It wasn’t just the lights trying to surge to life, it was a current of energy running through them. Feet on the ground or hands on the wall, it was all enough to guide the current of energy, and the longer they stayed put, the more charge they built.
Pale lines began to manifest with more certainty, spilling across the floor like water filling tracks. Six lines at first, in a perfectly symmetrical hexagon; each point ended just in front of the dark hallways. The pale impression of shapes were trying to force themselves into existence within the hexagon, but the oppressive haze of black fog above seemed to dampen its efforts.
Five of the six points on the hexagon sparked as if desperate for illumination. The sixth, just in front of the most ominous of the hallways, remained dark.
Where the floor struggled, the walls did not.
It took a living being to get a reaction out of the room, be it their feet on the ground or their hands on the walls. The more they touched the smooth walls, the brighter they glowed. A pale track of light followed anywhere they touched. Negaverse agents may feel energy burning through the stone but they have no means to contain it.
Of six walls, five images began to glow.
The dark stone was bathed in a pale blue light.
The first wall flashed almost incessantly, in varying bursts of light. It was erratic and unpredictable, but pale dots along the smooth stone almost looked like stars in the sky. There was a faint glow of clouds, but more noticeable than anything was the very clear lightning storm.
The second wall depicted a serpentine figure, coiled around a large, round world. The mural, like the others, was magically animated. The snakelike entity had two small arms for appendages, but much of its detailed was blurred away in the light. Its mouth was open and the intention was clear–it was feasting.
The third wall took a different perspective. Humanoid people stared up at the sky in horror. The serpent slithered in the sky above them. Three humans worked a forge, eternally hammering at a strange spike.
The fourth wall depicted a hexagon. Six spikes plunged into the ground, one at each point. Lightning struck all of them simultaneously, visibly charging the outer perimeter.
The fifth wall showed the same hexagon, but from a different perspective. Now, it depicted a much smaller serpent, trapped in a cage of lightning. Thunderclouds rolled around it as it slammed against the barrier.
The sixth wall remained dark.
They weren’t the only thing worth noticing in the room, though. It seemed like things were in constant movement, even if not clearly coming to life.
The longer anyone looked into the darkness of the ceiling, the more sparkles they would see. They didn’t illuminate; it wasn’t like the sparks or lightning occasionally flickering throughout the room. It looked like black glitter, briefly catching the faintest flicker of light before being swallowed up by the darkness. The smoke was captivating, perpetually rolling. It bubbled and frothed like something was feeding into it. The ceiling was shielded from sight and it was hard to tell if the occasionally glints of light were from the glittering specs on the fog or something trying to burn its way through the darkness.
The pauldron Faustite cast to the ground lay in darkness; no light was drawn to it.
As Jet tuned into the vibration, sometimes only a tingle and sometimes bone deep, he might notice that it has a steady, predictable pace. A deep, lower frequency for about twenty seconds, a pause, a slightly lower frequency for about twenty seconds, a pause. It repeated. It was difficult to focus on, but not impossible, for anyone who was able to tune out the excess pulse of strange energy around them.
There didn’t seem to be any connection between the vibration and the flashing light down the dark hallway, or the strange whistling, either. There wasn’t so much as a spark of illumination from the other five hallways.
Quote:
Five animated murals have appeared on the walls; the sixth remains blank. A glowing hexagon has appeared on the floor; five points seem to be beckoning. The sixth, in front of the flickering, whistling hallway, remains dark. The other hallways remain dark, but lack animosity. The ceiling is shrouded in fog and what lies behind it is difficult to make out.
From this point on, please make sure you bold your character's actions as well as what they are investigating; every character has the opportunity to learn something unique about this space to be learned in the next prompt. If you have questions about what you can learn or if you need help thinking of something to investigate, please PM The Space Cauldron or message Xigglet on Discord! By the end of this RP, all characters will be transmitted pictures of the murals, but you may still examine them in more detail to gain specific information that will not be transmitted to the group. There is hidden information in the room; you can examine one thing in close detail and one thing in passing so please make sure this is indicated in your post.
The post was edited to include the map!
