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 Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 6:11 pm
Negaspace looked the same as it did before the breech, and this disturbed him. Was the Negaverse so proud that it would not show signs of its prior breakdowns? He wondered if newer recruits received notification about the enemy's boldest move yet. It was not his place to question the choices of their sovereigns, and he did not, though faith waned since their restructure. Still, if they fell due to poor leadership, then that was their fate.
Umber jogged up the old, half-claimed stairs to the second floor, where sprawling cave systems splintered out like fingers looking for purchase. Hours he spent among these halls, pacing throughout while he waited for a chance to see his brother in capitvity. He knew, therefore, several of these channels - he knew which looped back around, and which ended in nothing more than a display of ominous crystals. He knew what paths to take to find the old cells, often empty, where his brother once remained. Umber spared no second thoughts about the matter; he took the prudent paths to reach that area, and stopped only when the cells were well within view.
As much as he considered it, Umber did not sit. He allowed himself to lean against the wall while he mentally prepared to send out a summons. Doing so proved only a small matter of concentration - he knew Chrysocolla's face well - the mint hair that cascaded down in frizzy waves, the brown uniform draped over her pudgy form, the matter that she came up a foot shorter than him - and each of these aspects reached his mental vision with clarity. A spike of chaotic energy applied to task therefore urged her toward Negaspace - a summons he knew she could refuse via rank privilege, but one that would certainly force her to take note.
It was, he figured, difficult to ignore that someone wanted to see her.
The topic in mind was not one he relished. He felt much like he pursued the same path as he did with Ochre, and he wondered if he somehow went wrong with each senshi he corrupted. He could not abandon that task, however; the gain of a senshi to their side provided too great a boon to ignore. If he failed to appeal to Chrysocolla here, then he would relegate all further senshi to parties better suited for their naturalization. Abandoning a task of bonding did not faze him.
While he waited, Umber crossed arms over chest and watched the low glow of the crystals over their ancient cages.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 6:26 pm
It was mid-morning; more precisely, it was the time of Poppy's history class, which was one of her best subjects even given her sad fate of being an average student. It was mostly memorizing at these levels, anyways, and as long as she wasn't asked to have any particular opinions on military strategy she did perfectly well. It was just facts and things that were long-gone, long-over: the only opinion she needed to have was if it was good or not, for the people involved, and in that sense her opinion was whatever the textbook said. She didn't care much for forming her own opinions on such an old topic, after all.
So when the summons came like a ringing in her head, she was confused, but not particularly worried: there were people she knew, and it wasn't like she had to worry too much about absences, the staff being primarily in on it. They'd cover for her. Hell, she'd cover for her. Just a quick "I really don't feel well, I'll get the information from a classmate, but if I don't get out of this classroom right now I'm going to puke over everything --" not in those words, but the spirit was there, and the thought was there. It was only a few minutes to hurry back to her dorm, and then she focused on the keening of the summons, clear as a bell --
and then Chrysocolla was there in front of Umber, looking mildly frazzled (as always, really), a finger wrapped around one of her long bangs. "Ah, General...? What is it? Sorry it took me so long -" maybe five minutes, if that - "I had to get out of class, and I can't just get up and leave, so...I needed an excuse."
The way her ponytail fanned out behind her back, dispersing the light, the clear-cut of the gemstones on her fuku -- she fit in rather well, here.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:02 pm
Umber grunted in response to her excuse. He got around to wondering if she ignored the summons altogether before she showed up, but now she was here, and justifications for her relative tardiness affected nothing. He knew surprisingly little about education systems in general, let alone the Negaverse's proprietary school - if he did, perhaps he would have given her response more credence.
"I have concerns." He spoke the words in his usual gruff tones, and let his gaze linger on her for a time. If nothing else, she looked like less of a mess than she was as a White Moon soldier. Here, she held more power and managed a modicum of self-control - even if she still looked frazzled. He wondered, briefly, if Persephone was the same way. "I doubt this will surprise you." He closed his eyes in recital of old events. "I have been involved with the corruption of three senshi, and knew a fourth. The first was my brother - and he turned traitor when I was trying to corrupt the second. He was held in these cells for months. Even now, as an eternal senshi, he is being watched. The second reacted poorly every time she saw me. We used to be friends before her corruption. The fourth was someone who was once an eternal senshi with us, and turned traitor to join the Dark Mirror. The third is you." When he opened his eyes, he looked to her again. His countenance shed no great insight on his internal thoughts.
