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 Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 7:58 pm
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Faustite knew how ominous it sounded for a superior to request a subordinate's presence without summoning them. It reeked of setup — telling them to expend their own energy coming to heel, so the head of the team has all their energy to spare. Easy to take advantage of that, press some agenda, coerce more service out of the underlings.
But Heliodor had no such suspicions for him, he realized, when the boy walked through his door, all smiles.
Heliodor ha a good-naturedness about him when freed of certain blonde-haired hauntings. It was heartening, that jovial expression, and it led Faustite to consider that perhaps he wasn't the worst commanding officer in the history of commanding officers, as Tama would want him to think. Perhaps the others would agree, too, that he wasn't terrible. Maybe he wasn't even what drove Nembus or Lysithea from the Negaverse. Wouldn't that be a thought.
His offhanded fancies were filed away for a quieter time. Faustite rose from his desk, though he lacked his usual severity — in its place was an awkward bashfulness that kept him from meeting Heliodor's eyes.
"Thought you would know more about this than." He considered the rest of his team. "Anyone else. Need to find a building in the Sunken City. Something we can renovate. But, I've never bought a house before — don't know what to look for.
"So — come with me?" He asked, as he haltingly met Heliodor's gaze.
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Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2022 5:17 pm
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"Consider my choices," Faustite said, miffed. He held one hand out, "Albite lives in a ******** dump," and the other hand, "and the Yukimuras are tied up. Never bought a house myself — never went to the showings when my parents were looking." A sigh for that, for missed chances.
The more Heliodor expounded on his old hobby, the better he sounded for the part. "Bring your strong opinions." Especially since Faustite wouldn't have any.
He approached Heliodor, took up his arm, and then they were elsewhere, in the austere lands outside the Citadel, as Faustite kept up the conversation.
"Went down once before," he clarified, a little winded. He hesitated before he started down the broken stone steps that once composed a well-kept path. The road out to the sunken city was a craggy, downward path, framed by the petrified remains of a landscape. Like a graveyard of broken futures, he supposed, made habitable to the nightmares that people so despised.
"Realized I didn't know what to look for. Got into a place, but half the wall collapsed, nearly trapped me.
"Lot of the buildings look alike — blackened, ruined things. Some streets had bigger houses than others. Only difference I could find."
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2022 11:59 pm
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"Well considering I've not seen Albite's place..." or know who the Yukimuras even are. He shrugged. "We'll figure it out though. No worries. I will have opinions aplenty I am sure." He chuckled dryly, knowing that Faustite may regret asking for his 'strong opinions'. If he remembered correctly, the two were sometimes like water and oil when it came to their opinions.
As Faustite reached out for him, a flash of something shiny caught Heliodor's attention. The office disappeared and the two found themselves standing in a rather derelict area. Normally, the surroundings would have been the most interesting thing, but Helio's focus was still on that hand touching his arm. It was only a moment of hesitation, on Faustite's part, but enough for the corrupt to get a halfway decent look at the piece of jewelry and the exact finger it rested on. Brows furrowed.
"I suppose it's a good thing there's two of us this time." He said pulling his attention away from the hand that now hung at its owner's side. "If anything like that happens it's less likely we'll be in any real trouble."
He followed along behind Faustite, eyes finally drifting from the burning boy and his ever-glowing core to the city they were walking in. Things here certainly looked...rough. "I can't imagine we are going to find anything beyond the barest shell of a house here."
"So why are we looking here and not Desti..." He paused and shook his head. "Nevermind. That was a dumb question." He sighed. Even despite Faustite's appearance he still sometimes forgot that the boy was half-youma and a General at that. His signature would be like a light to moths.
"Alright. So, how big are you wanting to go?" His eyes roved over the buildings. It almost felt as if they were ghosts moving through the dead city. "Is this just for you? " He paused eyes flicking to the damn ring again. "The team?"
As they passed a four-way intersection Helio paused to glance down the parallel roads. It was somewhat depressing how dark and somber everything looked. Some of the buildings look promising while others...well, they looked near ready to collapse. "Whatever we choose we should make sure it's not near anything else that looks like it's going to fall. No point in putting all of that work to have a neighboring building go down and ruin all of the hard work."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 8:20 pm
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"Mm." He understood how Heliodor could arrive at that conclusion — that they wouldn't find themselves knee-deep in s**t as a pair — but Faustite had seldom gone to the sunken city by his own admittance. He doubted that Heliodor spent any time there, either, and he doubted the area was completely devoid of youma. Even if it was, it took one dilapidated house collapsing and they would never be heard from again.
"Right." He pointed down a path as they split off from the main walk. "Had to get a permit to come down and look." They must've wanted to limit traffic to the space for its treachery; since most agents were human, most agents lacked reason to find housing down here instead of —
what Heliodor almost suggested. Faustite snorted a precursor to amusement.
