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 Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 10:38 pm
Ashanite rolled his eyes at Faustite's sarcasm, but it wasn't as if what he was saying was unfair. He'd rushed into things, so eager was he to get his hands on another recruit, and the end result had been one dead Page and one kidnapped Corrupt. Not exactly a winning ending.
"I've had plenty of success with forced corruptions in the past," Ashanite said, instead, thinking of Victoria--sweet, ever-loyal Victoria, the first thing he'd claimed for himself in the Negaverse. "And this kind of thing has gone quite well before." His own corruption certainly wasn't the only one that had begun this way. It was too bad, then, that this particular effort had been in vain. "As for making up for it, I suspect I have plenty of time to demonstrate that I remain a competent officer."
He exhaled between his teeth, and took a half step back to give Faustite space to pull off the top parts of his uniform.
Briefly, his eyes drifted over the strange, inhuman pieces of the man before him, but he held his tongue. There was no purpose in drawing attention to things Faustite was no doubt intimately familiar with, and treating a fellow officer like a zoo animal sat ill with Ashanite.
"This is going to sting," he warned, like it wasn't obvious. He bent down once more, and pulled out a plastic-wrapped cloth, kept sterile for just this sort of occasion. Then, he glanced back down at the fire in Faustite's midesction, frowned, and hesitated. "Is there anything I should know, particular to your biology, that might affect how hydrogen peroxide will react with your blood?" With Faustite being a being of fire, he didn't want to risk some sort of explosion or other nonsense.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:18 am
"Don't know. If I die, I die. If I'm more on fire, I'll roll on the ******** floor." What did it matter? He was just as expendable as the rest, if not more so. Being half youma didn't afford him any special place in their ranks, and Generals could double for cannon fodder when their Lieutenants were already reduced to organic pavement. Rules of war.
It was strange enough that Ashanite paused to give it any consideration. Schörl would've just gone for it. Would've gone straight for the alcohol to see if it would sterilize or stir a blaze, and if neither, if he would get drunk off it.
"But back up," he added, then realized Ashanite might've thought that referred to the hydrogen peroxide, but he was already committed to the turn of phrase. "You said you had luck with forced corruptions. How? Only ones I've known of were…" He clicked his tongue. "Unsatisfying." Cybele was already out the door, and Nembus was a timid thing that shivered at the wind. Too scared to do anything, all shut up inside.
If Ashanite knew some secret to bolster the people they corrupted forcibly, then that information needed to spread. Faustite, for one, wanted it desperately — if not to help Nembus, then to at least prove Albite wrong.
He half-turned, craned his neck up at the boy —
Oh. He was even cuter sans the jacket. And that was a terrible problem, for Faustite had a very readable face.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 9:03 pm
Ashanite frowned, deeply. That was...a distressing attitude, and one that made him deeply uncomfortable. But it wasn't entirely his job to unpack Faustite's blasé disregard for his own well-being, and he wasn't even sure he was qualified.
"If you're certain," he said, but there was still a note of concern in his voice. He poured the liquid onto is cloth, and began wiping Faustite's back clean, taking care to avoid the grate.
"I brought over Sailor Victoria in a forced corruption," he said, "and my only advice is that I insisted on providing him support when he had none otherwise. He was lost, and alone, and I made sure that I was the one making him feel less alone. In short, both before and after his corruption, I cared about him--which ensured his affection and his loyalty, and has kept him in the Negaverse when others might desert." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't think that's exactly revolutionary. Treat people decently. Ensure they feel that they belong. Make them loyal. I know other Generals prefer to rule by fear, but I find that fear creates a powderkeg--your subordinates might be too afraid to run, but they might also decide that the rewards outweigh the risks."
He looked over at Faustite, blinked, and gave him a wry smile, because, well. He wasn't unfamiliar with the expression of someone who thought he was attractive.. "Asking for yourself? Or someone else?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:15 pm
With a touch of willful ignorance, Faustite passed over Ashanite's concerns. Passed over them and into an embankment of pain for how the peroxide bubbled up against his back. Small hiss for that, teeth grit together while he tried to focus on fresh information.