"You and I live on different sides of the same war. I'm unconvinced that your beliefs have changed since you were a White Moon senshi. You still balk at killing in the same way. You believe that senshi are simply deluded, and need to be coazed to our side, even while they are actively killing members of our own military. You hold a complex moral system in the face of immoral constraints. My concern is that you will follow the path of my brother and find yourself in one of those cages." He offered a nod to his left, where a few stood empty and waiting for their next occupants.
Umber shoved off from his place against the wall and started toward the dull gleam of the cages. While Chrysocolla looked at home here, more than Umber did, she didn't act it - and Umber wanted to explore this. "I'm going to ask you some questions. Answer them honestly.
"Why do you fight for the Negaverse, Warhol?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:20 pm
Her teeth grazed her lip repeatedly, and her hands fidgeted with each other, but Chrysocolla's eyes remained focused on Umber even if she didn't quite make eye contact (which might have been for a variety of reasons -- his height being only one of them). Throughout his speech she remained respectfully quiet, barely moving, her breathing regular even if she was afraid what he might say.
She'd gotten pretty good at that. Managing your anger was an important skill. Chrysocolla liked to think she'd learned a lot about it.
"Your brother is...Ochre, right? I met him once...he looks like you. But as far as my beliefs go..." Her hands went down to her sides, fidgeting with the cloth there, but kept in alignment. "I mean. I don't know what I believed when I was White Moon, General, so I can't tell you anything about that. But I was corrupted to make reparations for my murders, is what Laurelite told me...I don't see why I should be the only senshi who gets to have a chance to try and fix things." She took a deep breath. "I kill people who are old enough to be responsible for themselves by ripping their starseeds. The more pointless killing we do, the more it becomes harder for me to try and convince anyone we're not the evil ones." Her smile was a little forced. "I was already in a cage like that, remember? The White Moon kidnapped a bunch of us. They almost killed a fourteen-year-old girl from dehydration. We're not like that -- or at least I'm not like that. It's inhumane."
She turned to pace, then, lifting one hand and grazing it over the crystalline walls as she walked. "...I fight for the Negaverse because we deserve this planet. Because it isn't theirs. Because someone needs to help people, and we have the power to do it -- and because the Negaverse gave me everything. Why wouldn't I?" The use of her old name had her temporarily uncomfortable, but -- it was likely intentional, Chrysocolla assumed, to try and unsettle her. That was fine. She was better than that.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:47 pm
He looks like me and that's where our similarities end. Umber loosed a sigh through his nose at the comment over his brother. He knew not what Xenotime saw in Slate that day.
Umber stopped only when he reached the leftmost cage. He surveyed it for its functionality, touched a finger to the bars but once, and seemed satisfied. A kick, and the old door swung shut with a groan. So you try to pull them to our side by telling them we're somehow better than the rest - more moralistic. You offer them a dichotomy by saying one must be good, and the other must be bad. Even now you stick to that, unhindered, through corruption and through the loss of so many agents in Negaspace. Nothing will change this view in you. Nothing has this far. He turned to look at her. "And how many senshi or knights have you corrupted into the Negaverse with that method? By showing them that we're not the evil ones?" I suspect you're using this method as a means to shirk your duties.
"When I had you corrupted, you said 'this is a war. We all kill'. You also said 'I'd rather die than join you'. You were corrupted for this resolve. For your demonstrative skill of killing two Negaverse agents. Your magic is a tool. Do you think you have improved at all since you believed these things?" Since, he considered, it was apparent she abandoned those lines of thinking now.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:06 pm
The groan of the cage startled Chrysocolla, and she shuddered, thinking about barred doors and cold metal on her wrists -- she didn't like to think about it much. She'd been good. She'd been so good and they'd given her water for it, and they were all filthy ******** traitors to the proper way of thinking and deserved to bleed -- no, no, no. Those were bad thoughts. She didn't want to kill anyone.
"I," she scowled, "am working on it, okay...? Even if it takes a while to get them to corrupt, I can still try and keep them from powering up and patrolling and getting in our way. If they're staying at home, if they're at least contemplating, then they're less likely to be a bother or to attack other officers." And very few of them noticed the energy drain, at the very low level she would do it at if she brushed their hands once or twice; besides. It meant nobody else got hurt. Just like her and Kerberos: they had an understanding, after all, and that was that if he let her drain him she'd leave other people alone. There was nothing wrong or bad about it - only an agreement.