He looked from Heliodor, whose hair looked jet black in his firelight, to a building several hundred paces beyond them. Pointing, he remarked, "that size." Half fallen in and thoroughly unusable without clearing its rubble, the place looked like an old mansion. Must've had four, five bedrooms by Faustite's estimate. Perhaps that was enough, considering the other rooms as well. But he couldn't be sure; he hadn't lived in a house with other people in it for quite some time.
"Need it for both. Going to be a place I can live, and a place the team can use if they need it. "Can manage the upgrades with time and planning. Got a dozen youma that will help at my command, and Albite for the rest. Expect it'll take months." He hoped not many, though.
Heliodor was starting to use his head concerning the search, and Faustite was glad for it. They were on the same page for the moment. "Want a turret, too.
"And Heliodor, you keep looking at my hand. Speak, don't stare."
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:42 am
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”Permits?” That was curious. The place was legitimately nothing but ruins. Helio couldn’t fathom why many would even bother to come down here. Maybe there was something he was missing here, but beyond the few buildings that seemed to have some sense of stability yet, there appeared to be nothing of real value. “I assume it won’t be an issue for you and the team to move in and out of him as needed if you find somewhere worth salvaging?” He thought it was a fair question. If Faustite required a permit just to come look, would there be other stipulations or hoops to jump through?
He turned his focus to the building Faustite pointed out. It may have been a grand thing in it’s prime. The pure size of it attested to that. It was hard to say what color the outside may have been at some point, or the exact architecture, but it certainly gave a good idea of what the main goal was. “Right. So multiple bedrooms and bathrooms. Preferably a bathroom for each room if it can happen, but if not that then at least 3. Two guests and a master one.” He mused out loud as his eyes roved further down the pathway.
Immediately he was pulled from his musings. Mentally cursing himself, he shrugged. “I’ve never seen you wear jewelry before, is all.” He pulled his eyes away from the buildings down the pathway to look back to Faustite. “I’d remember too if you had been wearing it the last time we were together. It’s just new and…unexpected.” Curiosity gnawed at him though. As much as he damn well didn’t want to care, he did. That bothered him even more.
He turned back to the way he’d been looking. “Anyway, the house. I see some things down that way that might work. At least, from here, I don’t see any gaping holes or missing roofs.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2022 1:58 pm
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"Mm." Faustite nodded once as they walked. "Hazardous to be down here." He gestured to another crumbling pile of rubble, which had knocked out a wall from each of the two neighboring buildings. Much of those buildings were themselves rotted, with one built out of a petrified wood.
"Guessing a few died. Now no one visits without reason, like the Rift." Which, to the General's chagrin, proved eminently true — even on his last excursion there, agents and senshi alike found new ways to be stupid. Like pulling out starseeds in the middle of a place of infinite youma, then acting surprised when the cavern came alive to devour it. The thought prompted the General to cinder more, and he blew out a stream of smoke.
Shouldn't be," he answered carefully. "Soon as they see it once, they can teleport. But it's on us — me — to ensure it's structurally stable. Reinforce whatever it needs. Then build into it." Likely as not, they'd find a shell into which they would have to build.
He stopped when he learned that Heliodor had been so unexpectedly attentive to his appearance. Then he stared at the senshi, brows furrowed in consternation. What else had Heliodor noticed? And why had he noticed it? Things like necklaces or rings, Faustite seldom cared about them except for what they implied —
"Most things melt," he offered feebly. He was back to the same question he had before — how was he supposed to say it? "I'm," and he gestured a spiral of circles as his thought stole away with the rest of his sentence.
He sighed. At himself.
"Lead the way," he urged the violet-haired boy as he fell into step behind him.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 5:37 pm
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"And after all of these years you pick now to find a ring that won't melt?" He questioned as he looked back. "I've never would have thought that you cared much for jewelry to go through the effort." Helio knew he should have just let the conversation go. Just let it die as Faustite seemed to be willing to do.
But, Faustite was always a person to do something because it had a reason. There was something behind each movement. Calculated or not. The ring wasn't so much the point of interest as was its particular placement.
Damn. He ran his fingers up through the fringe and bangs that framed his face in frustration. Who was he anyway to be frustrated, anyway. "Forget it." His voice was soft, almost mumbled to himself as he turned away.
He led the way down the path, eyes glazing over each building until something promising revealed itself. Tucked behind the debris and ruins of it's neighbor building, Helio forced himself to focus on the structure and not the roaming thoughts in his mind. They were here for a reason and that was to find a safe-haven for Faustite and the team. A home.
"This one might work." He said gesturing to the building as they walked in front of it. They'd have to climb over some rubble to get to the front entrance, but the building looked like it might be whole which was a start considering the options they had passed by. The front door was completely missing. Probably rotted away by time and the glass windows were either non-existent or broken shards, but it stood tall at three stories, which gave promise to enough room inside. And, with it's one neighbor already fallen, and the other side vacant of any buildings, they didn't have to worry about another building collapsing on it.
