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 Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 10:45 am
Aegirine was again on patrol. Going out was becoming a way to keep herself from the bottle and while…it was helping somewhat, it was only causing her to drink twice the amount when she got home, and honestly…she wasn’t sure what was better.
But. Here she was, and there was an aura of another officer nearby so…she slowly made her way over, frowning slightly and summoning her weapon just in case they decided to attack…or issue some kind of physical reprimand…whatever. She wanted to at least pretend that she knew what she was doing, even if it was a damn lie.
Her eyes took in the purple haired captain and she hesitated, giving a hesitant smile, and shrugging, as though this was an acceptable greeting. “Uh. hi. If you’re here to check up on me, which I do doubt would be the case but. Just in case it is the case. I am out. And I am patrolling.”
She had nothing to show for it. But she was out.
“...If you’re not here for me then…may I ask you for some tips to use a useless weapon? I ran into my first enemy and I felt woefully unprotected…”
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Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 3:29 pm
"I have no <******** clue who you are," Larimar said, deadpan but a little incredulous, on reflex.
It'd just come out of zyr mouth without any real voluntary input, pure reaction and hindbrain, mouth moving before ze'd thought about it. But it didn't seem like the worst idea, when ze turned around and looked at the lieutenant, at her demeanor - at the way she seemed to sort of curl into herself, expecting reprimand, expecting harshness.
Ze knew how to do harshness. That came as naturally as anything ever would. And it was always satisfying, when someone zyr senior in years demurred to zem.
"Are you meeting your quota," ze said, just a little mean, "because otherwise patrolling is a waste of space, and you're opening yourself up to getting ******** maimed for no actual benefit - god, do you even have a commanding officer, jesus christ."
One step closer to her, two steps closer; Larimar looked at her plastic weapon and sneered. "If that's even remotely inflexible, you're not unsalvageable yet. And it means you've got some idea what it'll be when you get promoted, too, so start learning how to use a real sword now. But for right now, your best bet is getting the ******** out of there as soon as anyone stronger than you starts getting ideas."
One second. Two.
"Because if I wanted to stab you," and ze called zyr dagger to hand unceremoniously, twirled it around in one smooth moment, "what would you do?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 5:48 pm
The words had Aegirine wincing away and a frown appearing on her face, in spite of her best efforts. “I have a General, but he hasn’t really. We haven’t…talked in months…”
…At least months. She didn’t know if she was meeting her quota, and wasn’t even sure if she had a quota, to be honest.
At the accusation that she should learn how to use a real sword, she bristled and drew herself up, standing with more pride, half glaring at the Captain before her. “If you wanted to stab me.”
She took a half step back, and brought the back of the plastic sword down at the crease of the Captain’s elbow. It wouldn’t do anything, she was sure but had it been a heavier weapon…and if she had her angle right, the dagger wouldn’t be held, that was for sure. “I assure you, knowing how to use a sword isn’t any issue for me. It’s just the very idea that this one is a toy.”
Hesitating for a moment, Aegirine shrugged. “What quota do you speak of, circling back to that. I’m not sure…that was information that I was told…and if it was…it’s slipped my mind.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:15 pm
The more the lieutenant talked, the more Larimar grimaced. Her General hadn't talked to her in months, she apparently had no oversight, she didn't even know what her quota was - were people running a ******** circus in GenOps with how they did recruitment? Apparently so? ******** shame.
It wasn't that ze liked her, even, although the display that she did know how to use a sword was worth something. It was that how the Negaverse was using this woman was an absolute ******** waste. Unlike what was probably half of all lieutenants, she had fighting skill to build on, and she hadn't cowered and cried and showed her belly when Larimar had snapped; that was workable. Ze could work with that.
(Unlike ******** Lapis. Ugh. That guy.)
"First off," ze clicked zyr tongue twice, a quick furrow of sound, "everything everyone's doing with you is a ******** shame and you need someone who's actually paying attention to you. I'm Captain Larimar. If you don't want me in your business, I can give you my boss, but he's a melodramatic whore and has more issues than a porcupine's got quills."