Strickenized
Kolina
Sleet Tempest Snape
Sara Draconia
Sunshine Alouette
Guine
amorremanet
Noir Songbird
Kaefaux
Seiana_ZI
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:35 am
“Dorothy” (Eternal Murikabushi of Hunger) Close Examination: Checking out one of the wall murals (Wall #5). In-Passing Examination: Throwing Faustite’s pauldron down the ominous hallway, waiting a moment to see if anything immediate happens. Other: Meeting Aqua’s callout post by putting his money where his mouth is and focusing on the task at hand. Announcing his chosen code name, per Faustite’s request.
It wasn’t that Murikabushi didn’t hear the clapback he was getting from General Dorian Gray-ite (Aquamarine; with platinum blonde locks like that, it was either Dorian Gray or Lestat for a comparison here, in Muri’s gay little brain, and Dorian Gray felt less potentially insulting overall). As that General in particular went off on him, Muri refused to look at him, folding his arms over his chest and staying focused on the strangeness of the ceiling. He heard every word, though, and oh boy, did he have opinions.
(For starters: why was it so hard to understand that Murikabushi’s issues with Mirrorspace did not reflect how he felt about the Court? This wasn’t even unique to General Gray-ite, but he was the clearest, most recent example of someone trying to find hidden meaning in Muri’s words about having beef with Mirrorspace itself. Regardless of who made that mistake, dealing with never got less annoying. For that matter, what part of “Mirrorspace was garbage TO ME personally, so I told it to ******** off and left because I deserved better than being made to feel that way” was at all confusing or an assignation of moral value? Why did Muri’s feelings on Mirrorspace have ******** to do with his feelings about Faustite, who—okay, yes, fine—did atrocities and other sundry morally objectionable things, but was also obviously not Mirrorspace?
Ugh. Exhausting. It wasn’t even entirely General Gray-ite’s fault, since he was a whole new person, having somebody else’s hot take on Murikabushi’s whole story dropped in his lap from out of nowhere, in the middle of a stressful situation that might’ve easily felt too big to handle. Still, though: exhausting.)
Under other circumstances, Murikabushi absolutely would have loved to throw verbal hands with an admittedly beautiful twink who, by Muri’s estimation, talked like he thought he was better than everyone in the room. Obaasan had raised him better than that, sure. Sometimes, people just didn’t like you, and if they weren’t actively hurting anybody, it was better not to waste your time or energy on trying to change their minds. Considering the inbuilt enmity between the Negaverse and the White Moon, it stood to reason that General Gray-ite would just be one of the people who didn’t like Murikabushi and he was allowed not to. At least a few of the people in this room did like him, so better to focus any personal relationship-type energy on them.
But had the circumstances been less obviously dire, Muri would have enjoyed trading barbs more fully.
For now: until Jet actually did anything to condone what General Gray-ite was saying, or indicate that he felt similarly, Muri was determined to take Jet at face-value and to not read more into his words than what he said. That meant ignoring the invective from the mouthy twink who belonged in a Botticelli painting more than in real life. Swallowing the impulse to fight him or stand up for choices that, in all likelihood, he’d never accept as valid anyway.
The ceiling helped, in its way. The more Muri looked at it, the more drawn to it he felt. The less capable he felt of looking away. Whatever was going on with the rolling clouds and the sparkles like black glitter, it was captivating. Muri only managed to emerge from staring long into what might have been an abyss when Faustite clapped for attention. (Really, it was a relief that he did so. The more Muri stared up at the ceiling, the less he felt like he understood and the more uneasy he felt with whatever it thought it was doing.)
“Faustite asks that everyone pick out codenames for the sake of ease,” Murikabushi said to the group, translating for him. “You can call him ‘Furnace.’ I’ll take ‘Dorothy.’” Did he mean Dorothy Gale? Did he mean Dorothy Zbornak? He meant both, but really, that didn’t entirely matter. “Or just call me ‘Muri’ if you object to the code names. Everyone else does. More importantly, Faustite suggests that the ceiling might be the storm we were just stuck in, and that we not spread resources too thin by trying to illuminate it. Having stared up at said abyss? I’m gonna agree about resources. I don’t know if it is what we were stuck in, but that ‘goth soup’—per Faustite—looks like it may have something feeding it. In lieu of an obvious source, it might well be that attention feeds it, and without knowing what it is, we don’t want to make it stronger.”
With that said, though, time to get to work on actually doing anything useful.