"I was fourteen, General," Chrysocolla echoed, dragging her nails across the cold crystal. "It doesn't matter what -- fourteen-year-olds shouldn't be killing anyone. I'm efficient at what I do, and I'm more interested in protecting other officers and gaining willing allies than attacking everyone I see." There was an acidic undercurrent to her tone. "Is that all you had to ask me?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:28 pm
"You're working on it," Umber echoed. "So you're telling me that your efforts to corrupt senshi and knights to the Negaverse willingly has not produced any results in over a year. You justify your methods by stating that an absence of fight that day is making a difference. You insist that gaining allies and protecting officers is a better use of your abilities than fighting on the warfront. You insist that-" and for the first time in a long time, Umber almost laughed, "you're efficient at what you do despite a lack of evidence supporting that statement."
For a few moments, Umber held onto the bar of the cage to drain off the excess energy from rage. He released his grip only when he felt he could refrain from decking the girl. "Fourteen-year-olds make better killers than older populations. You're proving that yourself."
When he spoke again, he sounded off to the empty room. "The Negaverse harvests energy from human beings to sustain Metallia and to sustain our youma. The Negaverse corrupts civilians into inhuman monsters that are periodically loosed into the city. The Negaverse rips the lives from civilians and senshi in a systematic collection, and each Negaverse agent is required to keep one of these lives on hand for emergency recovery purposes. The Negaverse harvests energy from senshi planets under its jurisdiction. These are all measures that perpetuate the existence of the Negaverse. By my observation, Chrysocolla abstains from most of her duties as much as possible to feign the projection that she is above the rest of us. The intent of this protection is to lure other enemies into the stead of the Negaverse. So far, this endeavor has produced no successful corruptions.
"Chrysocolla continued this belief through corruption. Chrysocolla still adheres to this belief despite the breech of the enemy into the Negaverse, whereupon we sustained significant losses. Chrysocolla sees no reason to retaliate with deadly force against the enemy or otherwise shift her currently unfounded, unsupported tactics even in light of these facts.
"Chrysocolla is therefore an ineffectual officer as reported by Special Operatives General Umber. Chrysocolla's tactics prove to be a hindrance to the Negaverse, perpetuated by the moral structures to which she adheres. Further reconditioning is highly recommended.
"Does this sound like a report you want in the Database, Chrysocolla?" He asked at last, the sole indicator of his anger remaining in his eyes.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:37 pm
"I," Chrysocolla hissed, grinding her hands into the wall (her knuckles had gone white under the gloves), "have been sick since last year and I barely have the energy to get out of bed half the time, General - unless you know what's wrong with me."
"I wasn't there for the Breach! Do you think I don't feel guilty about it every day?! That my friends, my family, were here fighting and dying, and I ******** slept through the whole thing because I'm sick and I don't know how to fix it?!" Her fist impacted the wall with a hollow thud. "If you support teenagers -- children -- fighting and killing without ever really knowing what they're doing, you're not an officer -- you're just a monster. You're a monster." Her voice shook - but unlike their encounters prior to her corruption, it stayed steady, tightened by controlled rage. "I have classes to get back to, General. Have a nice day."
She vanished in less than a second from his sight - her aura was nowhere to be found, and any further attempts to summon her back to Negaspace - were Umber to make any - would be unsuccessful. She could have asked Cinnabar for help, maybe, but -- she knew she wouldn't like what she heard, either way.
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Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:53 pm
Chrysocolla left before Umber could respond, but he wagered he didn't need to. Any attempt to confront the eternal senshi on her failings resulted in more of the same pushback. It seemed to him that the only way to change her mind was to force it upon her - as he did before. While reclaiming someone's autonomy from themselves wasn't his first choice of action, it did not exist outside of his scope of considerations.
And, given his experiences with Ochre, he knew precisely how to remedy her lack of progress.
The mention of her sickness was worrisome for his it obviously crippled her ability to be effective in the Negaverse. Umber wondered, then, if her energy quotas performed lower than the average lieutenant's, or under others of her ilk. He wondered how Chrysocolla reflected upon Amphitrite, and how she was handling the teenager's rebelliousness against natural Negaverse duties. She sought to build that team, however, and nothing came of it - so perhaps nothing could truly be expected of corrupted senshi until they ascend.
Fine, he decided. He would help Chrysocolla ascend - and that would strip from her whatever plagued her. It would strip from her all intentions to counteract Metallia's plans, as dictated through their General-Sovereigns. He needed but one life to contribute to the cause…
In a breath, the chamber was silent.
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