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 Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 5:50 am
“Obviously,” Aquamarine muttered.
It didn’t take a genius to realize the Queen only told them as much as they needed to know. Whatever she meant by increasing their quotas, she had her own plans for the surplus, and their job was little more than to shut up and obey. That she didn’t see fit to share with them how she came by the information in the first place was telling. Aquamarine didn’t know if he fully believed that bullshit about Metallia’s eyes are always on the sky. If Metallia paid half as much attention as the Queen and the General Sovereigns wanted them to believe, they’d have to deal with the results of betrayal less often.
But Faustite didn’t seem inclined to listen to much more on the subject. Aquamarine suspected nothing he said was worth anything in Faustite’s mind anyway.
Prickly b***h.
“For draining or starseeding?” Aquamarine asked, but didn’t bother waiting for a response. “If I want energy, I go where there’s plenty on offer. Bars and clubs tend to be rife with it. The crowds are distracted. The lighting offers some cover. It’s easy to slip in and out. Most of them pass off the fatigue as too much alcohol or too much dancing. Clearly those aren’t the sort of places you could just walk into.”
Faustite would attract attention no matter where he went, unless he used a glamor, but then the glamor would make him useless.
“If I want starseeds, I track down some Senshi or Knights. Kill two birds with one stone. Get starseeds, dispose of enemies. There are enough basic senshi and pages wandering around alone to make the task relatively simple.”
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:49 am
Faustite stared hard at the blonde. He'd tried his level best to be receptive and conversational, but he could tell he'd be suffering through heat blisters all night from biting his tongue. Might've been a favor to Jet if he pulled Aquamarine's starseed and added it to the pile.
Or maybe that only benefitted himself, in which case it probably wasn't worth doing. Youma officers weren't as valued, after all.
At last Aqua had the good sense to disregard his own initial question — better for it, so Faustite wouldn't have to interrupt with a curt 'both'. Instead, he listened as he paced, and shoved a couple fingers in a belt loop so the rest could toy restlessly with the bottom of his grate. Soft whisper-hiss of metal on metal as the moving pieces slid together, then apart.
Sitting in a bar and talking to people sounded unnecessarily tedious. They were Generals; they could drain at range. Aquamarine could've sat in a booth on his own, hands under the table, collecting energy by the handful from a tired dance floor. He could've been sipping ******** wine as he did it. And this b*****d had the audacity to —
He needed to calm down. Let his shoulders drop. Released a breath.
As he looked at Aqua again, he realized that hadn't done s**t. He still wanted to cremate the boy's face. In which case, they needed a fight.
"Then we look for senshi and pages." He stopped, held out a hand, and waited for Aquamarine to take it.sunshine alouette sorry, i lost this one in my quotes!
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2021 5:32 pm
Aquamarine watched and waited, waited and watched. He had no idea what Faustite was thinking, but judging by his face (never pleasant, as far as Aquamarine was concerned) and his fidgeting, Aquamarine assumed it wasn’t anything good.
What Jet saw in Faustite, even after the Rift fiasco, Aquamarine would likely never know. Every time he asked, Jet gave some generic, bullshit answer — all he’s a capable General and seems to have a decent head on his shoulders.
Decent head my a**, Aquamarine thought, making no effort to disguise his frown.
“Sure,” he said, but he neglected to take Faustite’s hand. Aquamarine kept his arms crossed instead. “Not sure I believe you want to, though. With me, at least. Can’t say I blame you, but…”
Aquamarine shrugged, scowled and rolled his eyes. He worked better alone, or with Jet. He supposed that wasn’t Faustite’s fault, but Aquamarine also didn’t get the impression that Faustite liked him, and while that wouldn’t normally concern Aquamarine in the slightest, he’d rather work with someone who could tolerate him instead of someone who looked as if he were seconds away from snapping and snarling and burning something simply from being around him.
“We don’t have to do this,” Aquamarine said. “You wanted to burn my face off earler. Or the youma part of you did, or whatever. Probably still does. And you know what? That’s fair. But I also don’t care to spend the night wondering if or when you’re going to snap and do it, all because… what? Maybe I say something you don’t like. Maybe you make an assumption that isn’t true but still get riled up about it. I don’t know.”
He eyed Faustite’s hand but still didn’t take it.
“You don’t have to force yourself to endure my company.”
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Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 5:50 pm
Faustite's hand remained extended until Aquamarine shared his true thoughts. Faustite found his reasoning laid bare in the following explanation; Faustite couldn't fault the logic either. It was, he thought, the most normal and sensible thing he had heard from a Negaverse agent during the years he spent here.
Faustite was a being on fire. That is, a being perpetually tormented by the pain of being on fire. With that, a temper to match his temperature. And though the boy on the outside strove to keep his impulses meticulously wrapped and hidden, the boy was human. Human engendered error. Thus, it was only sensible to expect he would lose control at some point — at any point. Aquamarine took a risk in explaining his reasoning, but it was a measured risk. A calculated risk that would reduce the amount of time he had to spend around Faustite, and by extension, chance that Faustite would explode at him.
Faustite was part youma, after all.
"You don't trust me." Claws curled shut and Faustite returned his hand to his side. "Smart.
"But no team forms from distrust." He turned from the blonde and started back down the hall, in the opposite direction of Aqua and Jet's office.
It was enough, he supposed. They would not partner again, and if that cost him Jet's assistance, it would frustrate him, but it had to be so. Perhaps it would've been different had Aquamarine feared him the way that most feared or loved Schörl, but he lacked her peculiar talent. Fire dissuaded so few anymore.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 10:07 am
If Aquamarine were kinder, more welcoming, or willing to take part in the sort of long, often clumsy conversations that involved baring one’s thoughts and feelings with others, he might have called Faustite back to sort things out.
It was, after all, nothing personal. He didn’t know Faustite well enough to make it personal. For all his frowning and eye rolling, Aquamarine didn’t intend for it to be taken the way it apparently had. He had always been a difficult person to work with. He was up front about that. There was no point in pretending otherwise. If a potential ally found him intolerable enough that a rather significant part of that ally wanted to burn his face off, he saw no reason for said ally to feel obligated to see the arrangement through, and he gave an out where he deemed it appropriate to do so.
Perhaps that was wrong. Perhaps, as Jet often encouraged him, he should have made an effort to be less… unbearable.
But Aquamarine was who he was. He wasn’t kind, or welcoming, and he hated all those awkward conversations about heartfelt topics that occurred while getting to know someone.
Aquamarine heaved a sigh and stared at Faustite’s retreating back.
“It isn’t you,” he muttered, low and toneless. “I don’t trust anyone.”
It got him this far. Seven years and a couple of promotions later, he was still alive.
In typical Aquamarine fashion, he didn’t wait around long enough to determine whether or not his muttering had been overheard. He teleported away, deeming the night a failure.
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