Muri started by picking up the pauldron Faustite had tossed to Kerberos. The idea of throwing something down the ominous hallway to test what might happen had the most legs out of any approach to dealing with the corridor in question. Taking a few steps forward, Muri flung Faustite’s pauldron into the ominous corridor like a frisbee. He waited a moment to hear if it clattered anywhere, and then another to watch and listen for any potential reactions.
Murikabushi didn’t wait long, though. Patience wasn’t his strong suit, while he liked to think he’d learned something from his grandparents about analyzing things and making guesses about history. Which, as images more clearly stabilized on the walls, certainly seemed to be the name of the game right now. Turning away from the ominous corridor, Muri faced a set of murals, each equally intriguing. They seemed like they probably fit together as well, with the mural on his left showing a hexagon arrangement of stakes in the ground and lightning striking each one, while the mural to Murikabushi’s right showed some kind of serpentine beast contained within a prison of lightning.
Well, never let it be said that a b***h (Muri) wasn’t perpetually intrigued by cute monsters. Following the same example set by Encke, Miss Angel-Dust (Solaris), and the self-professed Captain (Chal), Murikabushi moved to the mural of the imprisoned serpent. He crouched by the wall, trying to look at it from as many angles as possible, starting from the bottom.
General Aquamarine Action: Bitching, but also examining Wall #4. Recording!
When he put his mind to it, Aquamarine could control his expression enough to suppress any show of emotion. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for his eyes, which sparked hatefully, jumping from figure to figure as they spoke, moved, or caught his attention in some other manner.
The thing about Aquamarine was that he was a spiteful b***h. He hated everyone (except Jet) and would use anyone (except Jet) without remorse to get what he wanted (usually for Jet’s benefit, whether Jet wanted him to or not). He trusted no one (except Jet) and expected everyone (except Jet) to prove themselves to be unworthy of it anyway. They’d had enough traitors in their ranks to convince Aquamarine to never let his guard down. Even among the Queen’s most trusted, there was room for suspicion.
During past missions, he’d had little reason to rebel. With a clear goal in mind and a plan to see it through, Aquamarine had focused on the work and saved his hatred for those who’d made poor decisions or couldn’t follow orders. He worked with his peers because it was necessary, and because Jet, resident do-gooder and light of Aquamarine’s life, generally respected them. Jet trusted them. Jet wanted them all to reach their full potential. Jet would do whatever it took to help them succeed.
Only to be undermined at every turn.
“You can call me whatever the ******** you want,” Aquamarine announced. “Anyone here who might actually earn my help already knows who the ******** I am. If the rest of you don’t, you can thank your s**t communications. I won’t be helping our enemies, and anyone who does when we have the clear upper hand can consider themselves on notice.”
The hateful spark in his eyes didn’t diminish, but a smile curved onto his face when he returned his attention to Jet.
“Faustite did say to pick out codenames, but he also said he wants to take the lead on this despite the fact that he’ll need to rely on some of us to translate. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that. Take me, for example. What reason could I have to lie? Oh—”
Aquamarine continued by addressing those of the White Moon unfortunate enough to have found themselves there, particularly Encke, who seemed wary enough that he might actually have a brain, and the girl (Solaris), who seemed aligned with him. Kerberos, too, although it hadn’t escaped Aquamarine’s notice that Murikabushi and Kerberos seemed friendly with one another. On the surface, at least. He couldn’t pretend to know what they really thought of each other.
“As far as I’m aware, Faustite can still hear, so if you see Loose Lips over there signing to him assume he’s relaying something he doesn’t want to share with the rest of you. He’s already asked Faustite and the ******** Up if they’re okay and seemed relieved that they don’t look hurt. I don’t know why any of you self-righteous pillars of virtue would care for someone who’s killed innocent people, not to mention how many of your equally sanctimonious little friends he’s hurt or maimed. You don’t get to be a General King by keeping your ******** hands clean. I wonder if it’s stupidity or willful ignorance on Dorothy’s part, or if he plans on turning his back on you the way I’m guessing, based on his own ******** words, he turned his back on the Dark Mirror. So strange. Obedient, too. He takes Faustite’s orders so well…”
Aquamarine spoke as if, now that he’d cracked, he didn’t know how to shut up. Maybe he relished the opportunity. His voice rose and fell with an equal measure of excitement and scorn.
