|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:06 am
Persephone didn't know what to make of his laughter, but then, he wasn't trying to kill her, not yet, so she'd take laughter over a hand in her chest. She let out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding - there had been a very large part of her that was afraid he would attack her for an unwanted intrusion on his space, and dying was not her desired outcome from this.
She let him push her away - not that she really could have stopped him, she was too small, and it would have served nothing to cling on except probably to piss him off. Still, she was smiling a little, and she shook her head when he asked if she wanted to die. "Well as long as it keeps you from killing me, I'll take making no damn sense," she said. "No, I promise, death is the last thing on my agenda. I have people I'd like to get home to."
Her eyes were on his face the entire time, and so when his expression became serious, hers did too. "It does no one benefit, I think, to hurt over and over again." And it was obvious to her that Bischofite was hurting - the course of events that led to his demotion had to have been awful, and what else on top of that was he enduring? Her expression was sad, more than anything.
"Everyone in this stupid war is too young," she said, "except maybe Camelot." She wasn't sure why the older Knight's name had slipped out, it had been months since she'd spoken to him and his words rang hollow now. He had spoken of faith in Order and hope in the White Moon, and she was running so very, very low on that, these days. Low on faith in general, really, in herself most of all, but if she could show Bischofite a little kindness and he remembered it, that would be something, no?
She could only assume that she had affected him at least a little, between his confession and the offered remains of a shattered starseed. This was something personal, because why else would he keep it? One didn't hang on to useless bits of a soul for no reason. "If I may ask...how did it break?" She asked, fingers curling around the broken remains. "You don't have to tell me, obviously." And it was probably more likely that she wouldn't get an answer. She pulled open the pouch she kept her flower in, the only place she really had to store anything on this damned outfit, and tucked the remains inside. She wasn't sure what she would do with it - keep it, most likely. A reminder of everything this war took.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 8:55 am
"Oh, don't act like I am going to burst into tears just by telling you. It's not so important zat I'll start blubbering on your shoulder." He shot her a pointed glance - not only was it simply absurd to consider himself leaning over that damn far to cry on her shoulder, but she didn't have enough context to make that assumption.
After a moment's consideration, involving Bischofite placing his fingers across his mouth for a moment, he finally managed a coherent explanation of the seemingly sudden starseed demise. "I'f carried zat around for a while, since I was actually a lieutenant. And zough I'f been knocked around a bit, it's always retained its form. Now - I haf' always been told zat ze soul is eternal, and a starseed is ze closest example I can sink of for a soul, so I figured I would keep it permanently and it would always retain its use.
"One day I checked for it, because I intended to make notes on it, but it lost its sheen and glow. It was somewhat disconcerting, since ze starseed suffered no perceptible cracks, at least not to ze naked eye, so I was unsure why ze starseed lost all of its benefit. It look me a while to come to zis conclusion, but I am fairly certain starseeds haf' a finite usefulness. Which begs ze question - as a model of suffering at its greatest, does pain haf' a finite usefulness as well?" He allowed the air to hang heavy after his final statement, watching Persephone hawkishly to see if she fully digested the question of his next hypothesis. Did she understand the ramifications of undertaking such a study?
One day Bischofite would force someone to endure sheer torment, and remain close to them to study the benefits of stomaching all that pain. And perhaps, as time progresses, they might reset to a happiness baseline that he'd read about in a profusion of books, and all the change derived from suffering might simply fade away. Humans are variables, he knew that - but how long did it take for his actions, his painstaking plans and decisions, to finally ebb from the minds of his victims? It was an uncomfortable thought, that what he sought to teach might even disappear from Xenotime's willing mind, but he may have to accept that soon.
But to change someone for a time, even for a few days - wasn't that worth it?
Bischofite eyed Persephone with that same thoughtfulness. She returned to this place, didn't she? She returned to Gallows Woods, as he imagined the police called it, and floated amongst the thick trees like a ghost lost in the afterworld. She likely touched the gouges in the bark, ones she'd created and ones he exacted so easily, and maybe she forgot who exacted which laceration, but the intent was there. And she knew it - she knew the outcome of Bischofite's scheme to a point - so she understood the ramifications of her actions that night. But did she come here to mourn an untold death count, or to mourn herself? Did she lament what was lost in herself that night.
"Tell me - do you come here for yourself or for ze dead?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 6:35 pm
"Well excuse me for attempting to be polite," Persephone huffed, a hint of sharp sarcasm entering her tone. (However, the provided image of him crying on her shoulder was the funniest thing she'd thought of in weeks, because he was a foot taller and he was Bischofite, and so she tucked it away for a later moment when she could properly consider its manifest hilarity.)
Besides, he was speaking of starseeds and their infinite curiousness - and she once again recognized that there was so little she knew about the thing in her chest that kept her alive, the thing that supposedly linked her to her past life, the thing that, one day, would be reborn in the chest of another teenaged girl (or maybe a boy?) and pass to her the fate of being Sailor Persephone.
