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 Posted: Thu May 24, 2018 4:06 pm
((backdated to january)) The large building for Renegade Records had loomed over him when he arrived in his sleek car and when he'd passed into it's shadow, cold had washed over him like water.
It was probably real cold more than anything, being mid-winter, but still. The chill was mental, and while he knew that, he still felt it. Still felt the apprehension of being here, of responding to the call. The summons. He still remembered the holiday party, and how it had ended.
Trey shifted in the waiting room, his chest aching as he tried to look casual and unconcerned. Not like he wanted to claw his way out of his own skin. Composed, rather than the nervous wreck he felt like. The pale walls and clean carpet screamed at him, they looked so oddly normal. Like the man inside the office wasn't some magic-weilding super power from a secret military organization. Who'd forcefully recruited him only weeks ago.
Trey licked his dry lips and tried not to let the panic claw its way up his throat. What was he even doing here? He should have refused to see Chase again, to have anything to do with him... but there was the worry about what he'd do if Trey ghosted him. He knew where he lived. Who is family was. Something of his routine. And there was still the Charity ball looming on the horizon. His mother's expectations, unknowing of what had happened. Its not like he could tell her...
He nearly jumped when the doors swung open and a young woman greeted him, ushering him inside to close the door behind him. Inside the door way he stood stiffly, his hand wrapped around the strap of his messenger bag and unsure what to do with himself now... and unwilling to pretend like none of it had ever happened as his eyes sought out young man who had called him here.
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Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:29 am
Chase was seated behind his desk, back towards the door despite his guest and his gaze was fixed out one of the many windows that make up the walls before him. Agitation was worn like a second skin, much to the man's frustration, and it took several seconds for him to calm the buzzing in his veins when Trey stepped into the room.
He had summoned him, had told his secretary to let the man in, but he didn't know how ready he was to deal with the aftermath of everything.
Things had gone more poorly than he'd intended and all the work he had been putting into Trey...It could dissolve at any moment if they weren't able to fix things and yet...
Something rattled in his chest anyway.
"Close the door," he stated, voice as raspy as ever when he finally turned around and gestured at the chair across from him. "Sit." A pause. "Please."
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Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:34 am
Trey eyed the interior of the office, taking in the clean, expensive furniture and small bits of decoration that spoke of their owner, but not enough to really give him any idea of what he was dealing with. Appearances could lie. He knew that much already.
With the door closed behind him, the young man moved forward with a stiffness he could barely conceal, sliding his bag off his shoulder to set it next to the chair he sank into smoothly. One leg crossed over the other, affecting more comfort than he felt and offering some small mental barrier between him and the man behind the desk. His hands draped over the arm rests and he forced himself not to drum his fingers, his eyes on the desk top and whatever clutter it held. His mind wasn't on it, really.
"You wanted to talk with me." He said simply, as an opening. He had to say something. What else could he say? "I'm assuming to enlighten me about what happened. And why."
It was a little bald, but he couldn't bring himself to dance around it. It was just a bit challenging, but only the tiniest bit.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 1:52 pm
Whiskey eyes never left the other man as he made himself as comfortable as he was willing to appear. Chase couldn't blame the man for the discomfort he was displaying as the events near Christmas had gone disastrously and in the end, he was the only one to blame for that.
"I do," he agreed, folding fingers together and resting elbows on his desk. "And you're correct. Things in December were..." Chase paused, fingers unlacing so he could wave his hand about like it explained everything.
"It didn't go as planned and I let other factors affect me more than they should have," he explained, omitting parts because how was he supposed to explain that once he realized what Trey was supposed to be all he'd wanted to do was to kill the man?
"Everyone in that room is one of us," he said, knowing that it didn't explain much. "I am...picky, I spend a lot of time deliberating if I wish to bring someone into the fold, to be more entangled with my affairs than you'd been. It was meant to be something we, as a group, could celebrate but you turned out to be different in the same way Regan and Priscilla are instead of what Suri and I are."
His teeth grated over each other and he forced himself to remember how to breathe. "It wasn't meant to be so traumatic, for that I apologize."
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:12 pm
Trey's eyes narrow, but his expression remained stoic as he listened to the shallow explanation he was offered. It wasn't much, but he supposed it was an apology, ultimately. Chase could have offered nothing at all by way of a peace gift, but he bent himself enough to actually say the words. They sounded sincere, if not exactly heart-rending.
The way he explained it though, left Trey with a sour taste in his mouth. It had happened because he wasn't like Labyrinthite or Zircon. Because he was different and somehow not living up to Chase's expectations. Failing, which was a new sensation for him and one he disliked. If he'd been something else, something better, things would have been better.
Trey's fingers clamped down on the arms of his chair for a moment, the muscles just shifting under the skin before he forced them to relax again.