"Want to take a look?" He finally turned back again to look at the burning boy.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 6:24 pm
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Faustite rolled his eyes at Heliodor's jabs, spat something black into the rubble, kept walking. One foot in front of the other. Other foot in front of the one. But his hand felt heavy, his finger burdened with the topic of conversation.
Even in silence, it was the topic of conversation. And Heliodor draped words as frequently as Waru did, but with more purpose than he could ever hope for out of the boy. But Heliodor wasn't lashing the silence with his tongue, wasn't going on about his exploits from the past years to whittle away the time and tedium of looking at each half-crumbled house.
Faustite followed Heliodor to a structure that looked mostly intact. Part of what was once a gargoyle had fallen, had broken open between the stairs and the front door. He looked up at the structure, but it hadn't come from there; as trajectory had it, that was once the neighboring building.
Youma could haul all that away. He leapt over the detritus at his senshi's question.
As he walked inside, he found a larger space. Higher ceilings in a lengthwise room that would've had a fireplace to the right, where piles of soot flooded out like a black desert had been poured down into it. Briefly, he wondered if that was youma dust.
He looked about, saw more doorways without doors. Saw long-rusted hinges littered across the floor. Furniture that collapsed hundreds of years ago, then decayed, then petrified as it waited for someone to use it.
Then he heard footfalls behind him. He chewed part of his cheek, Stepping aside to grant Heliodor entry, he broke their silence. "Getting married."
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:00 pm
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As Faustite launched into inspecting the building, Helio took a moment to himself. It wasn't long. Just a few steady breaths as he pinched the bridge of his nose to help center himself and pull roving thoughts back. He was being an a**, and knew it. Faustite didn't need his prying. ********, he didn't deserve it. How long had Helio been gone, after all. Life didn't stand still. He hadn't and certainly Faustite hadn't either.
Letting out a quick breath he followed his superior over the strewn remains of a once-loved home and over the threshold into their main focus. Stone crunched under his wooden soles as he took in the first room. The ceilings were spacious which made it feel grand and inviting. Helio had never been a fan of tighter rooms or things some people would call 'homey' or 'cozy'. Space was his friend.
That was about all he got to take in before his focus lasered in on Faustite's simple statement. Eyes widened as he stared at the boy, shock clearly the culprit of his sudden reaction before he could school his features. He opened his mouth to respond, stopped.
"I am happy for you." He said, plainly with a forced smile. Confusion bubbling up as he tried to sift through the mire of emotions at the sudden explanation. Jealousy, anger, relief, grief, happiness, and more felt like a muddled mire as he slipped further into the house, passing Faustite so his back was to the General. He glanced into one of the rooms, but didn't really take much note of what was inside. More dirt, dust, broken glass, and whatever else had been dragged in here possibly by a youma.
This was all for the the best in the end. That's what he told himself.
"Guess that makes this even more important for you then." He remarked calmly, not turning back to the General as he leaned against the door frame with a shoulder as he forced himself to actually look at the room beyond.
"I bet this place would have had great light in it at some point." The windows attested to that.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:25 pm
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Faustite bowed his head, hands against the back of his hips, and sighed. Heliodor wandered ahead, started peeking around. Tossed back a platitude, a half-veiled jab. He recognized a distance that they hadn't entertained previously.
Great light, he said, like that mattered down here. Like the sun would set on one side of the world, so it could peer in here, in whatever ******** up dimension this was, just to grant them a sunrise. He wondered if there was purpose in telling him more, or if he should let it simmer. But he knew that a fresh wound hurt the sharpest, but a scarred wound never left.
"He knows that a ring on one finger says nothing about the other nine," he admitted to the empty space.
While large, the space was so quiet that they could mutter and still hear each other on opposite ends of that floor. Where Heliodor walked ahead, Faustite turned to the side, and wandered alongside the wall until he found an archway into a turret. Round spaces always intrigued him; they handled his own firelight so romantically.
Hadn't Waru said he wanted an in-ground bed? Something round, with guard rails, with Faustite close at hand. He looked from the ceiling to the floor.
He wondered if the space was big enough for that type of bed. And he wondered what size would accommodate all the boys he wanted to stay with him. Then he asked himself: would he invite Heliodor, too? Would the boy say yes, having heard that he was getting married? And he couldn't stop his wondering if he broke apart all his other relationships, by simply accepting a ring.
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2022 8:22 pm
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Nine other fingers? Helio snorted softly to himself as he moved further into the room, purposely leaving Faustite alone to his own meanderings. After all, this hunt was technically for Faustite. So whatever building they chose would need to pass his approval.
