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 Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 6:08 pm
A pair of Lieutenants had been following a cloud of fireflies as they buzzed through the Citadel's halls. Were there supposed to be bugs in the Citadel? Was that a thing? Did they need to find some exterminator and use that as their ticket to a promotion? One, more sensible than the other, suggested that they first tail the bugs for a while. The other, more observant than the other, remarked that the bugs weren't buzzing about purposelessly — they had a destination in mind.
The fireflies knew they were being followed, but they did not care. Having been given a mission, they moved through the hall, up the stairs, around the bend. At one juncture, having temporarily broken line of sight with its tailing officers, the cloud of fireflies formed up into the appearance of a demure, miserable-looking Eternal with a robe made from the sun itself.
When the pair of Lieutenants caught up, they peered down the hall, but saw nothing more than an Eternal. One looked up while the other looked out, and the pair agreed to split up to find this curious affair.
Now free of burdensome new officers, Headache finished its ascent to Jet's office in the unreasonably difficult locomotion of a human. It was a slow-going affair — Headache couldn't manage more than a slow walk, more like a hesitant death march to the gallows. The look of concentration emulated on the Eternal's face made him look so devastated that he may cry at any second. The disguise worked well enough, however; no one perturbed it for the rest of its journey.
Finally, it reached Jet's door. Lacking the ability to knock, the youth dissolved back into a cloud of fireflies that slipped under the door. Once they poured inside, the cloud turned about itself until its bright lights formed a traffic sign — rectangular and green, with bold white lettering. On it was a simple message:
FAUSTITE REQUESTS YOU IN THE RIFT
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 6:15 pm
“Headache?” Jet needlessly asked out loud when the cloud of fireflies made its way under the door. That was… strange. No, that wasn’t the right word. It was concerning. Ominous.
He’d been working on a project, studying some crystals that Axinite had let him borrow. There was a lot for him to learn still, but he was taking his time, not wanting to miss anything important.
He was grateful to Headache. He’d helped him during that whole fiasco with the White Moon earlier that year. And he was glad to see that the youma had made a full recovery it seemed.
But if Headache was there now, Jet could only assume there was something dire. He’d already stood from his desk the moment the little fireflies made it inside the door, and all he had to do was stand within a few feet of it to catch the youma up in teleporting from his office to just outside of the Hall of Shadows.
“Lead the way,” he offered, reaching out to push the foreboding doors open.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2022 10:08 pm
Albite paced with purpose. Worked a path that threatened to warp the stones if he stayed on it for longer than days -- he was glad for the quiet, expanding, empty that existed in the hall.
He'd had thoughts --- when word'd trickled back from the team, calls to life n signs of everyone still shuffling round n breathing --- when no one seemed to have a solid inkling of 'who' or 'what' had tripped a cause, save Cela. Free ranged to try n tame their boy back after some agreement that was 'his business' as the resident youma while not being 'albites business' all at once; on which he firmly ******** disagreed, but?
Cela had points. Smart boy. Could come n go playing liaison n sticking his life on the line in whatever way his beloved had agreed with him upon. Couldn't drag Albite along into the hall being only a Captain still - and even if he could've? Albite wouldn't've gone - didn't wanna test his chances over there without the one thing Faustite'd asked him for. An army. A Sovereign. More than just himself n the people his boy loved most. A swath of which were Senshi.
So Albite paced. Heard old remembered echos of silly senshi feet skipping off down shadowed corridors; short foolish smiles that'd ended in screams which now drifted along the winds of eternity.....
He wasn't about to risk anything half-assedly. Twisted round another figure eight and stared down the doors that barred his entry like everything beyond had murdered his kin n posted their heads on spikes; instead of simply stolen his husband away.
The feeling of it was about the same. Eion going places he couldn't follow. Eion being hurt -- had to be hurt -- that would explain everything best. Some deep unseen injury instead of a simple lapse of will.
Nothing was ever simple with Faustite. Albite wouldn't've wanted it any other way.
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2022 10:32 pm
The cloud of fireflies coalesced around Jet upon teleport, and distributed to the air once they were firmly in the antechamber to the Hall. In it was but one pacing Eternal, whom Headache had no interest in engaging. Rather, it cared as little for that thing as Faustite loved it. And while it never needed excuses to pretend that Albite didn't exist, Jet's command gave it a reason to focus its attention elsewhere.