Without pausing, he once again looked toward Jet, who received a more genuine but still slightly barbed smile. “So stand down and relax,” Aquamarine told him. “Let Faustite handle it, and if any of them survive to ******** us over at a later date, it’ll be on his ******** head.”
Benitoite’s approach had, of course, not gone unnoticed either. Aquamarine regarded him coolly. He had no reason to trust Benitoite either, had even tailed him once during that fiasco at the Farnsworth to ensure he wasn’t going overboard with needless slaughter or stretching the bounds of his loyalty. Nothing had come from it. At the moment, Aquamarine was willing to (even if only temporarily) suspend a suspicion that hadn’t panned out to focus on more immediate concerns.
“I don’t know if the rest of them can read between the lines,” Aquamarine muttered to him, low so his voice wouldn’t travel, “but we can still go through the chest. Or the back, if they’re stupid enough to turn them on us. Keep an eye on Faustite and his pet.”
Aquamarine didn’t bother to specify whether he meant the ******** up or the loud mouth or both.
There was, of course, the nonsense going on in the room to deal with. Aquamarine prided himself on his ability to multitask. (He prided himself on a lot of things.) While venting, he’d already begun to search through Jet’s pockets.
“Don’t you have your ******** tablet on you?”
Aquamarine saw no point trying to wrench open subspace for his own if they already had one handy between them. He happened upon it seconds later and did not mutter anything about Jet having a pen in his pocket or being happy to see him. He was furious. Now was not the time for stupid jokes. Aquamarine expanded the tablet to check its functionality. They knew communications didn’t work. They probably wouldn’t be able to access the database, but he could take notes and—
“Would you look at that. The camera’s working. Maybe..." He smacked at it like it was old tech that just needed a nudge to stop flickering erratically. "********. This should help with the performance review.”
More important than that, he could record what he needed of their surroundings instead of relying on memory, which was excellent on its own but not always foolproof. Aquamarine started at the nearest wall, which happened to depict a hexagon with spikes lodged into the ground. Lightning struck each spike at once. He tried to rally and focus on what he was seeing in an attempt to make sense of it. There was a hexagon. They were in a hexagon shaped room. Surely the two had something to do with each other.
Alas, Aquamarine was still firmly focused on being pissed off.
Quote:
Note: I verified that recordings can work! Kyu says "it might have some weird sound overlay/noise glitches or visual flickers but aside from being notably 'weird' it is usable."
Guinex
amorremanetx
Strickenizedx
Sleet Tempest Snapex
Noir Songbirdx
Seiana_ZIx
Kaefauxx
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:24 pm
Faustite (Furnace) Close examination: Punching the hell out of wall 1 Passing glance: Inadvertently standing on the hexagonal point between walls 6 and 1 tl;dr: Not Fighting Someone thanks to Helio, flipping Aqua off, taking his anger out on a wall
Faustite nodded at Chalcanthite for the clarification. So that's who spoke earlier, then. Clever enough bend as long as he could preserve the ruse.
Murikabushi picked up the translation services well enough — and cleverly enough, given that some of his spicier remarks didn't make it to the rest of the room — which meant Heliodor wouldn't have to voice his piece for him. He could focus on something more productive, like figuring a way out of this gloomy hellhole of a dungeon basement. Faustite gestured his thanks.
Given the signs that some of the room's denizens were starting to chafe at each other, it lent importance to the idea that they all keep busy. Particularly himself, if he was having a rare moment of personal honesty about his own shortcomings. But he wasn't, or soon decided he wasn't, or was so eminently distracted by Aquamarine's cantankerous deceit and willful mistranslation that any hint of self-reflection immediately fled the scene. The flame in his gut whorled faster, brighter, but for all its lambent fury, it shed no additional light in their curious space. A number of sparks began to cluster near the fiery vortex.
Aqua declined a code name, but there were enough Negaverse agents in the room who knew who he was and could call to him if he was in imminent danger of some cosmic deathtrap. Seldom did he and Jet separate, and while Faustite didn't much care about the insular blonde's fate, the Negaverse would feel Jet's loss — particularly if he went down because of Aquamarine.
