Ransomite didn't really get a chance to respond to Nembus before a large, strong man swept the both of them into a hug. His first reaction was to stiffen--he didn't know this person, after all--but he tamped that down in the interest of not causing a scene. Some people were just like that, after all, and it wasn't the first time he'd been suddenly hugged without warning. It happened sometimes with parishioners, especially the older ones.
'Father Isaac' was either considered unapproachable or a best friend, depending on how traditional the person was...
As they extricated themselves from the hug, Ransomite added that he was fine, more or less, with a warm, "hello." He'd taken a tumble, but the ache of it was starting to fade. He still wanted a hot shower, but at least the immediate reprisal from his body wasn't lingering too badly. He could still feel where there were likely to be bruises, however. He would have to think of how to explain those...
The new hug Albite's way from someone who also gave Albite quite the passionate kiss made his eyebrows raise a couple inches, but it was a good-natured chuckle that escaped his lips. Ransomite watched the way the new guy snuggled up to Albite, and he couldn't help but wonder if the others would do the same if it were him. He knew Tobias would. Diryas was more of a 'lean quietly against' kind of guy. Zebulon would probably bro-hug him to death--
Of course, that all predicated on them being in the Negaverse, and, looking around, Ransomite couldn't help but think that he hoped they weren't...
Aquamarine took the water from Jet, but not the jerky, convinced he couldn’t stomach more than liquid.
He wouldn’t currently classify himself as “irritable.” More accurately, he was a bit numb, staring around without really seeing anything, except Jet, who was the only person he wanted to see, so it worked out. The rest only mattered because he and Jet were stuck with them, relying on people Aquamarine didn’t trust to give a decent effort.
“Mmm,” he said, like he couldn’t be bothered with words. A few sips of water, and he passed the bottle back to Jet.
Scouting the perimeter was smart; it would keep them safe. Aquamarine didn’t necessarily trust Arles, but it was better than nothing at all, and he didn’t exactly feel like doing it himself at the moment. As for the casualties… Aquamarine couldn’t force himself to feel anything about that. Casualties were bound to happen. Aquamarine was only grateful the number didn’t include either of them.
His hair was falling out of its half ponytail, pieces of it sticking to his temples with sweat. Aquamarine released the tail to scoop it all back again, twisting the elastic back into place.
Absently, he said, “I suppose we should take turns keeping watch. Can’t have all of us sleeping at once, can we?”
Even if the only thing he wanted to do was crawl into a tent with Jet and sleep for several hours.
Actually, what he really wanted was to be home, in the comfort of their own bed, but the tent was all they could have right now, so the tent was what he craved.
It wasn’t that Lopezite meant to keep glancing over at the Eternal, but the bright colors just set something off in the back of his mind. Something screamed ‘fire’ and his first instinct was to go take care of it, until it clicked that--no, that was just a person. Who didn’t seem like he’d been taken care of yet, but that was something else entirely.
He gave Kamacite space, partly because he didn’t want to smother him and partly because he didn’t want to be clingy; he’d been in his group but there was no need for him to continually hover and check in on him.
Kamacite had been put in a leadership position, he was an Eternal. Someone more than Faustite trusted him with that, someone had to promote him.
He glanced at Lavendulan; now that he had a tent set up and done his best to help out a few others, he’d thought about going to keep her company, but he couldn’t shake the nagging voice in the back of his head.
So, he approached Kamacite--and didn’t ask why he wasn’t at the medical tent yet, or if he needed help with anything. He didn’t want to give the impression that he was just over there to fuss, even if, maybe, he was.
He wasn’t quite sure yet.
And then, a voice, that almost made him pause.
It was reassuring that someone else called out to Kamacite before he reached him, though he couldn’t say that he recognized Cymophane--but then, he really didn’t know very many Corrupted Senshi. All he knew was that he was someone who seemed comfortable enough to be so energetic about beckoning him over, to look at his shoulder.