The command was heeded, though nothing was done for it initially. The door was far too heavy for the creature to manipulate, which often prevented its attendance in the Citadel before it had bonded to an officer. But Jet had opened the door for it, and Headache flew ahead slowly, its myriad bodies blinking slowly. They were coordinated flashes, as if to say, this way.
There was something familiar about this, but Headache could not find a reason for it. It had no recollection of ever bonding with a different officer, or leading an officer in this manner, down this hall. It didn't care to investigate the feeling, and instead, let it go.
It hadn't spent much time around this Sovereign. This one was younger than the others. This one hadn't asked questions of it, and Headache preferred that — less to type, less to cobble together using symbols that made sense to all but the youngest humans in the Negaverse's service. The simpler exchanges were better, less frivolously time-consuming.
Now — if only it could have bonded the Other One.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 9:39 am
Jet stepped partway through the door to follow the miniature swarm that was Headache, when he stopped to consider the distracted Eternal pacing. He’d worked with Albite a number of times by now, and while he thought Albite’s dour expression was concerning, there was a moment he thought that having at least someone to translate would be a good idea.
After all, he and Faustite didn’t always seem to understand each other.
He wasn’t sure if it was their backgrounds or just a matter of how they’d developed into the officers that they were, but it didn’t matter because Jet had already told Faustite at least once before -- Jet didn’t give up on people in the Negaverse. Once they left, that was another story, but as long as they were loyal, he would do whatever it took.
“Coming?” he asked, holding the door open a few moments longer. He waited for as long as it took for Albite to decide if he was going with him or not, before crossing silently through the Hall of Shadows behind Headache.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:05 am
Of course he was coming--that Jet even had to ask, "Hey!" Albite was at their backs soon as those doors swept open, sidling up alongside the pair while the doors hinged shut, the ominous heft n duly painted warnings barring all else from entry. His surprise at seeing the sovereign sweep through while led by Faustites GPS'ing youma was a thing - switched his face through emotions like a contortionist pulling tricks, happy, confused, concerned.
He allowed some silence as the exit into the rift grew close, hugged a little nearer to the swath of cape that trailed Jet's even steps, lest those hands beyond got grabby, "Thanks for the invite Headache, I've missed you too." glitzing pile of dust to be, Albite couldn't resist a sardonic jab for all that he knew it'd garner little to no response.
"Do you know what we're walking into?" whispered to Jet as a precursor to 'I should've called', and addendum to 'because I don't' ;but if his boy could work his demons out on his ********, if Cela could fix it? Maybe. Maybe he didn't need to know the full of it, so long as the outcome was what he desired.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 1:24 pm
Headache had seen Faustite exchange witty repartees with this one. No matter what he gave back, this one kept talking, kept pushing, kept goading. Faustite never learned to ignore it, but Headache did; nothing it said was worth dignifying with a response.
So the jab went unacknowledged, and Headache flew ahead by a count of three feet at most. That one kept running its mouth, as if they were walking into an ambush. For this, Headache displayed one of its newest methods of communication: a big yellow face with its eyelids angled upward toward the center of its face, and a wide mouth hanging open in a frown. Headache had seen it on that one's phone, sometimes typed out by Faustite as something like 'weary'.
Yes, Headache thought it was 'weary' that the loud one expected so much from this jaunt. Did it really think that Faustite had the foresight and competence to plan an ambush in the heart of the Rift? On a General-Sovereign, no less? Clearly they worked with two different Faustites, then.
Message sent, the cloud spiraled down the steps. It would not be far, then it would have to wait for Jet to open the next door. Unless Jet wanted to put the brainless one to better use.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 6:28 pm
Jet was already steeling himself for whatever they were going to find. If Headache sought him out on Faustite’s request, he could only imagine what was going on. Certainly there was no burning building in the Rift, maybe another issue with a youma that could shapeshift -- maybe the same one as before.
He would have allowed himself a moment of amusement when Headache shifted into an emoji. Maybe the youma would get along with Niter -- at least where their pop culture references were concerned.
“Assuming we know anything is what gets people killed,” Jet answered simply. He didn’t care to have someone holding the door open for him though, so as he would have at any other point in his life, he moved forward to push the doors to the Rift open once they arrived at it, letting Albite and Headache inside before making sure the doors were shut behind them.
There was a moment that he paused and briefly brought his hand to his ear. There was no earring, but he looked like he might have been thinking hard about something before nodding to his two companions.
“You know where to find him?” he asked Headache. He didn’t expect a response beyond leading the way, but would take whatever he was given.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 7:04 pm
Oh heck, that was actually really ******** cute! Good on headache for learning a new trick!