"I'd say that everything is finite. Every method of teaching and learning eventually runs its course. Humans are stubborn and elastic by nature - it takes quite a bit to change us forever," she said, "or to convince us to change ourselves. In the end, most often, we'll revert, perhaps with some changes, some sense of inner strength for overcoming those trials - what most would call healing." She paused for a moment. "That's not entirely true, of course, some things we never recover from, but rarely are those the things that make us stronger. More often they are the things that break us."
She shrugged, indicating she knew her answer wasn't perfect, but then none was. People were people, and more often than she liked to admit they simply confused the hell out of her. Without really thinking, she found her eyes going to the gash in the bark, as she considered that perhaps the person that confused her the most was herself. Bischofite was right, she didn't make any damned sense.
His question genuinely surprised her, and jerked her attention back to the now-Lieutenant (god that was still so wrong as far as she was concerned.) "Both," she admitted. "I still haven't decide if I lost or gained something that night, and seventeen civilians and probably some poor Senshi had to suffer and die because I wavered before I resisted." She laughed humorlessly. "But at least I learned that I'll stop at direct murder, and that I'm brave, or foolish, enough to stand up to someone who could undoubtedly have left me as corpse number eighteen." Still could, really, if he ever got bored with talking to her - she was a power level higher but he was a foot taller and officers had that nightmare ability to simply reach in your chest and pluck out your starseed.
She wondered if Corrupts could too - and if they could, she wondered why Azurite hadn't.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:39 pm
"People are born to die." It was both an inevitability and a justification for their pliable nature. Persephone herself was subject to that very concept, even if she didn't see it herself - currently she lamented and suffered under the changes incurred by his unique brand of teaching, but that, too, would fade with time. One day she would die, and even if the changes hadn't entirely resolved themselves, they simply ceased when she did. But it was the length at which that change persisted that interested him - even if death cut it short.
Even if he was the one to kill her, regardless of circumstances.
"Could haf', but not anymore - since zat event is long past, you would not be attributed as corpse number eighteen, and despite my current standing, I am still capable of rendering zat fate for you. And if we look at it in terms of my total body count, zat number is still occupied. I'm afraid zat fate is beyond you now, Persephone." He wasn't entirely certain if she'd see the humor in his response, but that dry, dark mirth bordering absurdity was his only means of consistent jokes.
Then again, the Negaverse didn't have much use for trifles like that. Undoubtedly Serpentine would've struck him down on the spot for fraternizing with the enemy, as they'd danced back and forth in conversation to what must've been an hour by now. Still he hadn't laid a finger on her - but Serpentine forbade him from killing, did he not. Rule whatever - doubled energy quota, but no pulling starseeds.
Hesitation presented itself in his demeanor by a protracted breath, followed by a glance toward the flecks of horizon seen through the thick trees. He was loathe to reference this matter, but the cat had a point and despite his suspicions toward Persephone's potential answers, she had proven thus far that she defied most of his predictions. "When I was still a general, I spoke to a cat who knew of corruption, as well as a profusion of ozzer topics. Ze context in which she brought up zis information is irrelevant right now, but one of ze sings she had to say struck me as strange. She said, some senshi actually seek corruption as a means to forget ze sings zat scarred zem, all ze failures and feelings zat zey couldn't circumvent. Now I admit - I would not mind if my actions led to ze corruption of various senshi into ze Negaverse, but I cannot say it was my initial aim.
"Additionally, I ran into a senshi who spoke of a similar means to an end wis' an opposite effect - zat ze addition of chaos into ze starseed gives one ze propensity to commit violent and lamentable acts. She said zat zose given over to chaos suffer more, extensively even, and zat one of ze ways to curb such suffering is to purge ze soul of corruption. Ultimately zis means if one wishes to forget zeir past failures and pains, zey need only to seek a different side of ze war."
For a moment he ceased his recount, ad tried to suppress a smile to no avail. It was so entirely wondrous to consider this war - in all of its dimensions and viewpoints. "It's as if zis war is pure, unadulterated change. And none of us can stomach it."
Maybe she would deduce what he'd implied in an earlier statement, though he veiled it with an unrelated statement about the war. It was difficult to bring such considerations to light, but for all the strange mannerisms she held, Persephone proved a reliable sounding board for troublesome thoughts. "Growing pains. It's all growing pains." Bischofite backed away from her initially, before folding his arms behind his back and proceeding deeper into the forest. "We're all just growing up faster zan we're accustomed to."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 12:48 am
Persephone raised her eyebrows. "Too bad, eighteen is such a nice number, I'm almost disappointed I missed out on it." She replied, her tone equally dry but the hint of a smile on her face. "Not too much, though, I'm fond of being alive."