Dismayingly, there wasn't much usable information dispensed to him. Only that he 'provided support' and made this new Negaverse senshi 'feel less alone'. That he cared about him, with no description of how or what he'd done to impress this idea upon Victoria. Faustite sucked his teeth, endured the peroxide as a ready source of pain to keep his mouth shut. Better he didn't dig into that with all his bitter quips and accusations. Better he leave behind what made him, a conscript, stick around.
"Both," he answered around a wince. Stared straight ahead, kept himself from looking back at The Boy. "Knew someone who was once Order. She purified. Mentioned something unsettling.
"Know someone else who was corrupted forcefully, who's still with us. Anxious thing. Flinches at a mouse fart. Flat affect, desperate, thinks herself inhuman for not having memories. But I'm —" He paused, scoffed at himself. "— s**t at performing care. Wouldn't know how to play it for someone else." Especially someone he didn't know well enough to care about.
"Don't suppose you have examples."
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:56 pm
Once Ashanite was sure the wounds were clean, he produced gauze and bandages, and began to dress them with the same care as he had cleaned them. The rag was deposited in the trash; he would replace it with another sealed, sanitary one, for next time. Because there was always a next time.
His hands were gentle, careful. His job wasn't to cause Faustite unnecessary pain, after all.
"Ah," Ashanite breathed. "So you'd like to keep this other Senshi from going the way of the first?" That made perfect sense. "If you're not good at it yourself, see if you can attach her to someone who is. I have genuine affection for Victoria, and that helped," he shrugged his shoulders; that was hardly a dangerous admission, "but it doesn't have to be you, specifically. Connections keep people places. There needs to be a reason to want to stay beyond fear of reprisal."
He paused, briefly. "...If you'd like, I could speak to her. I'm obviously missing the greater portion of my memories--the ones I kept were of Page-then-Squire Ploutonion, which is a few months at most, as compared to over twenty years of civilian life. Show her that it's not all bad, and that you can build with the pieces you have." A wry smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "Whatever else can be said, I can spin a pretty story, given the opportunity."
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Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 1:42 pm
Connections keep people places. Faustite searched the far wall.
He stayed in the Negaverse when he, at times, had no one. Spent two years in the Rift and preferred feral youma for company, though he never built indelible friendships with any of them. Now that he was back out, he had Kamacite, and he guessed a team, though he occasionally considered leaving just to escape the responsibility. But the Negaverse never suffered for his loyalty; he served because his life depended on it.
Nembus's life didn't. Nembus didn't have much of a life at all, and Faustite couldn't help her acquire one as a half-youma. Could he rely on Albite for that? He knew, peripherally, that they spent some plainclothes time together —
Hissed a margin when Ashanite went over some of the worst wounds. Supposed he could trust that muscular oaf to give Nembus a few reasons to stick around, but why pin his hopes on one man? "Spin her a ******** thriller," he decided, then belatedly added, "please."
He supposed a thank-you was in order for bandaging him up, but that was too much too soon for him.
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 8:54 pm
The belated addition of politeness made Ashanite snort in amusement. Faustite was obviously not one for pleasantries, and the tacked-on nature of that one made it stick out in a way that he couldn't help but find entertaining.
"I'll do my best," he said. "I'd hate for us to lose another promising ally."
He did a last, careful check of the bandaging, and exhaled.
"You should be alright," he said. "Be careful, though, and get it checked by an actual doctor. I can field dress an injury, but when we have a literal hospital at our disposal that will ask zero questions, there's no point in taking stupid risks."
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 1:27 pm
It was Faustite's turn to laugh, though his was a bitterly mirthless sound that rasped out of a too-young throat. "Doctors don't know how to treat me." Thought of Arsenopyrite, remembered that long-ago day when that officer stabbed a pen into his back to relieve the mounting pressure in an organ that no one understood. Thought about Schörl and her experiments, her forays into brutal aesthetics.
Decided he would never visit another doctor unless he was made to be human again. After sliding off the table, Faustite resummoned his uniform to cover chest and arms and back again, and winced for the sudden sting of it. Still, he felt better both for their conversation and for the injury.
Ashanite could be useful, though perhaps not for coming up with combat tactics. Or using precise language.
"Can't help my stupid Risk," he said in parting, "it's who I am." He approached the door, opened it, then added, "Next time, call a Squire a Squire." Didn't wait for a retort on that one.
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