"Why don't you explain what exactly you are and I am that makes us so different. And what sort of expectations you have for me now that I'm... whatever I am." He said, his voice cool. He'd heard terms thrown around of course; officer, senshi, Metallia. It made only barest sense. "I don't suppose I have a choice in the matter, now."
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:21 am
Trey was, understandably, angry. Or at least, irritable, and Chase couldn't blame him for that either nor could be blame him for the lack of control when it came to the display of emotions. The younger man hadn't been his long enough and things had been so messy in a manner that wasn't typical for him.
"There are four sides to things, in a sense," he stated, after a moment of silent deliberation. "You are now part of the organization that I serve, the Negaverse." Once again his fingers were laced together, set upon the desk to keep himself more controlled.
"The others, from the party, they're all part of it too. As I said before, you, Prissy, and Regan are all similar, when it comes to what you are." Chase exhaled slowly, as if the mere conversation about senshi was riling the darkness within. "You are senshi, that is part of the negaverse. They, the other sides, call you corrupt in order to demean, but it's not...quite wrong." Elbows propped themselves on the desk and he leaned forward, cradling his jaw with his thumbs.
"Senshi are different from soldiers like Suri and I, because your abilities, who you are come from you and are amplified by the sovereign Metallia. Suri and I are granted our power from the source of all of the power within the negaverse, Metallia, who is a body-less entity and Queen Laurelite is the one she uses to enforce her will." He paused to give himself time to study how Trey might have been reacting. "We fight with weapons and enhanced physical strengths granted by her power. You and your kind rely more on magic and within the Negaverse, there are drawbacks. Youma don't care for you and are unlikely to listen to your orders, there are places you cannot go un-escorted."
He elected to not tell Trey that once they were considered second class citizens, weapons of the negaverse and nothing more.
"There is nothing wrong with the fact you are a senshi, my oldest companion and one of Metallia's most devoted and capable was a senshi like yourself. She is something more now, but she is alone in her glory. The problem is not you, the problem is me."
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:59 pm
The corners of his full lips turned down and his brows pinched, but Trey listened, trying not to dismiss what he was told out of hand.
This man had literally stuck a hand into his chest and touched something that couldn't possibly, scientifically, be there... but was. And then pulled his hand back out without leaving so much as a scratch. He'd been, as they called it, teleported... disappearing and reappearing in a place completely new. There was no way to explain any of it that didn't make magic real, and why then wouldn't anything else he said be real? It didn't make it easier to stomach though, and a queasiness settled in the pit of his stomach like a weight.
Corrupt. Senshi. Negaverse. Metallia. All the words felt foreign and meaningless.
The problem is me.
"So what does that mean for me now, exactly?" He said. We fight... So, he was supposed to be some sort of soldier now? When he had never fought anything before and hadn't even taken a martial arts class as a kid? Was training going to be involved? More things to add into his already busy schedule, and what if he got hurt? Trey hated to think of himself as vain, but... the thought of potential injury and god forbid scars... He was not ready for that.
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:18 am
Frustration kept Chase's spine taunt, ready to snap if he wasn't careful. He had made incredible strides over the months following his return but there was always something that could trigger him and set it off and with how messy the whole affair had become, Chase had an even thinner line to walk across.
"Largely you'll go about things as we had been." Chase swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing while his nostrils flared from the deep inhale and exhale. "Normally my inductions aren't as...they go smoother than yours did, it was meant to be intimate, celebrated with the others and it turned muddy too quickly." His fault. "There are a few more expectations of you that go beyond the business aspect of things that we had been working on."
He shifted, tugging on the sleeves of his button up, smoothing them out to distract himself just enough to settle the bubbling of darker tendencies. "There will be training, I expect you to be able to handle yourself, eventually, when thing come down to combat, but how you operate within the negaverse is subjective. I feel like you'll have a farther reach on a civilian level, your talents with event organization and your connections and your background in fashion have you unique position."
His chair was pulled in closer to the desk before him. "Most things will remain as is, when there are adjustments, you will be informed and included in more in-depth planning. I expect you to establish relationships with the others, the ones you met at the party. We are a team, we look out for each other." His lips twisted into a smirk. "The lone wolf dies but the pack survives. All of the issues aside, if you call for us, we will come."
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:04 pm
Trey absorbed the information with an uncomfortable, skeptical air. He didn't disbelieve, but wasn't accepting of the new role being forced on him. At least it sounded like his life, his normal life, wouldn't change much... but the additions were worrisome. Suddenly he was PR for some shadow organization? That was how the hints felt... and of the things he could have heard, it didn't feel like the worst of them.
He did PR already... he had some background in what that entailed. And putting his skills to use would mean not needing to learn a completely new set... Ugh, the idea of combat though. Still not sitting well.
Blue eyes narrowed and while he frowned, it was more thoughtful than angry now. He new Suri from the party, which was both a good and a bad thing. Another thing to reconcile as not what he'd thought it was. Chase's girlfriend, which he knew through Chase... it was a start there. But the pale haired girl? He had not really gotten a good introduction to that one, and had no idea what sort of person she was.
Trey's lips pinched at the corners and he kept his nose from wrinkling with effort. Wolf? Pack? An apt description of their structure, but he'd never really seen himself as a 'wolf'.
"What is the... goal, of the Negaverse? Is there one? I'd like to know what I'm working for... and why." He said, putting aside his discomfort.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 10:33 am
Chase let the information sink in, hands laced together and resting on the desk before him. His whiskey-gold gaze never left Trey's face and it was clear that he was processing something, but his expression was rather blank and difficult to read while his companion's was more open.
Things had proceeded ugly and Chase disliked that.
It was, in fact, the first time he'd drawn someone into the ranks that had been so utterly displeased by it all. The effects of his time away were still very relevant and his judgement had been impaired when he had made his decisions.
He had miscalculated and misjudged.
Chase didn't like that. At all. And yet, he was forced to deal with repercussions for being rash.
Being rash was uncharacteristic and yet-- here they were, with Trey asking questions no one had thought to ask him in a very long time.
His exhale was slow and his response, slower. "In Destiny City, the goal is to control it. To eradicate the opposing forces and establish Negaverse control. We serve a sovereign, Metallia, who grants us power to do things humans ordinarily cannot do." It wasn't much of an explanation, but all that he could give to someone so skeptical.
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 5:28 pm
"So we're terrorists. Insurrectionists? In an, apparently, secret war." Trey said flatly, trying to mask his skepticism. "A magical one. And I assume, the benefit of being part of it is the spoils of war? You'll have to excuse me if I have a hard time being really... enthused about risking my life for a cause I don't have a lot of stake in."
This all sounded insane. Their recruitment sounded insane. He felt more like a hostage than a soldier.
"This Metallia... who is she? Why should I want her in control of this city when I've been perfectly happy with the current government? You could certainly force me to serve, but I suspect you'd like someone driven by more than fear of their superiors. Slave soldiers sounds like a lot of work."
There had to be more to it he wasn't seeing. Suri... Suri wouldn't be part of this without being willing, and he was sure Chase wouldn't. They had some reason for their loyalty to it, and he was sure it wasn't some sort of brainwashing... unless it was, and then he was most certainly ********. At least he wouldn't have all these questions and uncertainty for long.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:34 am
"I wouldn't call us terrorists." Chase replied, tone even despite the way his eyes narrowed slightly. "And it effects you more than may realize." Things had calmed greatly in comparison to how it had been in the days of his youth. "Most of the extraordinarily strange happenings in the city are a result of the other side. The White Moon and the magic they hold at their disposal." He was making a mental list to explain later, for better context.
"Metallia is the sovereign who gives us access to the magic that pulses in your veins." It didn't matter if Trey didn't believe in magic, it was there and the corruption had been their catalyst to accessing it. "She controls most of the world," he stated, if the reports and teachings were to be believed. He'd seen some of the work outside of the city, privy to secret researches and senshi-free cities.
"I would prefer true loyalty and willingness, but I am not above reprimand." He sought to create bonds and only resorted to punishment if he had to. It'd happened once or twice before, his expectations were high, but few beneath his wing had fallen short.
"As for the government, more serve her than you may realize." He remembered the elections and how people among the negaverse had stepped up and ran. He paid them little attention these days and did not know how many still held or might hold positions any longer. For the most part, they were not his concern.
"And for how it benefits you, consider the power I weld with my name, my resources, my companies." He gestured around, as if Trey could see everything Chase controlled, owned, or had the potential to control from it. "You sought me out for my connections and how I could help you make a name for yourself outside of your mother's brand. With the resources of the Negaverse, there's so much more."
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:12 am
The scope of what was going on slowly expanded as Chase spoke and Trey stilled, his mind turning it over, extrapolating from it.
He hadn't considered that this might not be confined to Destiny City... that it might be something that had infiltrated so far in secret. It was like whispers of Illuminati, but this time he had felt the proof of it with his... baptism. For lack of a better word. And far more secretive than the Mafia, though parts of it rang the same.
His fingers stopped in their drumming and the tension in his shoulders eased as his mind shifted. Eyes narrowed, he studied the man behind the desk.
He had wanted to tap into the influence Chase represented. That he commanded a far wider range than he had known didn't change why he had sought it out. There was a lot to think about.
"You mentioned training, and other expectations." He said slowly after a long, quiet moment. "When do you expect these to start?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 10:49 am
Despite the rockiness of it all, it appeared that Trey was settling, or at the very least, coming to terms with what had happened and his place in things.
"Soon." A vague answer was given because Chase didn't know when he would be in a place for such a thing, his own struggles carefully hidden when he could manage it.
Chase could tell that his newest recruit would be resistant to training, he understood, but he also understood that it was necessary. He was unwilling to put out people who didn't know how to handle themselves and could reflect poorly on himself.
"I will call for you."
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