Any talk of corruption or purification was something that always drew her attention. It always seemed to her that everyone else knew so much more than she did, and she was starving for information, especially on the motives of those who pursued it and of course its outcomes - so even the mention of side-swaps had her physically leaning forward unconsciously.
An ironic smile twisted on her face. "I spoke with a Captain, Avalon, who used to be Order. She told me much the same thing - that she forgot who she used to be as a civilian, when she came into the Negaverse." She ran her fingers briefly through her hair, a nervous gesture. "This may shock you, but I have considered it. Corruption, we call it. Joining the Negaverse and becoming one of your Senshi. I've paid the Dark Mirror some thought, too, but I've had far more opportunity to speak with Negaverse officers." She tilted her head to the side, briefly. "I don't aim to forget, though. I haven't suffered anything in my time as a Senshi that drives me to want to not remember it, and if anything, I hope I forget my civilian life, because I'm not sure I could carry the guilt of knowing I abandoned the people I loved but not knowing why."
It was clear that this was something she had churned over and over, ever since that conversation with Avalon. The thought of not remembering being Caitlyn had scared her at first, but the more she considered it, the more soothing a thought it was. She wouldn't remember Alex or Delilah or Thalia or Cassandra or Lance or Gabriel or anyone else, but she also wouldn't suffer further remembering them and not knowing why she had cast them aside. Better, then, that she simply forgot.
"Perhaps some seek salve from guilt. I would say that's a valid reason to turn - and isn't it the most perfect of tropes, anyway? The dastardsly villain sees the error of his ways, and goes to the brave hero pleading for redemption. The hero, being wise and magnanimous and you know, a hero, obviously accepts." She rolled her eyes. "That's just fine for them, and let them feel nice and self-righteous as they go."
"But if I choose to go to Chaos, it will be because I seek strength. I have the most goddamn useless magic on the face of the Earth, I have a crystal flower form a dead planet that I can't do anything with, and I'm a member of a faction that can't get its goddamn act together. An older Senshi told me that Order meetings are pissing contests to see who can be the loudest, and you know what? I believe it. We work together when we have to, but most of the time I'm pretty sure every goddamn Senshi and Knight is too busy playing 'mine is bigger than yours' to care about much else." She coughed, briefly. "You'll pardon me, I'm a bit bitter with the whole thing."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:07 am
Bischofite paused in his meandering when Persephone embarked on her tirade. He watched the leaves shudder and quake in a light breeze, and they bore the same salty, weighted scent that stemmed from the rain. It wasn't so different from that night, though they met in different circumstances now. Maybe this was more a cemetery than those formally dedicated to such ideas - they lacked epitaphs, but the trees marred by his blades proved as good a tombstone as a slab of granite. And sometimes the dead didn't need such trifles - no amount of pricey rock or thoughtful phrases invoked the entirety of their lives regardless.
And Persephone spoke of her own funeral - her own private mourning of her feelings toward the White Moon Court. Already she embarked on the phases of denial - beginning first with anger and incredulity toward the members within, which only clarified the destruction of her faith and belief in their cause. She once championed it so justly, alongside Valhalla, but now? She spoke the same vitriol and aversion that he would expect out of his peers, the corrupted senshi, the broken dolls of the Dark Mirror... Maybe it wasn't as readily apparent to her, but she did more than consider corruption.
She decided on it long ago.
The once-general smiled, laughed a little, but she saw none of it. Thoroughly entrenched in her anger, she was not privy to the quickly forming machinations that he considered. And she would not know quite what he planned, at least not in its magnitude, when he finally turned on his heel to approach her once more.
"If you do choose Chaos, it is important zat you make an informed decision. As you haf' stated, Avalon forgot her life as a civilian, but zat does not include her memories as a knight. If you retain a working recollection of your encounters as Persephone of ze White Moon Court, zen you should know ze fundamental change zat coincides wis' being corrupted wis' chaotic energy. It is an unconscionably painful process, worse zan anysing I'f ever encountered before. I got shot and it hurt less." He paused for a moment, considering other changes - ones that Ida hinted at before. Psychological perversions.
He now found himself second-guessing her logic. Did chaos truly fuel his antisocial actions, or did it simply provide the power to finally execute the actions he'd always dreamed of? "I haf' also never pulled a civilian starseed zat has any Chaos in it. Zis may sound obvious to you, but I sink it's safe to assume zat Chaos is not a natural or hereditary energy in people. But - zere are also serial killers, and I suspect zey do not haf' any corruption eizer. I say zis because if zey did, it makes little sense to commit murder when in civilian form. So, I'm not entirely certain if it affects ze mind. I do know zat I'f always been..." How could he possibly characterize such a deep-rooted odium for the human race? "I'f never valued human life. It hasn't changed. Nossing has, really, aside from ze ability to execute acts I'f previously only dreamed of."