Absently, Helio wondered who it was that had taken the plunge to ask Faustite. How long had they known each other? Were they a part of the team or outside. Helio had not been around many of the other team members to have heard anything yet. The only one he’d truly been without outside of the meeting was Waru and…No, he needed to stop. Whoever it was didn’t really matter in the end.
Still, Helio couldn’t help to wonder if he had disappeared for so long. If they had stuck together, would it have been him who’d adorn that finger with such a ring?
He kicked at a piece stone that appeared to have come from a long deteriorated bust of some man. The face was barely recognizable and it may have been the nose that Helio sent skittering across the floor. The room he was in may have been a dining room at some point, though it was hard to tell. Any drapings that were on the windows were long gone, and there was no grandiose table, but the room did have a chair railing going around it, and the bent remains of a chandelier.
He leaned his back against a wall staring at the shattered remains of what had been someone else’s life. It was oddly symbolic, really. Balling his hand into a fist he hit the wall behind him in frustration, head leaning back to make contact with the plaster.
A rain of ceiling and wall tumbled down on him. “Damn!” He cursed, ducking to protect his head as the debris rained down. It didn’t last long, but had certainly made quite the mess as dust floated in the air around him. He coughed as he waved his hand around in front of his face.
Glancing up he noted the whole in the ceiling that revealed the structure for the second level. The wall where he had been leaning looked about the same. It was drywall and plaster, eroded after so many years, that had finally given out.
He sneezed once. Twice.
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 8:39 pm
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The turret seemed structurally sound. Built with a stone outer wall, it was well-crafted to stay upright, and promised to stay upright for a few hundred years more. Certainly longer than any of them would survive. Little ventilation to speak of, and that would need changed; one couldn't live with a fire in the house that smoked everyone out. It was then that he felt wistful for Lauri, for his terseness, his alcohol, and his incredible handiwork.
Faustite paused in his musing when he heard a thump, then a small crash afterward. Flame eyes looked past the doorframe, but the curse and the boy who spat it weren't in line of sight. He walked out of the space, leaving a thin trail of smoke in his wake.
He wondered what a ventilation system would look like as he crossed the large center room. Pacing toward the opposite end of the house where he last saw Heliodor, he pared only cursory looks to other rooms he passed.
And there he was, Faustite noted, once he reached the threshold. Standing there, against the wall, looking cute for all his sneezes. Taken apart by the rain of dust, it seemed. Thick layers of it, too, for it was still settling. Then he felt it, too — something building up in his nose. He sneezed a spray-paint spatter of black against the doorframe. Wrinkling his nose, he covered it with the cuff of his sleeve while he looed up.
Ah. Hole in the ceiling. And some wicked mess of a chandelier.
"Need an airflow system to filter the smoke. Wasn't what I had in mind, though." He looked again at Heliodor, who himself seemed flustered. Must've been terrible for him, knowing Faustite was getting married. He wondered if it was for the fact that Heliodor wasn't, that he hadn't found anyone in their time spent apart, or if he had other motives for it.
"Think the supports are rotten?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2022 9:56 pm
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Helio huffed as he tried to brush off the dust from his fuku. Dejectedly he glanced upwards at his bangs which were coated in a fine layer of the plaster. He shook his head, attempting to get some of it out. Eyes shifted at the sound of the sneeze, eyes catching the mark that Faustite moved to cover up. “Saw that.” He remarked, as disgusted as Faustite, and curious at the dark mark. Had that always happened before?
“I am honestly not sure.” He responded to Faustite glancing in the other’s direction at the question. “I think it might be alright. Looks like it was just facade that broke away. We can probably check the it when we go upstairs. If the floor’s weak then we’ll know.”
In truth the two of them were likely poor choices for actually deciding it a building was sound or not.
“And honestly, I think a filtration system will be needed no matter which building you choose. Smoke aside, this whole place is full of dust. Clean or not, it can still get tracked in from all of the rubble outside.” He found a small chunk of the wall had lodged itself inside the front of his fuku. He plucked it out, annoyed and flung it towards the chandelier where it clattered amongst the metal frame.
Helio decided it was best to just force his focus on the task at hand and ignore that blasted ring and it’s meaning on that ebony, delicate finger.
At least attempt to, anyway.
He moved away from the wall, a hand subconsciously reaching out to smooth out his obscene amount of hair and attempt to removed any dust and pieces of wall and ceiling from it. “What I think is the kitchen is through there.” He gestured to the opening he had peered through earlier. “Do you want to keep the place with sectioned off rooms or would you prefer to open it all up more?” He paused, giving his head and bangs another shake while his fingers worked at his fringe. “I think it might be nice to open up some rooms down here. Especially if there’s a chance the entire team could be here at once. You could really deck the room out with plenty of furniture if it was opened up enough. Unless of course, you want a formal dining room.”
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