He'd have to tell Faustite when they found him...
Behind the Youmas nebulous hazy back, Albite tempered a smile tinged with sadness. The emoji made him think of Faustite, n wish he could've gone after all on his own instead of waiting -- two days felt like an eternity and patience was never his forte when it came to 'his people'.
"Not assuming anything....S'just -- last I saw him come this way? He...uhm, was in a mood. Not sure if our little guiding light relayed anything of consequence, or if Headache's just landing lights for our entrance," all his sentences ended in shrugs, and as had become a habit since his first ever venture out, his subspace sat full of accessories given by kindly purple demons worth tying all his ridiculous lengths up with.
Besides the ask, Albite wasn't about to complain about being guided down in, hopefully towards Faustite and not off a cliff cause his loves pet'd grown tired of him for the very last n final time; everchanging hellscape that the Rift was, the Eternal knew better than to stray beyond lamplight or Soverign.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 7:30 pm
The loud one kept on about nonsense it didn't understand, but Headache did not care. It had the requested Sovereign in tow, and it would soon be reunited with the burning one. It would be closer.
Headache flew down the winding precipice toward the ruined city below, where stagnant remains played home to lives that had long forgotten what a routine was or how a house looked. Among the ruins, youma auras were ubiquitous — cast by creatures easily spotted, creatures seen trading information with one another, and creatures getting into spats for territory that was no better than any other patch of ruined earth. As Headache wandered on, it grew more confident in its master's location.
They would feel him before they heard him. A General's aura was unmistakeable amongst the chaff, much like an Eternal's. But perhaps it was because both of theirs were easily eclipsed that the youma they passed seemed less likely to notice Albite.
Headache buzzed on, unperturbed. Passed dead outcrops and husks of blackened buildings that were nothing more than their supports anymore. Passed a pack of youma that looked like a gaggle of headless chickens, and seemed just as aware of who marched past them. Jet had asked nothing more of it, and Headache was content to leave the mysteries as they were — its job was only to escort, and then it was Faustite's responsibility to take care of the rest.
They would hear him before they saw him. Strange how easily a human voice carried when there were no others around to answer it.
"… Me from a burning building." He sounded raspier, but otherwise cogent.
There was no audible reply.
"Course you wouldn't. Can't expect anyone to rescue a burning boy from a burning building. People aren't self-sacrificing like youma. Don't owe allegiance to anything — or anyone else. But this one —"
Another pause, then Faustite tsked.
"Don't call me a slut, you ******** rat. No, you're a ******** rat. I'm allowed to like whoever the ******** I want!
"So what if I'm married? You don't know anything; get out."
As Headache neared one of the sturdier husks, it passed a youma that looked like an overgrown, decaying rat. The thing seemed unbothered as it dutifully skittered away, sparing only a second glance at Jet, half expectant, before it continued down their path of footprints. It was behind the chimney of that building that Headache stopped, then formed a plain white sign that said ENTER.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 9:48 pm
-- From a burning building -- that would be him being talked about, Jet knew.
Married -- to Albite. He knew this because Aquamarine had told him everything and seemed amused and horrified and frustrated about it all at the same time. Not so much about the marriage itself, but because of what was requested of him.
Calling Faustite a slut…? ******** who he wanted regardless of being married…?
Jet was pretty sure he would never win many poker games with his sometimes too open expression. His eyebrows had risen up into the curls over his forehead. He spared a glance at Albite and quickly looked away. He had no business in their personal relationship, much less whatever else was going on.
He didn’t ask Headache for more information because if haste was a necessity, he didn’t want to stall by asking questions and getting answers that could be lost in translation, or skewed by an unreliable narrator. Not that he had reason to believe Headache to be unreliable, but he’d observed the way the youma seemed to ignore Albite when they first entered the Hall.
“Faustite,” Jet called as he followed Headache around the building to where the chimney was. He peered around it to see where he would be entering. He knew Faustite would have been able to feel their auras as they did his, but he thought it was polite to at least give him a moment if he needed it.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:38 pm
There was some small snatch of relief, an unexpected feeling that bled near the lines of anxiety for hearing Faustite alive; however haggard n tired the reverberating rasp seemed. He hadn't known what to expect going in - signs of life, maybe, but not signs of Entry behind a chimneyed building he'd never been - had to remind himself that *he* hadn't been the one explicitly invited; because Faustite wanted his Senshi safe.
Not that it mattered. Not that he cared. All safety aside he would've invited himself sooner if there hadn't been doors n halls blocking the way. For better or worse he was there with Jet n Headache.