“Kamacite,” he greeted, and raised a hand to greet Cymophane so he would know he wasn’t stealing the Eternal from him, or trying to distract him from getting taken care of. “I’m glad to hear you’re getting that shoulder looked at. If you’re busy, I can come back later, I just wanted to pick your brain for a moment. It’s nothing bad, it’s just that I think you’ve got a bit more Rift experience than I do, and I’ve had a few things on my mind. I can always come back later,” he suggested, because he really didn’t want to be any sort of distraction from him getting the first aid that he needed.
HP: 100 Damage: 1d10+4, hits assumed. Special: Can command youma, but it only works on certain youma. Roll 1d10; If a General's roll is an odd number, the youma will obey them. Quote Strickenized when this happens.
The approach of another distracted the General from her exercises, and wiping her brow more from habit than need, Shahar turned to see who had spoken. "Eveite!" A familiar face, and seemingly unharmed. That was well! "We had a bit of a rough start, but settled in quickly enough. The youma were compliant to being commanded, and we did not have to draw their ire." Titanite lifted her arms over her head, clasping her own elbows, and bent to the side, pushing out her hip. "I suppose based on your 'almost' wish that things did not go as easily for your group? Was the agent who fell one of yours?"
And thinking of the one who had fallen, she should probably go to ensure that nothing bad had happened when they fell. The Youma may have been commanded to rescue them, but she had not told it to be gentle...
A thousand and one questions - who, why, a starseed, a senshis??! Every thought run, rerun, and blessedly snuffed out. It all sounded like some type of s**t he’d pull - if he was in the middle of dying and it’d seemed like the most glorious way to go out.
He didn’t know the circumstances or the reasoning, knew not everyone got youma - even when they got youma. The one blessed thing about having Faustite as his boss’s boss? Was that dealing around youma was lesson one of a full length course.
He took in the name of the blond, Ransomite, quirked him a smile at the small ‘hello’ - and promptly caught himself an armful of surprising warmth. Stilled a little until he realized who it was. It was an easy enough thing to return the affection. Albite’d never been the type who’d minded an audience for anything. To murmur sweet reassurances into Thorites ear, because of course he was okay. Tuck him up close and show him how glad beyond words he was that the silver haired boy was safe.
“Okay—so— Thorite — this is my bossette Nembus and her friend Ransomite.” A pause of breath for introductions “Nembus, Ransomite — this is my boy Thorite, and what I’m hearing? Is that everyone’s getting in the ‘tent’. We can all make nice and stay alive - in the tent.” and the emphasis he placed on the statement burked little argument, sounded more like an order than a suggestion. The way he framed himself around them like border collie ready to herd a nervous flock of sheep.
“Cause I’ll be ******** if any of you are getting snatched up. Everyone’s bunking up, no roughing it, no wandering off alone.” Cause Senshi we’re all sorts of snacks - but they had the dusting advantage. Thorite and Ransomite were clearly lieutenants - no commanding power to their names.
“It’ll let us take turns keeping watch too. Everything’s all set up.” he was willing to set up Thorite’s gear as well, make a safety tent ring with the whole of it. “We can make a cute little ring outta the lanterns - fight off the gloom - I snagged extra snacks form the meeting thing.” Wrapped in foil and tucked away along with the other provisions, sweets and things that hadn’t been touched by nosey table cats. “We can raid our packs - make this all sorts of nice since it’s only the one night” endearing and firm with his statements. All soft grins, even as his gaze darted over the group and towards his set up - back again over the encampment and it’s inhabitants.
The only thing missing from Albites ideal camping trip - was his General. He was sure the firebrand was busy, but if things’d gone south the way Nembus said they had…
After. Albite resolved to find him after everything was settled. Hunt him down and root him out. Couldn’t be to hard to pinpoint a living breathing fire in the middle of it all.
It honestly did sound like something Albite would pull -- perhaps that was the scary part. Hopefully, he didn't take the general's advice and up the ante by using his own starseed for it --
Thorite caught Nembus by surprise, more of a surprise than Albite, somehow. Perhaps it was the fact that she was very suddenly treated to an eyeful of makeout, which was nothing she asked for and nothing she particularly wanted. She immediately made a note to herself, though, of this other person. Faustite would likely be interested in the fact that it seemed Albite had himself a date friend of some variety. Or perhaps just a person he was very deeply affectionate with. She didn't really understand how any of this worked--
She would have corrected Albite on calling Ransomite a friend, but it didn't feel like there was a point. Everyone was Albite's friend. Albite also assumed that everyone was friends. She guessed their banter had been friendly enough-- "Pleasure to meet you, Thorite," she offered, putting her hand forward for him to shake if that was his style.
