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 Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 5:54 am
Another night, another Negaverse haunt...
Athalia was stalking his prey again, or rather he was on the prowl for it. This evening he hadn't quite found someone yet but it was only a matter of time. The Negaverse needed to 'eat' as he referred to it. He'd come to realise that they had to be out, they had to gather energy and if they didn't then it seemed that things didn't quite go according to their plans.
In short, now that Athalia knew they needed to eat he had come to the conclusion that he needed to make a point of starving them. Starving came in the form of intervening before they could either get hold of someone, or at the very least, before they could finish what they had been intending to do. Suffice to say he hadn't yet discovered a Youma or an Agent who had ripped out someone's starseed (thus killing them), or his mission would have been very different.
...Perhaps in the future he wouldn't just be an inconvenience, he might become a genuine threat.
For now though? Well, for now it was just another night of back alley stalking for any Negaverse agents that may just be trying to do their job!
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2020 7:32 pm
Geocronite grumbled as the words of the Squire continued to swirl around in his mind. He hated them. He hated them because they gave him something that he had wanted to forget about so that he would not be disappointed when it wasn't possible. He had gotten a sense of hope. A sense that he could actually get out of this whole thing. But how? How was he supposed to go through with it and not be caught? There was just no way... but the small tinge of hope had wormed it's way into his head and it had been stuck there ever since the conversation. And unfortunately since that conversation, he hadn't yet found any way to try to forward being "purified". Which meant that he had to continue his job of draining others. Still reluctantly. And feeling even worse knowing that he didn't have to do it at this point. He had decided to go with some of the easier targets now that the weather was nicer. Getting a few drunks in the alleyways near the bars were always good targets. Usually they were sleeping, unconscious, or wouldn't put up a fight. If they did, all he had to do was drain them a little to get whatever energy they had to do so out of them and then they would go to sleep for a bit. At least the Negaverse didn't have a quota on who one had to drain from. He couldn't help but groan as he felt the aura of Order nearby. He was almost through at least, which meant that he would be safe for the rest of the week, but he just had to drain a bit more to reach it, otherwise he would have to try another night... He made sure to keep his back to one of the walls of the alleyways in case the Order Senshi decided to try sneaking up on him.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 4:16 am
Truthfully, Athalia didn't know about Purification either and perhaps when he found out the more nuanced aspects of it he might consider a change in approach. However based on his current, limited knowledge, of the Negaverse and the Order, his approach to anything regarding them was quite primitive. They were a problem and he was there to correct it... In the grand scheme of things it wasn't much different than what he did for his day job.
...Minus the eldritch horrors and magic of course.
Fortunately for Geocronite he was not one for subtlety in these situations and even thought the Negaverse agent had chosen to keep his back to the wall (a smart call), Athalia wasn't going to jump out from behind him. Instead the rather flamboyantly dressed senshi had leapt down from the wall he had taken to running along to catch up to the signal and landed squarely in front of him.
Him and his chosen drunkards for the evening, well, even Athalia could appreciate the need for an easy target. He glanced briefly towards some of the prone forms with what appeared to be a measure of recognition, this was one of those places and therefore quite familiar to a police officer.
"As much of a nuisance as these people are, I'm going to have to ask you to stop," he spoke up at last, calm and measured in tone. At this stage he wasn't sure if Geocronite had managed to get to any of them yet, it could be difficult to tell with those who were particularly far gone, but it was more preferable to assume the worst for now.