Ze slipped back half-a-step and pulled the dagger up, a belated parry for the plastic blade, not form-perfect but definitely trained. "Energy quota? Draining? Don't ******** tell me nobody told you any of this, that's basically gross negligence on their part - the fact you know anything about how to defend yourself makes you better than half our damn recruits, minimum."
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 7:23 pm
This Captain…was…
Aegirine paused and frowned slightly, taking a step back as well, tilting her head. “...Are you…saying you’ll help me? Pay attention to me? I…can’t say I would mind, to be honest. Though I will admit that I don’t think a melodramatic whore…is truly what…I need in my life right now, but I would appreciate guidance from you. You seem to know what you’re doing.”
The parry alone slightly excited her. If she didn’t have something so useless…this could be a wonderful sparring partner, she could tell that easily enough. “No, Like I said he may have, and it might have been me who forgot but. He was more interested in setting me up in my job and…we just never really got around to much of this…” She gestured to herself, implying the powered side, and hoping that it was understood. “But…I’m sure that he’ll be back…though, if I had you as well, that stands to reason I could simply impress him.”
Which…truthfully?
She didn’t really care about. But. Still.
“Tell me about this quota, and draining, please.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 8:59 pm
This was already shaping up to be a ******** headache. But if Larimar wanted to be a General - and ze did, so goddamn badly - most Generals had subordinates. ...even if, like this one, they were ignored. But it was always good to have a project of some kind -- making sure she didn't get herself killed was just a different variant than ze was used to. Busy, busy, always busy. Could always be busier.
"I got dragged back here after I got out for college," Larimar said, with a short bark of a laugh that wasn't really anything of the kind, "so if I don't know what I'm doing I'm never going to get to ******** leave for anywhere but my own damn funeral. People die all the time." And, okay, maybe it was because ze had eaten their souls or stabbed them to death, but that was semantics. Death was death. The cause wasn't the point here.
"So - yes. I'm saying you're my problem now, because if you're not an embarrassment, that reflects very well on me and real ******** badly on your old General." And that was good. That was splendid. That was a tally mark on a positive list. "Draining... the Negaverse is a job. Patrolling is clocking in. Draining is actually doing your ******** work. We do it to gather energy from the populace. It shouldn't kill anyone if you're careful." And if it did, too bad, so sad. "You're supposed to be bringing in a minimum amount of energy every week and delivering it to your General. Obviously he didn't bother."
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 9:23 am
“I hope college went well.” Aegirine offered, hoping that this would be an olive branch. That perhaps they could find some common ground and…that the Captain would stop looking like…she was nothing but a mostly somewhat hopeless case.
And the fact that she was now…well. A problem. That was. Almost funny and she shrugged. “If you want to deal with me, I’ll happily be your problem. But I assure you, I won’t be a problem for long. I’m not stupid, and if I know what I’m supposed to be doing, I can and will do it. So, teach me how to do this draining, and I’ll give it to you, and not my General…but. I would. Enjoy structure, if that’s something you can provide. Will we have a night each week to meet? If so, that would be the best for me…”
There was no way she was going to unload the fact that her life was being held together by old fishing line but. Perhaps this would help.
Hopefully it would help.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:26 pm
"It did," Larimar said, with the sort of vitriolic emphasis on did that more than strongly implied it was all in the past tense. Ze didn't want to talk about it. Ze didn't want to look at it directly. It still burned to think about, and would for a good while still.
"Tuesday nights, 9 pm, corner of Church and Terrell? It's three blocks that way, right across from the three vape shops." Ze contemplated for a moment - was that too late? Too early? No, that sounded about right. "Shouldn't be more than an hour. Maybe an hour and a half. I assume we've both got lives we'd like to be busy with." Which, admittedly, was a big assumption.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:49 pm
It took supreme effort for Aegirine not to flinch at the tone, but she nodded, both in acknowledgement of the words, and agreement to the time. “I suppose I will see you next Tuesday, then. That sounds fine to me.”
She paused and pursed her lips. “If you can teach me what to do, and tell me how much I need to get for you, I’ll be prepared for each meeting. Hopefully I’ll make you shine, Captain.”
If not. Well. Then they’d both just go up in flames. No big deal.
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