But he had other topics to discuss. "As far as I'f found, Chaos allows a few abilities zat I'f never seen ze White Moon manifest. Penetrating ze starseed cavity is perhaps ze most notorious act, followed by teleportation. Draining energy, as well. I'f met corrupted senshi zat could do all of zese. If you seek more power, zen I would say zose abilities qualify as an edge over ze opposition. It may not reinforce your mind or strip away your weaknesses, but you will haf' ze tools to cross distances instantaneously and murder your foes wis' one quick strike.
"However - zere is one final scrap of information I can gif' you. Corruption changes ze very core of your being, as I am sure you're aware, but it is impossible to describe to you just how warped your existence becomes. It's taboo to seize ze starseed of anozzer officer, even for informational purposes." The once-general raised his hand calmly before immersing it beneath the uniform, the skin, the bone. The strange, surreal space around his starseed felt empty as he remembered it - lifeless and painless. "But it is such a basic and vital change."
A faint trepidation peeled down the nape of his neck, through his spine. It leaked into his determination, and he faltered for a second before he chose to seek his starseed regardless. Logically he knew the consequences - he could easily die from this. Maybe she would walk away, his starseed in hand, and leave him to rot amongst the gallows trees he made use of so expertly. Maybe she'd panic, she wouldn't know what to do or how to return it to its rightful place, and his death would be the result of ignorance and nerves.
Maybe she'd understand that this wasn't such a bad fate, and she would watch the last breaths leave his body. Oh, how it hurt.
But he hadn't brushed his starseed yet.
Finally he focused on the admittedly stumpy girl who stood before him, all greek dress and curiosity, all compassion and drive and desperation ranging from the way her hair splayed about her face to the stance she held with one hand on her hip. And he hoped he could memorize that image indefinitely - at least retain the finer details until the last of his life ebbed from his bones.
Seizing his own starseed provoked agony in a way that felt both ancient and systemic. It felt familiar - in the way that Benitoite had changed him irrevocably, that Painite grasped the damnable seed and told him of its necessity to life, that Serpentine brushed it as a quick and poignant reminder that he was the one who now presided over Bischofite. It pained him so greatly that his legs felt weak, and he hardly maintained the grip required to move it. And he knew that pain was necessary - as he'd repeated time and again, suffering was the key to change.
He wanted to change.
She wanted to change.
The last remaining task was to suffer.
Summoning the last of his strength, he tore the warped seed from his body and collapsed to the ground unceremoniously. It rolled out of his hand, only a few revolutions - just enough for the universe to beckon her toward touching it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:51 pm
Persephone felt her ironic smile shift back into a more genuine one. There was a reason she so enjoyed time spent with Bischofite - it was rare she got a chance to speak with someone who had truly turned over the philosophical implications of Order and Chaos, and what it meant for the people who weren't given the mysterious blessing of an alien starseed.
Chaos simply could not account for the untold evils men did to one another. Ordinary civilians who had never felt the touch of corruption or the "blessing" of purification. Humans who were simply humans, without any supernatural influence upon them. How would Camelot account for Andrei Chikatilo, who had left at minimum fifty-two innocent women and children brutalized and murdered throughout Russia? Otis Toole, who if his own accounts were correct (and of course all of it was thoroughly suspect, given his mental instability and the sheer unlikelihood of the numbers he had confessed to, never mind some very poor police procedure) had done much the same across the United States?
There was plenty of evil inside humanity without the touch of Chaos.
He gave her little time to vocalize her thoughts, of course, because as she had been, he was intent on saying his piece, and so she let him, nodding at his explanation of the abilities of Corrupts - the same as officers, then, which made her even more curious about Azurite, who could easily have killed her while she was rendered unconscious from her magic and yet didn't.
Something twisted inside her the moment his hand sank into his own chest. "Bischofite, what in the nine hells are you doing," she hissed. He was not. He was not about to pull out his own starseed, that was not going to happen, no one was that foolish -
And then he did. "No!" She yelped, racing over to scoop up the tiny precious crystal that contained the Lieutenant's life force.
A part of her recognized that this was perhaps the largest show of trust any human could give to another. He had torn out the source of his very life, simply to show her what a corrupt starseed looked like (and she did look, she absorbed the sight of it, because it was the first whole starseed she had laid eyes on and it was strange in its incredible beauty). He had risked that she would let him die in order to teach her.
The level of trust he had in someone of the opposite faction, to literally set his life in her hands, terrified her. She had never replaced a starseed before, and while she knew in theory how to do it because of her glimpse of Valhalla rescuing Ganymede at the carnival, she had no idea if it would even work. If he died because of her incompetence - because of her sheer lack of knowledge thanks to a blessed lack of having civilians murdered in front of her - she would never forgive herself.