Eavesdropping, while also plotting the murder of Rats.
What exactly was Youma murder called? Albite wasn't sure if there was an official phrase for it, like regicide, or fratricide, or -- raticide? Regardless, Albite speared the retreating tail of the lumbering, half-dead creature with a whole entire look. One as scrutinizing as it was full of displeasure. Almost as if he was trying to tell that one particular rat apart from all the rest he'd ever witnessed scurrying about the citadel proper. No need to keep his smile for the thing friendly, cause it sounded like the rat'd been talking s**t, n he hardly approved...
Whatever though, it was fine, one more ratty looking rat marked for dusting. He'd have a good time with it. Would probably help to train his bonded Haybaby up on riding Cerbs into battle against a desiccated sort of easy prey.
"N'here I thought Youma were the understanding sort..." and where Jet looked for entry, Albite stepped forwards and looked for flames. The telltale glow that should've been as dead a giveaway as an aura, what with all the natural dark n purple hazed skies.
Held his breath n glanced back to Jet; hopeful, expectant -- hardly cared what their king overheard because he trusted the man more n enough. Knew Faustite must've too if he'd sent for Jet before anyone else.. It wasn't hess down there, after all. Wasn't Axinite either. Which meant everything was a level of fubar that was telling enough to be team-name-worthy, or? That Faustite trusted Jet to handle 'this'.
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 2:02 am
With a hissing breath, Faustite forced himself out of the chimney's alcove. It was a few stumbling steps that he had taken onto the stony floor, but he supposed Jet would take that into account. The person with him, however —
Faustite's blood drained out of his face at the sound of the second voice, obtuse words pouring forth without filter. Understanding nothing. Why was Albite there? Why wasn't he with Kamacite? Had Jet already heard what happened and decided to test him? If he couldn't pass, then there would be no husband and no leaving the Rift, for he was certain he would youmafy completely after that one, or after any of his boys —
Shut the ******** up, Faustite, he told himself.
Holding his temples, he answered back, "Wall collapsed on the other side." It was how he'd gotten in, despite the stubbornly standing door remaining locked. It was how he found the youma rat, how he sent it on its way. Had they heard that? Whatever, wasn't important.
Much as he wanted to yell at Albite to stay outside, he had too many reasons against it. Albite couldn't loiter anywhere in the Rift without youma dogging him for his starseed, and being in plain sight without officers obviously guarding him would incite the youma. There would be no accounting for skill — no matter how many Albite could take on with every ounce of his magic still in him, the infinite load of youma would eventually wear him down. Granted, neither one of them would let him become a youma snack, but to invite the opportunity was itself egregious.
Then there was the matter of testing himself. Better to see how long his restraint lasted in the presence of someone who could stop him before things got terribly out of hand. If he didn't try to eat Albite, then maybe —
When Faustite stepped into view at the ruined wall, he looked — and felt — like a ghost of himself. Pale and clammy, hair worried into a mess from the number of times his hands carded through it, dark circles like black smears under his eyes, he hadn't felt hale at all. Cela's food visit helped, and surely his fire had perked up some since, but it was a fitful flicker compared to its usual blaze. It left him looking empty, hollow. Corpselike.
"General-King," he greeted as soon as he saw the head of curly hair.
He stepped back inside afterward, expecting the pair to follow. The place featured two stools, and a table that was missing half its legs. He'd found the rat sitting under the table. He'd supposed it was something close enough to an office.
"Needed your judgment." He settled back into the fireplace and rested his shoulder against the flume. "Heard it's been two days since I starseeded an officer." At the end of the sentence, Headache entered through a hole in the window and reformed into the miserable-looking boy from before. "Albite stopped me before I could eat it. Sequestered myself in the Rift after.
"Wanted to ask your clearance before returning." His hands shook, and his leg bobbed incessantly, as if he was both exhausted and energized at once. "No reason to return if you think I'll eat all the lieutenants." Or senshi, he thought, as he looked at Albite.guine who's bad at explaining a situation?
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:55 am
Whatever was going to happen, Jet was grateful for a witness. More than the youma that were lurking in crevasse and shadows, or in plain sight, as Headache was.
He had to wonder how many times he’d seen Faustite in poor health now. When his personal youma was destroyed, his distressed state during their mission in the Rift, the aftermath of being torn apart on the hilltop -- although Faustite fared better than another who had lost body parts. When he assisted in the capture of Ganymede. He was sure there were other times he’d seen Faustite more sickly than not, but his attention was drawn from those thoughts at the shifting of Headache’s form.