Though, as the boy went on with his suspicions and outright disdain for Heliodor, that ambivalence about his demise soon turned into a yearning for it. But for as much as Faustite curled his fists at his sides in an effort to stay his own anger, his ire only rose into a quaking crescendo made manifest in a mess of barely legible signs (some denials for taking point nestled between long threads of invective) and punctuated by double one-fingered salutes cast Aquamarine's way.
Only Faustite, as his direct superior, was allowed to call Heliodor a ********. And maybe Schörl, but that demonic platinum blonde had been missing for years now.
He then tried to approach the blonde, so blinded by his consumptive anger, but a firm hand around his bicep from Heliodor anchored him to the spot. Turning with a seething, cinder-spitting rage, Faustite balled his fists and punched the wall nearest Heliodor, adding sound and fury to the thunderstorm it depicted. He struck and struck and struck again, uncaring about breaking stone or bone in the process, and only once some of the hateful energy ebbed from his body did he finally stop. Panting lightly, he stepped away from the wall and maintained as much distance between himself and Aqua as possible, but he rather tried to keep from getting too close to Encke, too. This left him inadvertently standing on the hexagonal point between the first and sixth walls.
Quote:
Got permission to say that sparks are clustering around Faustite's grate when his fires get more active. Also, please interpret 'sound and fury' as a hendiadys and not literally.
sara draconia
kolina
amorremanet
sunshine alouette
Strickenized
Garbage Cat
Offline
Kolina
Inquisitive Agent
Offline
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:41 pm
Character Name: Corrupt Eternal Senshi, Heliodor Action: Playing interference and studying things. Close examine: Wall one and seeing if the walls erratic lighting matches the hallways Passing examine: Focusing down the hallway between walls 1 and 2.
It was remarkable really, how many people actually knew ASL, or enough to get by. In their group there were what?... 4 of them in total that had shown their hands at knowing it. Still, Heliodor did as beckoned and relayed the orders from his superior. He did his best to follow word for word, pausing here and there to give him a moment to fill in blanks that his still shaky ASL understanding couldn’t decipher from the gestures alone. Plus, Faustite was moving at his typical speed as opposed to the painfully slow one Helio preferred yet. But, the message was clear enough. At the end of his translation he raised a hand. ”Heliodor.” A shrug. “I don’t much care who does or doesn’t know my name and I am pretty sure most or all of you already know me in some capacity.” He had no reason to hide behind a code-name. They all knew what each other looked like by that point anyway.
The amount of nonsense chatter happening among a group that made it so clear that no one had an interest in working together was unremarkable. It reminded Helio of childish conflicts from high school. People boasting or prodding without actually doing anything with their threats. While he himself would love to follow through with an unspoken threat to the winged alien across the room, he kept himself focused on the task at hand. His attention was on the first wall with the lightning depiction. His fingers ran along the image’s constant flickering, the start around it a curious motif. The incessant flashing of lightning though made him turn his attention to the hallway that Muri had thrown Faustite’s Pauldron down. He stepped back and tried to watch and see if the flashing light down there was at all in time with the lightning mural on the wall. him looking down the hallway that Muri had thrown the pauldron to see if the flashes there lined up.
His eyes were pulled from his heavy inspection when he heard Aqua. Hands fisted at his side as he sucked in a deep breath, letting it out in what felt like a painfully slow countdown from 8. While he couldn’t argue the fact that he had indeed ******** up royally in the past, he was doing his damned best to rectify his mistakes. The fact he hadn’t launched himself at the General was in and itself an achievement. Cause what he desperately wanted to do was march over and sock the b*****d in the face and ruin that pretty boy look even if just temporarily. It was one thing to call Helio a ******** up behind closed doors but to do so to his face with their current company. <******** him.
The flare of fire to his side has Helio moving before he even registered it himself. The double finger salute to the blonde was the mildest of reactions that Helio had expected as he ran interceptor, holding his General back from doing exactly what Heliodor wished to do himself. Starting an inner faction fight here wasn’t smart. Even Helio could see that. Best to deal with all of this after the fact. Thankfully, Faustite redirected his ire to the wall. Better it than someone else, unless it was one of the unlikable Order people, but they seemed to be smartly staying away.