"Bischofite you colossal ******** moron," she growled, kneeling beside him and holding the crystal over his chest, allowing it to sink back in. Her heart was racing, her breatihng slowed almost to a stop in sheer fear. She had no idea how long it took for the connection between body and starseed to be eternally severed - what if it was only a few seconds, and she was already too late? Certainly it had gone back in, but she had no idea if that meant anything. This was her first handling of a starseed, and she could feel herself shaking.
That was absolutely unacceptable. He wasn't allowed to die in such a foolish way, especially not right in front of her eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:24 pm
Bischofite panicked in the sudden thought that he was paralyzed.
Paralyzed due to an exorbitant amount of pain.
But in the seconds following, the once-general let out a low groan and slowly winced from the dull, systemic throbbing that flooded his body. He'd never experienced anything like it before - given all his brushes with death, his failed fights, his falling off a building, nothing ventured near the very fitting agony that could only be described as someone toying with his soul.
And that someone was himself.
Strangely, he felt as though he'd just torn out his starseed and instantly found himself on the ground. Inwardly he speculated that he must've passed out, but he hadn't known for how long. Persephone could've played marbles with the damned thing for all he experiences he had to gauge it from. But for all the starseeds he'd taken, he never knew how long the individuals lasted without them, for he had no intention of returning it to the victim's body. Most often he walked away with his new find, and since those bereft of starseeds were fated to die regardless, he didn't care one whit for the time spent in suffering that could only produce death.
Very slowly, as if operating under conditions of extreme cold, Bischofite reached toward his chest and splayed his fingers across the bony ribs that shielded most from breaching his starseed cavity. It did little to quell the pain, but he felt the inclination toward it anyway. And once he managed to form basic thought beyond the slowly abating duress, he sought Persephone's observations to lend vindication toward his display.
"Tell me zat wasn't a wasted effort... Zat you at least looked at it before returning it." Many times he wondered what it looked like, and he spent countless nights lying awake in bed, considering pulling Richard's starseed just for a glimpse. To see if Chaos turned the seed into a black, oily mass of warped proportions. He wondered if starseeds deteriorated in appearance with the addition of chaos - and if that were the case, what did Laurelite's look like? The woman who could hand down his punishment in such a cold and logical demeanor... She seemed no more monstrous than half the hapless civilians he'd ended on any given night.
But now, at least someone knew what a Chaos-ridden starseed looked like, even if he was somewhat disappointed that she'd returned the damned thing.
Finally Bischofite sat up and leaned against the nearest tree - a well-worn oak with veritable girth, whose limbs pointed toward the ground with the burden of naked branches. He almost laughed, too; Serpentine would've undoubtedly groaned and rolled his eyes for the impossible impracticality behind the act, as he was fairly certain the Indian didn't appreciate science. But perhaps what sparked his interest more was Persephone's following reaction - would she hostage the information, lord over him that she could've let him die and thusly he owed her greatly? Would she chastise him for such foolishness, much in the same manner as his now-superior? Or would she react in a friendlier manner?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 3:10 pm
Persephone only started to calm down when she heard him groan and could be assured that no, she hadn't screwed up - he was alive. She had never been so relieved to hear that sort of sound in her entire life, and for a moment she nearly collapsed on top of him as panic-induced adrenaline began to drain out of her system - though she was fairly certain that would be counterproductive.
"Jesus ******** Christ," she said, her voice breathless with panic, "I thought you were going to die, please never do something like that again or if you're going to don't do it in front of me." She rested her hand on her own chest for a moment, taking time to catch her breath, because it had stopped for a moment there. (Her heart had gone overtime with panic, and now her chest actually hurt a little.) Her head jerked up when he spoke.
"Of course I looked," she said, her voice a little sharp. She sat back on her heels, hands on her thighs and curling into fists around her skirt. "I had a damned panic attack in the process, but I looked. It was - it was black, cloudy, but it still had color and glow. I don't know if it's because you're a Lieutenant and a General's starseed would look different - maybe. I'll bet corrupt Senshi starseeds look terrifying." She laughed breathily, desperately. "Never mind Ascendeds." Ascendeds were terrifying.
"Now are you going to explain to me why you thought that was such a goddamn good idea?" She huffed. "I appreciate the level of trust you're willing to put in me, because I don't doubt that a lot of the people on my side would've walked off with the damn thing, but surely there was a better way to make your point about what corruption does!" And it wasn't as if she was unaware. She'd seen the holes in Azurite's forehead and chest. Beyond that...she'd met Alkaid. She'd seen the Ascended General up close, skin cracked and leaking energy, and felt a deep-seated twisting horror at the thought of becoming that. Still did, really. Even if she gave herself to Chaos, she wasn't sure she could give herself quite so...completely.
"I ******** Christ, I actually like you, I'd really rather you didn't drop dead on me to prove a goddamn point!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:16 pm
If she saw that as trust, then he saw no benefit in refuting her. Bischofite found little merit in the truth, especially when it involved stripping himself of potential boons. For if he 'trusted' her, would it not make sense for her to trust him?And what sort of interesting circumstances might stem from that?
"I can't say it's high on my list of repeatable self-destructif' acts..." His chest still hurt desperately, and he wondered if she rubbed hers out of sympathy pains. He doubted it; if she'd never had her starseed ripped out, then she couldn't fathom the agony it heralded. And at least now he understood at least that much from the plethora of people he'd harmed irreparably during his career. And judging by her reaction, she didn't exactly treat him as a personal and mortal enemy - a hallmark of the White Moon Court. She knew what he'd done in the past - why care if he lives or dies now?
"Zere is no price you can put on an idea - not even in terms of lives. So if I decide zat what I'm trying to convey is wors' my life, I will spend it. It's zat simple. If I'f done my job right, zen zere are plenty of people who would take up my cause in my stead. Maybe not wis' ze same conviction, but it would happen nonezeless. But zat's not really what you're asking." Finally he stood up, though he still leaned against the tree in case his legs gave out on him due to a sudden surge of pain. "I did it because I wanted to know what a chaos-ridden starseed looked like. I don't know what conceptions you haf' of Negaverse officers, but it's not as if we get hammered togezzer and start reaching into each ozzer's chests and betting starseeds like poker chips. Since I'm ze only member of chaos here, I was my only choice.
"And you were smart enough to take a look at it, obserf' it and memorize what it looked like. But you were also stupid enough to return it, as I'm sure most of your court would groan over zat decision. Even after you learned of ze deas' count here, no less." Bischofite clapped, slowly and deliberately. As he was sure his legs would hold him now, he returned to pacing around the senshi who stood close by - the one who decided to rescue him. "I suspect you're getting too comfortable around me, Persephone - do I need to sreaten your life again, or should I change tactics and wager ze lives of your loved ones?" During a lull in his pacing, he cocked an eyebrow at her - the sole marker of his impossibly dry humor.
"Nevermind zat. Do you want to look terrifying, Persephone? It would be anozzer breed of power you could wield in your choice of ze Negaverse, if you still choose it after seeing a starseed tainted wis' its malice." Finally he stopped, and measured her visually. Short in stature, mild in intimidation, unassuming in potential power. He wouldn't be surprised if half the Chaos agents passed her over, even as lieutenants - like himself. "But if you like me as you say you do, it might be to your benefit to cross faction boundaries. Maybe your magic wouldn't be so 'goddamn useless' as you put it. You wouldn't gain any height, regrettably - but maybe you'll be blessed wis' taller heels."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 11:18 pm
Persephone finally stood up, dusting off her skirt and exhaling frustratedly. "That was still a very foolish thing to do," she said, though some of the intensity that had colored her tone before was gone.
Truth be told, she knew no one would have blamed her if she had simply walked away and left him to die, but it simply wasn't in her nature to let something like that happen in front of her if she could prevent it. Maybe it was a foolish decision - maybe she would regret it one day, either because he made her or because some member of her own Court discovered she had saved the life of an officer known for his sadistic tendencies and had her branded a traitor regardless of what color uniform she wore.
"If you're threatening my loved ones, I am too comfortable around you, since I don't have anyone I'd consider close to me in uniform so you'd have to know who I was underneath it." She said, with a raised eyebrow of her own. A lie, to a degree. She trusted him not to try and kill her here and now - that didn't mean, exactly, that he needed to know that Sidouer and Sisyphus were friends, or that she considered Dionysus her personal padawan. She would place her own life in his hands, no one else's.
"The ship may have sailed on me ever being terrifying, tragically," she said, "but if Chaos can give me something better than the pissant surface-level healing I have, I'll take it. I told you, if I go, I go seeking strength." She wrinkled her nose momentarily. "Though not necessarily taller heels. I'd look ridiculous and I'm not sure I'd even be able to walk. I'll take being small and unassuming over falling on my a** every time I take a step, thanks." She fell silent for a moment, her eyes on his face.
"How are you doing? That had to hurt like hell."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:33 am
"Zen I am a fool." He had no trouble admitting that. It was even a little fun.
Bischofite only smiled enigmatically. Even he had an abysmally small list of people he was close to when powered, though more of them lingered on the opposite side. But maybe his fellow agents just couldn't stomach the manner by which he ripped apart the Negaverse's PR ministrations. Given Tag's documentary, they wanted to maintain some semblance of indication that they were the good guys, and senshi were horrible, and why side with them when one's trusty local Negaverse agent is always watching the streets. His excuse for a lack of powered friends was clear - but what was her excuse? Especially since she showed kindness to serial killers - he would assume that only incurred ceaseless reprimands if it came to light - how could those of her own faction balk and ostracize her for that? People practically nurse on kindness.
"And what's holding you back from seeking strengs'? Treading water? Mous'ing the same platitudes toward your peers every damned day zat it almost becomes a comfort to go srough ze paces? Or are zere people you're loyal to? Even if it's not your faction, certainly your family bears some weight in ze decision. And as we bos' know, it's easy to get caught in ze crossfire of zis war. So if somesing were to happen to zem..." He snapped his fingers. "Not much reason to stick around wis' ze court who couldn't protect zem." It wasn't a direct threat, but he had plucked enough meandering strangers from the streets to assist in his machinations - and the survival rate was still pretty low. He could inadvertently destroy her family and not even know it.
Anonymity was a shawl over one's eyes. Maybe it prevented others from seeing in, but it prevented her from seeing out.
Bischofite ignored her question, instead glancing toward the stars that peered beneath naked branches. Who coined the term starseeds? It sounded heavily slanted toward the senshi and their damned broken homes. "Persephone, haf' you ever had your starseed ripped out of your chest?" He settled his sights on her once more, expecting an answer. He couldn't imagine any senshi surviving it, or at least not intentionally - unless the fresh lieutenants grew clammy and panicked over second thoughts. A shame that murder is so reversible these days. Maybe it would lose its meaning soon - then what would he do?
Maybe he should take her up on her offer to see her home planet. If it was as hollow and dead as she said it was, then it wasn't much different from areas of his own home country. Testaments to the shoah still stood, hollowed and dreary, smiling weakly at anyone who traveled to the site as a damned tourist location. And they looked on hollowly while American tourists replicated the salute at the crest of the podium. Surely she didn't have enough knowledge of a broken culture to establish those finer details, as she was not an archaeologist that he knew of, but... If she saw visions of the past, that might be possible.
And he simply didn't want to think about his starseed right now. Every time he did, another sharp pain reminded him that he probably shouldn't tear it from his chest anymore - or if he did, to ensure that no one else was around.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 4:54 pm
Persephone sighed softly. “I probably shouldn’t be, but I’m trying to find something worth anchoring myself to the White Moon. It’s likely a waste of time, but I before I toss aside my life and my family and probably a large part of myself because god knows what corrupting from White Moon to Negaverse does to you I want to at least try.” She said. “So I’m talking teams, since I’m useless on my own but I’ve done well fighting beside others, and I do everything I can to make sure they stay safe.” She still remembered the attack on the carnival, and how afraid she had been for her family there. There had been so many officers, some of them ruthlessly intent on murder…she shivered a little, which she hoped would pass unnoticed because it was late November and damn it, she was in short sleeves.
“I have no idea why I’m telling you any of this, by the by, but I obviously can’t talk about this s**t with anyone on my side…” She waved a hand. “No, I’ve never had it ripped out. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been in real fear of my life from an officer except for that night in the forest – though I don’t know that I was afraid, per se, just very certain that you could kill me if you decided to. The only time, really, was the first battle I ever had as a Senshi, and that was against two Dark Mirrors. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t had a very timely rescue, I would’ve died.”
She reached up to run her fingers through her hair for the thousandth time. It hadn’t passed her by that he avoided her question, but she let it slide. There was no reason to press, especially since she was pretty sure the answer to ‘are you okay’ after ripping out your own starseed was always going to be some form of ‘no.’
“Have you ever questioned, Bischofite?” She wasn’t sure what she would do if the answer was genuinely yes. He had mentioned a Senshi who spoke to him of purification, but… “Have you ever wondered if you’d do better as a Knight?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:49 pm
Alois smirked and watched her in lukewarm amusement. So she expected to form a team when she already had so little devotion to her court? And to think that she told him of all potential candidates about the potential for another team... She practically begged him to sabotage it. To have maybe a dozen senshi packed like sardines into some decrepit building, talking love and bonding and licking war wounds... A perfect time to collapse the structure on top of them.
The only problem, and perhaps it was of her own conscious decision, being that he hadn't learned of the meeting place or the time. Maybe her team would meet in this very forest - ghosts among ghosts among gallows.
The White Moon Court has its own dead children, Zirconia.
Though he prodded the roof of his mouth with his tongue and watched her in steady listening, Bischofite didn't respond to her confession that she hadn't suffered an officer tearing the starseed from her chest. And as he thought about it, ruminated on the plethora of revelations stemming from such an act as he experienced it firsthand, he considered subjecting every lieutenant under his command to experiencing it at least once. They needed to know what utter damage they did to their enemies, and how their psyches processed the overwhelming stimuli from it.