“Kamacite?” he asked in surprise with a concerned frown quickly falling into place on his lips. “Is he okay?” he asked Albite, since if he was the one to stop Faustite from eating it, then he could only assume that he’d returned the starseed to the Eternal. He’d heard about an incident, but when he asked Axinite about it, he was told the person involved wished to keep things private. He had no idea it involved Kamacite, much less Faustite.
As for the judgment, Jet turned back to Faustite with a frown.
“My judgment?” he asked, his voice colored incredulous with a hint of irritation. “You can’t make that determination for yourself? You’d rather foist responsibility off on me instead of figuring out if you’re capable of keeping your hands to yourself or not?”
He spared a glance to Albite when Faustite did, and then back at Faustite although his frown didn’t lessen. He doubted he had to clarify that it wasn’t the lieutenants he’d be concerned for.
“Alright, I’ll bite. How will you prove that I should clear you to return?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 8:54 am
"M'thinking what he's getting at, Jet. Is that he want's to try his hand around someone who would actually stop him if it all goes fubar. S'not a matter of 'can or can't', so much as 'if', not that I wouldn't, but..." a shrug that hid a wince of regret. Cause he had stopped his boy before, n then stalled out in the after; standing there with a life in his hands and staring his man down like there was any reasoning to be done in that moment. Instead of running. It'd taken orders. He'd needed to be told. N in all honesty? If he hadn't had Kamacite to worry about, he wouldn't've gone. Would've probably ended up laid out right next to the other Eternal on that cold stone floor...
Worse yet...Would've called his whole team down into the mess n stormed the gates in the aftermath of whatever he survived. He owed Cela for the warning, n Faustite for his ability to hold himself together by his bare claws when Albite needed him to do it most.
"Besides! There's all sorts of special relationships between Youma n Officers, aren't there?" An implication of a relationship between the two that skimmed the line of friendship, of respect, wrapped in a gentle chiding of tone for Jet, because of course Faustite would want someone to check him up before he even tried coming back. Albite felt ridiculous for not thinking about it before, when it stood so obviously stark now; stared him down with hollow eyes n gaunt, weakened limbs. Like a neck begging for a gallows.
Albite recognized the fact that Faustite maybe didn't trust himself - certainly shouldn't've trusted Albite - not so far removed from temptation as he was out in the Rift. Not when Cela's soul didn't glow as sweet as a natural enemies or a civilians. He did trust Jet though, not just to make a call, but to make a kill. The amount of stopping power a General King had...
"Which means Faustite must trust you a whole hell of a lot to be asking like this. I'd take it as a compliment." spoken like a secret for only them to share, as he ducked the crumbling overhang of a hole in order to gain entry and get a better view of what'd been Faustites 'home' the last few days. It always amazed Albite how many things existed in the Rift that resembled a kingdom that once was, decayed mimicry of life, fitted with chimneys n chairs...
Had Faustite been sleeping in the chimney? It almost made too much sense. Seemed the right place to hide a fire was in the crevasse of a flume.
"N Kamacite's fine, I foisted him off on Axinite once I got him settled. Strong little sunbeam was about ready to beat the doors down after you, or beat my a** for not following, one-ah-the-two? Can't really blame him though, he was worried." an answer for Jet and Faustite both heavy on surity of smiles and light on any actual detail. If Kamacite had seemed wounded, had begged and sobbed and clung for answers from a boy that wasn't there? That Albite stubbornly wouldn't give. Albite would take that to his grave oh so very quietly. The love that one had for Faustite didn't need to be splashed about like some easy bit of gossip for the Rift to consume. If he told Faustite later, in private. If he ever told Faustite at all?
More than likely he'd leave the two to find and mend their own things as he always did, oddly inevitable bit of gravity that seemed to pull them together. Solar flares n men made of fire just seemed meant to be.
Jet's ask -- biting the bait -- n Albite hadn't expected to feel so anxious for an answer to that one singular ask. Posted himself further from his boy than he would've liked, in case he needed what little room the small space allowed them to maneuver. Gave himself walls all around because he damned well wasn't going to leave out into the Rift; he could've said so. Wanted to bark about how -- whichever way it all went -- he didn't intend to go anywhere till a proper ******** solution'd been hashed out. Easier to let his body speak as he planted his feet in such a way that screamed sedentary, arms crossed, waiting. As much as he wanted to grab Faustite n run....
He could wait.
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