To top the pretty little chaos cake, Aqua doubled down to throw out threats like he had any control over everyone there considering there were two Sovereigns in attendance. “You have a lot of balls to try and frame one of your superiors here on top of insinuating that they could be a traitor considering there’s more than enough of us here, on both sides who know how to read ASL.” He looked anything but amused as he stared Aqua down. “Not to mention you’re the one over there acting like a spoiled child unable to keep his mouth shut about things that perhaps they” He gestured towards their ‘friends’ “shouldn’t be privy to. If you have issues with people of your own faction take offense behind closed ******** doors with us.”
“Who’s the ******** up now?” He seethed, took another deep breath, and gracefully spun away from Aqua with an obvious dismissal for his bullshit. ******** him and the ******** high horse he rode in on. The b*****d.
Another deep breath. Another count to 8 as he released.
He moved to the hallway that sat between walls one and two utilizing it as a means to not look at anyone in particular.
Quote:
Things for the group to hear/see/witness.
stricken1ized
sunshi1ne Alouette
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:03 pm
General King Jet Action: Feeling like a babysitter suddenly. Checking out the ceiling and listening to the vibrations some more.
Interesting, was all Jet could think as he watched the others, White Moon and Negaverse alike. He was trying desperately, and failing, to keep his lip from twitching. The responses, or lack thereof, were mediocre at best, but Jet was amused by them nonetheless.
“General,” Jet greeted Benitoite with a polite nod once he was closer, then pursed his lips thoughtfully when asked about the others in the room. Particularly Murikabushi. “The other White Moon senshi don’t seem to mind, either.”
Turning a blind eye to the actions of those who were supposedly on the same side. Maybe Encke and his senshi friend (Solaris) were just poor judges of character. After all, both Murikabushi and Kerberos were traitors of Chaos.
There were certainly a lot of big personalities there. If Aquamarine wasn’t so angry, Jet might have tried to goad the others on some more. Of course he knew what he was saying. He was giving them an opportunity to be useful. The purpose was for them to ignorantly run into danger.
One of the interesting parts was that even though they had the White Moon easily outnumbered, there was no response of agreement. Except from Aquamarine, of course. They could easily corral the White Moon down a hall, but instead there was a rush to work with them? So they could… what? Collect information that could end up potentially benefiting the White Moon?
Luckily, there was no need for him to respond since Aquamarine had plenty to say. He couldn’t help his amusement. Aquamarine certainly had a lot of fire.
Although he did freeze, wide eyed, when Aquamarine’s attention was turned on him. The hate in his eyes, although not directed at him was not to be trifled with.
“Code name,” he repeated, as though trying to verify he really had heard the right thing a couple of times now. “Oh, I guess everyone can just call me ‘Jet.’ Or ‘Sir,’” he shrugged, holding up his hands for Aquamarine to dig through his pockets.
“Don’t mind him, he’s got big feelings,” he said to the others in the room as Aquamarine stalked off to view one of the walls.
“But yeah, sure. If Fau-- sorry. Furnace wants to take the lead on this, be my guest,” he nodded in approval, although he gave Faustite a somewhat exasperated look at his choice of a name. A look that clearly said ‘Really? We talked about you demeaning yourself to machines before. You should respect yourself more than that.’ But it wasn’t like he was going to say any of that out loud in such a public setting.
Except for when Faustite actually tried taking a step towards Aquamarine, Jet felt himself bristle and he immediately straightened. It was clear that if Faustite wanted to try anything, he would have to go through Jet.
“Dude, both of you, knock it off,” he growled, shaking his head in disgust. Heliodor at least seemed to keep Faustite in check. Until Heliodor got mouthy as well.
“Hate to break it to you, but the only superior Aquamarine has to listen to other than the Queen herself, is me.” Well… and technically Lepidolite, as the General Sovereign of Aqamarine’s branch, but he wasn’t going to get into that.
“Stop being such a hypocrite. If you want to ‘talk behind closed doors’ then extend that same courtesy. What an embarrassment,” he shook his head.
There was no shadow of doubt in his mind that Aquamarine could handle himself. He didn’t need a knight in shining armor to protect him. He highly doubted that Aquamarine was anything but a duck in water with those insults, which was why Jet didn’t feel the need to press further against school yard bullying.
His report would be filled out to reflect everything, of course.
As Faustite went to beat up a wall, and Heliodor slunk off towards a hall, Jet once again shook his head in disbelief. