaining steady eye contact. "You're free to do as you like, obviously, but I want to know what happens to those who we claim from our enemies." If that included going to General Schörl for answers, then he would.
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Posted: Sat May 02, 2015 4:31 pm
Quartz slid the loose cuff off of his right arm, reeling out the attached silk between his hands. This one had been tied around his arms, when he'd been captured. The other one had been tied around his legs. He wore his own fetters as part of his uniform. "I am a hostage," he corrected. "Everything I do is against my will. But I've learned to be very good at it -- doing what I'm told. And my General trusts me now. She doesn't have to trust that I like her, or that I give a solitary ******** for Metallia, or that I believe in our grand cause or like draining energy from people: she just has to trust that I'm smart enough to have learned my lesson. That just because you can't see my leash doesn't mean it isn't there." Quartz wound the silk around his fist a few times, pulling it taut. "If you try to run away, they can rip you back with a thought. Anyone you ask for help can be killed. Anyone you tell has to be gotten rid of. If you don't perform as a soldier, you don't get to live as a person. And if you still won't dance to their tune, they won't keep you around. If you're lucky, they'll kill you. If not, you get to join the joyful ranks of slobbering youma, doomed to mindlessly haunt our city. There are no other options."
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 9:58 am
Umber's gaze dropped to the sash while Quartz slowly wound it around his own fist. He wondered if the action were purposeful, or absent - if it related, somehow, to his being a 'hostage'.
I think that, by nature of being a hostage, you cannot be trusted. Are you certain your general places trust in you, Quartz? Or is she waiting for you to slip up? I wonder how long it takes for obedience to give way to trust, and from there to a legitimate member of the Negaverse army. How long until you just give in?
"It sounds like you've learned that lesson well enough." It also sounded like Quartz struggled with a deep sense of paranoia - even if the Negaverse were capable of ripping someone back with a thought, at what point does that expenditure qualify as worthwhile? Would anyone do so with this Quartz? Would they expend the amount of chaotic power to reduce him to youma status? Were it not cheaper, and easier, to just end him on his next transgression? As a lieutenant, Umber figured he lacked the expertise to determine the answers to these decisions - that power, ultimately, fell into the hands of Quartz's superior.
I wonder if you've abandoned all thought for purification. That would be wise. "If I were evaluating the Negaverse based on your statements alone, then it sounds like performing as a soldier might be in your best interest. Unless you prefer living in fetters." Some did, he wagered - and considering that Quartz remained in this position, how was Umber to assume otherwise?
"It's disappointing to hear that you've been treated so poorly, but considering the implied 'bad behavior', it sounds like your general thinks it's deserved."
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 4:20 am
There was something repulsive, something almost cruel, about it's disappointing to hear you've been treated so poorly -- it smacked of a cloying reproof from Stroud, a reminder of his tendency to willfully disrupt social flow. There was no sympathy in the man's tone, nor certainly in the accusation that Quartz had deserved it. "Yes, I'm sure you're very disappointed in it all," Quartz said, dry. "The carrot is certainly a better motivator than the stick, if you want to move a horse. But not to worry, I promise you the stick works plenty well enough to get the job done." He raised a challenging eyebrow. "What brings you into our vaunted ranks, lieutenant? Something you're running toward, or something you're running from?"
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2015 2:43 pm
Something in the lieutenant's voice suggested to Umber that he wasn't entirely straightforward in his declaration about disappointment. It earned another suspicious glance from him, but nothing more.
"Neither, actually - I wasn't running from anything. It was a false choice. That is all." In truth, he had been running. Every portion of that night was fateful, and he knew it from the start - but Quartz needn't hear of it. The man was steeped in his own miseries for now, and it seemed better to let him stew in them. "Xenotime offered me a choice to join. She later confessed that I would've been corrupted regardless of my choice." Would Quartz see it as another point against the Negaverse, or attempt to rally him against their cause? Doubtful; the man obviously lacked a decent impression of him.
"General Schörl, was it? I'll try to find her at your suggestion." He considered offering Quartz a parting greeting, but the man seemed to salty to take anything he said without qualm or quip. "I'm sure she'll be interested to hear that her hostage has been behaving responsibly."
I can see why she subjected you to fetters, after all.
"Goodbye, Quartz." A curt nod indicated his departure while he turned away from the lieutenant, casting one last glance over his shoulder to ensure no rash actions were taken. It seemed unlikely, but with someone so mired in hate toward the Negaverse, it seemed more rational to play it safe.
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