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 1:03 pm
Geocronite grunted as he stopped gathering energy from his latest target, and wondered if he couldn't grab a little bit more while talking to this Senshi. He had to admit, if he was going to be forced to drain energy, he liked being able to do it from a distance instead of directly as he had been forced to do as a Lieutenant. He did raise an eyebrow at the Senshi though. The tone of voice sounded like an officer or military or something. Not that Geocronite had experience with either one, but he had seen them enough that it reminded him of it. Didn't matter at this point though. He was going to have to find a way to get out of this. He summoned his knives, still pretty terrible compared to others he had seen, and made sure to grip them tightly in case the Senshi suddenly decided to attack without warning. And of course now he was going to have to go out another night. He hated being in this war. He couldn't help but wonder about the Senshi calling them a nuisance. "Nuisance? Wouldn't think a Senshi like yourself would be calling civilians that." It was genuine surprise that could be heard in Geocronite's voice. He had considered them easy and maybe a little annoying, but he was more surprised a Sneshi, who was supposed to be protecting them would call them that. Still, he had to make a show of at least trying to be defensive. Who knew if someone was around here that could spy on him. "Look if you try anything I will attack."
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 1:41 pm
"Not all senshi are blind to reality," Athalia replied coolly.
He'd been around this part of society more often than some people would care to, it was his job to look after them and keep them from being utterly useless... But that didn't mean that their choices in life didn't make them an inconvenience. Those who were particularly down in their luck, or had made questionable choices, required a considerable amount of patience on the whole. Well, most of them did, others were simply in need of a helping hand and they got it when he caught wind of them.
"I know who and what they are," he pointed out out and with that, he began to move towards Geocronite. His pace was slow and measured, but he didn't seem overly concerned with the Agent's warning. Was it because Geo didn't seem entirely invested in what he'd said, was it that he hadn't really seemed as though he meant it?
Regardless, he was a mere footstep or so away before he lifted his brow and smiled wryly.
"However you are certainly willing to try to defend yourself," he flicked his gaze towards the knives. "I'm not so sure they'll do quite as much as you think they will against me though," he warned softly. His fingers flexed as he briefly regarded those who were slumbering nearby.
"That being said you will stop," he instructed and returned his intention to Geo. "And you will leave," he motioned behind Geo.
"If you insist on remaining here I will simply have to persuade you through different methods," he warned.
He was near enough to take a swipe at, particularly if Geo wanted to test the Senshi's confidence... To be fair, anyone probably would if they came up against someone who through they were immune to daggers.
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 6:46 pm
Geocronite felt threatened and he wondered if the Senshi would truly let him go if he tried to leave. For some reason he decided that he had to at least take a swipe at this guy, see if he couldn't get some more energy quickly and then bolt out of here. He looked the man once over and said, "You do look pretty tough. And normally I wouldn't do this, but I want to get this energy draining over with so I don't have to hurt any others this week. If I don't do it now, that means pain for me and others being drained too."He wanted to let the Senshi know the reality of the situation. Perhaps the other would read between the almost obvious lines that Geocronite didn't want to do this either, but really had no choice in the matter. If Geocronite could have moved continents to get away from all of this, he would have. But the Negaverse was everywhere and had taken over most of the rest of the world. There would be no running. "I'm sorry." He said, before quickly using his teleport ability and teleporting behind the Senshi and swiping at him with one of his knives!
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:48 am
With Geocronite's heart just not in it, Athalia had a more easier time than he probably should have at dodging the agent's opening assault. As he teleported the senshi simply spun round and caught the agent's wrist in his palm. A thrust and he had pushed it away, along with the dagger, to avoid taking any unnecessary and avoidable damage.
So agents could teleport eh? Interesting... It made sense he supposed, if they had a signature then it did something, but he'd have to be mindful of that one. At some point someone was going to get the jump on him and he would need to be ready for it.
"Pain for you?" he growled and raised a brow. Certainly, he knew that the Negaverse had taken to draining others like vampiric parasites but why join such an organisation if you didn't want to do it?
"You have a quota?" it sounded almost laughable, but the senshi took a step backwards as he assessed the situation. He was still near enough to attack of course and there was an opening to try again, but for now it seemed like the Senshi had stayed his attack momentarily.
This agent had information and he wanted it.
Somehow Athalia doubted that force would get it out of him, diplomacy was likely to be much more successful.
That wouldn't mean he would return to the offensive if the wrong answers were given, only that Geocronite had a brief gap to spot a second opening, or alternatively, to answer the question!
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:08 pm
It wasn't a surprise when the Senshi easily grabbed his arm and pushed it away. Geo let it happen and watched for anything following it. The Senshi didn't appear to be following with any blows and Geo dismissed his knife. He shrugged when the Senshi growled at him. "Yes, a quota. Ever heard of those?" Seemed this Senshi wasn't out for too much blood to night. It meant that he should be able to escape if he wanted to. "Every Agent has a certain amount of energy they need to drain every week or we get our asses beat. I'm not sure about you, but I don't really like being beaten half to death every week." Pure hatred dripped from his voice. Geo didn't want to be in the Negaverse. He didn't want to drain energy, he just wanted out of all of this so he could live his ignorant civilian life again and hole himself up in some mountain cabin. Or under a rock. Either would do.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:26 pm
"I know what they are," He confirmed, his tone guarded and his eyes narrowed.
He knew what the agents were supposed to do, what he had suspected they'd all signed up for, but this was the first time he'd met one that openly admitted they didn't want to. More importantly, if they failed to provide for their lovely monster then their payment was less than pleasant. From his tone it was abundantly clear that his company this evening didn't sound like he enjoyed what he did but then...
"Then why do you do it?" he asked at last. He had to ask, it was the only logical question. There were still several things that he didn't understand and given what Geo had said, this was certainly one of them. "If you don't want to be in your cult then why are you in it?" he pressed.
...Surely he could just leave.
Was Athalia missing something?
For now he was most assuredly not interested in attacking, right now it looked like Geo had his full attention and to be quite honest, since Geo wasn't currently draining anyone, Athalia had nothing to stop!
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:33 pm
Geo couldn't help but snort. "And where would I go? Where would I hide? The Negaverse is literally everywhere. The only place on the entire planet that they haven't managed to take over is Destiny City." From the various meetings he had had to attend as a Captain, he was learning more and more about the Negaverse that he would have rather been kept ignorant of. "Even if I were powered down and just a civlian, they would still be able to find me, and trust me, they would be able to."There had been a couple of times he had gone without his "quota" and tried to ignore the whole thing and not powered up at all. The beatings that he had received afterwards had told him he had made a mistake. He had never made that mistake after the second time. Even hiding in his cabin in the woods hadn't helped anything. He was pretty sure his landlord that he was renting the cabin from was in on it somehow. "And from what I've been told, it's quite the process to be "purified". Not only would that take time, but then I would still have to keep all of it quiet from my superiors." How he was going to do that he didn't know, but he knew he had to get away from all of this. He shook his head. "Look, I'll admit that most agents enjoy draining others, even killing." He had seen it with his own eyes. "But not all of us want to be here, draining others, being on this side, even if there's no way for the Order to win." He could only hope that by switching, he could be ignorant of the war a bit longer. A sigh escaped him at the thought. He wished he was still just a civilian. "It's not so easy to switch either. And I'm sure there's something more that I'm not being told about purifying, or that I haven't been told yet that may keep others from switching to. But I'm trying at least. For now though, I still need to keep my head down and be as inconspicuous as possible if I want to get out of here."
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 3:08 am
"Do you actually want to leave?" his tone was sharp. "Because right now it just seems like you're looking for any excuse not to leave, every possible obstacle that you can think of," he shook his head and smiled wryly. Did he really think the Negaverse had won in every place except Destiny City, or was he indoctrinated to the point that he couldn't fathom that elsewhere in the world there were bound to be more within the Order.
...To admit they had been beaten somewhere else would be to show weaken. He knew how gangs worked, he knew how cults worked. He knew that any admittance that they weren't as strong as they implied would destroy them and this wasn't something they could ever do. Athalia would have bet money in those moments that just like here, everywhere else in the world they found themselves up against Order Knights and Senshi that were determined to bring them to heel.
"Even in the normal world we have protections in place to keep people safe," he pointed out. Witness protection was a thing, special departments moved vulnerable people in to areas where they couldn't be reached and could be kept safe. In the grand scheme of things he highly doubted that if someone was genuine, then the Order didn't have something similar.
...In a world full of magic they had to have something.
It didn't make sense that they wouldn't.
"Keeping your head low while you find out what it takes to leave is one thing, making excuses and pretending that you don't want to be in the position your in is quite another," he pointed out. He didn't know what the process of purification was either, but if it was a thing then he was interested to find out just what it took.
"Sometimes walking the right path is hard, that doesn't mean you should run from it," he added.
Generally speaking he would be the kind of man to point out that once you made your bed you were stuck with it, but even in his normal line of work if there was genuinely someone who sought help, he did not send them away. Perhaps this would be no different, if this Captain genuinely wanted to find a way out then it might very well be something that he should help with.
...The need for protection, and a way to keep him inconspicuous, being a part of that process.
"Assuming that everything is a lost cause is admitting defeat already, if we had lost, we wouldn't be here," he stated coolly and he meant it. If all was truly lost then there would be no need for his kind, they would have been tracked down or converted or slaughtered. The fact that he stood here now was testament to the fact that they were definitely not losing, but they certainly weren't winning yet either.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:56 pm
Geocronite shrugged his shoulders while giving the other a grunt. "I can see that you don't believe me. Guess it's too hard to believe if you haven't been through what I have." And it was as though the other wasn't even listening. "You act as if I'm not trying. I am trying but it takes time. I haven't even met the Royal Knight that's supposed to be able to Purify and given that there's only one from what I've heard and in a large city like this with no name? Yeah, it's going to take some time." At least that was what he had remembered the squire telling him. She hadn't said Royal "Knights". Just a Royal "Knight". "I doubt you would be saying such things if you had gone through what I have. Stop acting all high and mighty when you don't even have a clue." He was being told, by a Basic Senshi that he was just making excuses? That he wasn't trying? He hadn't ever met this Senshi before, he was sure that the other was still too new considering the ideals that he held. The Senshi had no real idea what went on with the Negaverse did he? Geocronite took the opportunity to turn away. "I'm done for the night anyway, so I'll leave. But don't think that you've changed anything. You're just like the others. If you had come across someone else who knew nothing about purifying, all of what you just said would turn them away from Purifying. At least I got some information from that Squire. You on the other hand just want to spout your ideals and what you think should be how things happen. You're wrong, but I guess I'm not going to be the one to teach you that. Not tonight." He started to walk but kept an eye and ear out in case the Senshi wanted to attack him from behind. At least he would be able to teleport once more, and would do so as soon as he could find a dark spot to do so.
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2020 4:25 am
"Put as many words in my mouth as you want, Agent," Athalia replied coolly. "But don't assume that your singular royal knight is the only one with that immense power," he remarked. He'd at least get that last word in, the Squire had mis-stepped if they'd only referenced a Knight, to imply there was one singular power was both ridiculous and utterly foolish.
He wouldn't be lectured by the disgruntled child, he may not have been a senshi for long but he'd seen enough excuse laden tearfests in his civilian life to know when someone was genuine and when they weren't. If Geocronite had even half a spine then eventually he would shut up and do something right, he'd stop making the excuses and he would start taking some of the risks he needed to take.
The 'you have no idea man' arguments didn't fly with him and never would, just because someone didn't know didn't mean they couldn't call you out on your nonsense!
Still, the agent was done with him for this evening and if he was going to leave the vicinity then there was no use following him. In time he'd see the agent again, and by then Athalia aimed to have enough control over his own strength to put him back in his box. There amount of time others had to imply he was weak and naive was limited and eventually he would be schooled enough to laugh at their arrogance.
...For now though? It was in his best interest to keep his eye out and at the very least educate himself in exactly how many individuals could be summoned to purify those who genuinely wanted to make the effort. A single knight his a**, there were definitely more and he'd make sure he knew who they were.
Thus he let Geocronite go for now, though he himself would remain in the area for longer to ensure his new 'friend' didn't return. It was better to be safer than sorry when it came to that...
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