My boy -- alright, probably was a boyfriend then. Definitely reporting that to Faustite--
After shaking Thorite's hand -- or not -- Nembus quietly chuckled, leaning toward Ransomite. "Well, guess our tent problem has been resolved for us. Also, I think Albite just adopted you. He's just," she paused, and offered, quieter, "like that."
Ransomite was evidently going to have friends and tentmates whether he wanted them or not.
"I packed a few extra snacks from the meeting too, admittedly, if we need any more." She rubbed her neck. "Also some cans of beans -- I read those were helpful online?"
She had no idea how to camp.
"Is there enough room in the tent for, uh, all of us?"
With all the signatures moving around the camp, it kind of felt like bees buzzing around her head or sensory white noise; like when she lived in the barracks or ate lunch in the cafeteria. Officers were often coming and going that eventually she had learned to ignore it.
Perhaps she was just exhausted from climbing the cliffs, or maybe it was that she just couldn't shake Radon's warning. Either way, Laven was grateful for the shift in temperature otherwise she may not have realized that someone was talking to her.
"General Faustite," she replied.
Although they had never spoken before, she was at least aware of who he was, not just from the briefing but mostly from memories that Wolframite had once shared with her as they related to his purification and what ultimately lead to his half-youmafication. This was the half-youma that was responsible for bringing him back to the Negaverse and she had to respect that he was to Wolframite as much as Lopezite was to her.
Nonetheless, a memory was nothing more than a shadow of the real thing and actually standing face to face with him was rather intimidating. General Lopezite and General Aquamarine were quite literally polar opposites and truth be told she wasn't where on the spectrum of friendliness General Faustite fell.
Wolframite very much still believed in the old ways as they related to teaching, following orders, showing proper respect, and punishments for not following the rules or protocols. If Faustite had his respect then Laven could only assume that his train of thought would follow a similar vain.
Or... like most things today... she might just be over thinking the s**t out of it.
As it was, her mind was already reeling; thinking of all the complaints Aqua had likely told him about her insubordination because she felt it necessary to give another halt-youma lieutenant something that might help him better protect himself since she got the feeling it was his first time in the Rift. Would be nice if Wolframite was here to kind of mediate this conversation if only to keep her from making a fool out of herself by saying or doing something stupid again.
In order to try and steady her nerves and just try and force her mind from continuing down this worst-case-scenario train of thought, Lavendulan drew in a slow yet deep breath as she bowed her head.
She watched him for a moment, brows furrowed in confusion as he picked up the can of Sterno and used his own burning flame to lite it before setting it down o the counter.
"Thank you," Laven finally looked up and was a bit taken aback by eyes that reminded her of burning charcoal.
"I, umm-" she cleared her throat then tried again. "Can I, make you something to eat?" As far as she could remember, Laven couldn't recall seeing him eating anything at the briefing and could only imagine how hungry he might be.
Strickenized
Please let me know if I miss spoke on something and I'll fix it.
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MoonKitsune
Mention - Please let me know if I miss spoke on something and I'll fix it.
He smiled at her, glad that there was someone else here with some medical knowledge, even if it was more in the dispensing of it. He took a moment to consider what she said. "I agree. I believe it will be better if we can watch each other, that way there are checks in case we mess up. And I would like that. More connections within the industry are always nice." At least it might help him get a spot in a hospital to continue in. Even if he wanted to go into a non-hospital setting, he still had to go through it first before he could become a full graduate.
He sighed at her question. "I'm not going to hide this from you, anything could happen here. A quake, things falling from the sky, a Youma coming out of the ground to attack..." He looked at her. "We're all in danger down here, though I know Corrupts are the larger targets. If a Youma does try to attack our tent I assure you that we will be alerted to it quite loudly." He said, thinking of Ödön. "But if it comes from underneath, there's not much we can do in that case. We can only hope that we all make it out of here while we are down here. There's no use worrying about it. And we need our rest. We don't want to start making ourselves paranoid due to a lack of sleep." He gave her a tired smile. "We'll need to rest up before we continue."
Eveite shrugged. "Yes and no. I think I chose the easier path, along with a few other fellow Agents and Senshi. But there was still danger there." And Titanite confirmed it with the Agent falling. "Yes... I believe he took a path differently from ours, but he was in our group. Not sure what his name is." She would have to try and look it up later. "And the fact that we were above you, while we were less likely to be shredded by Youma, we were much more likely to fall to our demise. That happened to another Agent after the first one." The one that had been taken into the wall.
She rotated her shoulders a bit to stretch them out, though she did feel the strain on her body from when she had hugged the wall. She would definitely need to do some stretching. "Sounds like it went well for your group then. I'm not sure if we actually managed to track it down. It appears that your group did our job." She said with a chuckle.
Thorite cringed when he was forcibly introduced, fighting down the blush. He really wished he hadn't just done that in front of people, probably interrupting their conversations and all that, but he managed to smile wide and wave.
"Nice to meet you guys," he said, looking at Nemus's hand and acting on a silly impulse. He slapped her hand with his, and then moved it back so the backs of their hands bumped, then finally gripped her hand in a normal handshake.
"I, wait, all of us? In the same?" Thorite blinked, then shook his head. "Sorry, that was rude of me. I'm not... very used to people."
Faustite shook his head. "Don't eat in front of people. Disturbs them." Her manners were noted, however. He wished he'd had more time to talk to her, ask her about what her life's like, since it was bound to be vastly different from the life of anyone else. There was a slew of surface questions, too — what she was, what her abilities were, how it happened. He briefly considered asking her to help him look for his team, but seeing her there in their makeshift canteen reminded him that she attended to a different, equally important job.
"You caught Aquamarine's attention," he offered as a change of topic. "Not that it's difficult. Heard you found the tracks, too. Thanks, and," he offered a half-shrug, "ignore him." It's all anyone could do with Aquamarine, he surmised. He hadn't learned what caused the blonde's perpetually sour attitude, or inferred it himself, but he could think of no better way to deal with it. Don't give it attention.
But he had to. There was another portion of the Infiltration team to find, which left the remainder in charge of tactics against their target. Jet and Aquamarine needed to watch the camp, keep trouble out, and he wasn't sure if he could pry Kamacite from Cymophane to go out with some assistance.
Either way, he couldn't while away their respite by chatting up one of the few youmafied officers he met.
He was briefly taken aback by Albite's insistence on his protection. Ransomite was hardly small or delicate, though he supposed his frame nowhere near competed with Albite's. Besides, Albite was a senshi and, "aren't I supposed to be defending you?" But the question was meant in good humour, and Ransomite turned toward the tent anyway after a nod of friendly greeting toward Thorite.
He and Nembus had just met. They were hardly friends, and he cast a curious glance her way. But he'd found himself dragged into this little enclave anyway, and he had nothing better going on. "Sounds good," was his response even as he looked around. Just in case, you know?
Cans of beans...
"It's been a while since I was adopted," he quipped lightly. "Forgot what it was like!" It was hard to miss Thorite's nerves, though. "But if you'd rather not, no hurt feelings." Not used to people? Reminded him of someone he knew.
He hoped Diryas remembered his new plants were coming in the morning--
Seeing that Faustite had an open flame where his digestive system would otherwise normally be, Laven kind of understood why he'd choose to not eat in front of others. But that didn't mean he should avoid eating all together. There were many officers here, herself included, that acknowledged him as the leader of this mission and were looking to the fiery General for both orders and guidance.
It was her understanding that although General King Axinite had been the one to request this mission, the burden of responsibility had fallen on General Faustite to see it through. Despite the fact she was only a Captain, and that he had respectfully declined food at this time, the least she could do was bring him something later once things had a chance to settle down around camp.
In the meantime, she was thankful for the change in topic and felt the tension in her shoulders ease when he told her to just ignore Aqua.
Try as she might to remain professional, Lavendulan couldn't help but smirk just a bit. As much as she would like to listen to his order over the ornery blond-haired general, she knew that wasn't really an option while they were still in the Rift. Once they were home again she could just avoid him like a plague which shouldn't be too hard since it only took two years since her conscription into this war to finally meet him face-to-face.
"Thank you. However, regardless of my feelings I don't want to give any of the Lieutenants reason to disrespect him" Between Aqua and Jet the darker haired general seemed to be a more suitable leader with how he gave orders and addressed other officers, but in the instance when they had to part ways there should still only be one voice in command.
"Speaking of Lieutenants..." Her gaze swept over the faces of nearby officers and corrupts as they talked with one another while performing various tasks. "It's not really my place to ask, but has there been any conversation about sending out a search party for our missing agents?"
Janggunite, the pale-haired half-youma she had spoken to before the groups parted ways, had still not been seen and while she refused to entertain the idea of death, she did worry that something serious may have happened to him.
Good natured grin that ate his features easily, pleased as punch to see them all getting along. He wasn’t going to stress in the fact that people needed people - easiest to desensitize everyone to the concept through sheer, forced, immersion. With smiles and food and positive insistence on the whole of things.
“Hoh-man, another person with a sense of humor? I love it - no worries Ransom’ we’ll all get on good.” Laugh in his voice for the easy barbs, and he wouldn’t ask Ransomite about his weapon of choice. If as a lieutenant, it was better than Thorites. If it was better than whatever Nembus’s powers were. Ransomite seemed fine, had Nembus’s interest enough that they’d said ‘hi’ to each other. Could be nice with his boy - for laughs at least.
A Gentle squeeze on the back of Thorites neck with one overlarge hand as he tugged ‘em along.
“So one? The tents hold four a piece, I can and will snag another.” By force if he had to, and corral others into the mix if he felt they’d mesh well.
Keep the peace. Keep them safe.
The one thing he’d been pleased about was the tent sizing, made sense they could hold numbers, otherwise their beasts of burden would’ve been overburdened on the trek in.
“Two - I already snagged a bunch of sleeping bags n zipped em together, two sets - ground padding ‘n coverlet.”
They could be unzipped from a whole, remade into singles, but his concern over being a trapped snug bug in a rug - easy pickings.
A youma burrito. Nope.
“Three? We’re all youma food down here, one ‘n the same. You, me, him, her? Better to settle in, make a meal of the beans - ‘good choice by the way nembs, beans r perfect’ - and enjoy the shared lamp light. Tell spooky stories n s**t, talk about work, ‘whatever’.”
To say he trusted few and far between in regards to protection - that the only safety was numbers at night - that there weren’t nearly enough generals or captains that he knew, ‘intrinsically knew’, body and soul would put out for them instead of letting them get dragged under as fodder if all the s**t went down - if dust started flying.
He could pick out a handful - maybe, but it was better to be safe than become a burden.
He wouldn’t say any of that though.
Seiana_ZI
best boss!
genovianprince
(I care little for post order) there are no ******** ups! Only victories and fun!
Ah, this one was literal. He would keep that in mind for future conversations. "Wasn't saying to disobey, just don't let him get to you." Miserable b*****d was a phrase that came to mind, but he was part and parcel with Jet, and together, they were each effective. He hadn't been looking for inspirational leaders for this mission; none of them fit that description, anyway.
"You're right, it's not your place to ask," he concurred, though his tone hadn't shifted from conversational. Leaned to the side, hand on a hip as he looked out over the camp, he continued. "Heard that there were officers snatched from the other groups.
"Won't be much of one, likely myself and another officer." If he could get him. His attention found Kamacite alone, however; his hip attachment either got busy looking for bandages, or preferred him alone to with Faustite.
A second sweep of the eyes confirmed which it was. Faustite's mouth twitched.
Jet was nearly taken, he heard. And, assuming none made it into their tents yet, his head count fell short by about a dozen. The number fit; his lips separated over his teeth in a quick frown. That was a significant portion of manpower for this terrible youma.
Finally, he called for Kamacite and beckoned him over.