And when the topic of conversation turned to potential knighthood, the once-general took to picking at the bark of trees like a thousand birds before. "Yes, I'f considered it." He plucked a single chip of bark from the tree, and furrowed his brow when he examined it closely. It looked familiar, almost uncanny. "It's very difficult to rationalize against it right now. Consider us on similar ground - I cannot say zat my faction appreciates my work, and given my recent demotion for retaliating against an officer zat tried to kill me, one can say zey're not keen on my presence. But my reason for defecting would only amount to circumventing all ze suffering and bidding an undeniable '******** you' to my superior officer." A heart. A human heart. It looked like a human heart. "But your side finds me every bit as revolting, so ze only changes would encompass losing ze abilities I haf' now, which are very suited to my inclinations, and trading zem in for ze unremarkable and frankly pointless boons of knights.
"Do you remember when I likened you to a ghost floating between realms? I am now in your proverbial heels." After flicking the bark away dextrously, he leveled a much harsher gaze toward the senshi he'd spoken with so civilly to this point. "Persephone, you are right about one sing. It is an irrevocable fact." And he approached her determinedly, and what meager distance that lay between them quickly dissipated in his strides. Without any warning, the lieutenant's hand breeched the cavity hidden behind bones and sinew and found the single crystallized evidence of Persephone's soul. Bischofite did not hesitate in pulling it - perhaps that was as close to a favor as he would've afforded to the greek-clad senshi.
As his fingers unfurled from the warm starseed, he looked over its exterior in unrestrained wonder. For now he held a senshi's starseed - her life force, in all its brilliance and smooth edges. The edges felt almost sharp - enough to confirm a veritable corner, but not to break the skin. "I could kill you if I decided to." And suddenly he considered physically swapping others' starseeds - or was it like proteins, in that each starseed fit a unique host? "And I suppose I should tell you zat I like you as well, while you're wholly unable to process any external stimuli. Sings are better zis way - someone once told me zat eternity is abysmally boring, and no matter ze size of our endeavors, we must do somesing to keep busy. Maybe I'm paraphrasing, but it was wors' a note.
"You could be somesing better zan you are, but you care too much to separate yourself from ze dead parts. You want to keep your frostbitten fingers and toes, despite the necrosis spreading up your wrists and ankles. Your court is dying, and you're dying wis' it. Like ze Black Moon, soon you will simply be anozzer number among a charnel house. And if zere's anysing I'f learned, it's zat we have a little leeway wis' fate - so don't waste yourself on zat one. You're smart enough to figure out ze ramifications of your actions, and to sink beyond your court's propaganda.
"And you are part of ze reason I consider ze knighthood." Finally he thrust his hand inside her chest once more and returned her starseed to its rightful dimension, somewhere between her sternum and spine. An easy enough procedure, maybe not quite as thrilling as ripping it out, but at least restoring a life didn't require any extra energy. How taxing would it be to save empty souls if it was?
When Persephone showed signs of life, Bischofite crossed his arms over his chest and leaned over the girl at a near-right angle. "How are you doing? Zat had to hurt like hell." He even managed her intonations to reasonable success.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:28 pm
Persephone felt a slight sinking feeling in her chest when Bischofite admitted that he had considered purifying. But then, could she really be surprised? He'd been demoted all the way back to Lieutenant, an incredible humiliation, and honestly, she could understand the desire to give the Negaverse a very large middle finger over that.
Unfortunately, Bischofite was good at not giving her time to think or speak, because suddenly he was approaching her, and automatically, unthinkingly, she moved backward, but he was taller and his strides longer and he certainly didn't have to pick his steps carefully lest a wayward heel caught wrong send him crashing to the ground, so backing away was very quickly futile.
She didn't even have time to scream when his hand sank into her chest. Everything was pain, and then everything was black - and then there was more pain, which at least she could place as a check mark in the "alive" column. The first thing out of her mouth was a soft groan of pain.
Had someone stumbled across them at an opportune time, forced Bischofite to return her starseed? No, she didn't feel anyone else's energy signature, just his - and yes, that was definitely his voice greeting her, imitating her own. Her eyes opened and she squeaked, surprised to see him leaning there. For a moment she wondered if she could strangle him if she caught him sufficiently by surprise, but she hurt too much to ******** you," she breathed, "that hurt like a b***h." Still did, really. She had no idea of what he'd said while she was unconscious, of course -all she knew was that one minute they'd been talking and the next he was killing her. Even if he'd put the damn thing back. "That was completely uncalled for." They'd been having such a nice talk, too.
"Why'd you put it back?" Was it a simple consideration of a life for a life? She'd allowed him to live, and so e would allow her to? Was this another of his twisted teaching exercises - meant to show her exactly how much having her starseed pulled hurt? She would certainly never forget the experience - and she did not plan on repeating it, ever. "Jesus Christ and you say I make no sense." She was in no condition to fight, and so instead she fell back on sharp words
"Congratulations, though, you have sufficiently confirmed my assumption that you can still kill me. Bravo, standing ovation."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
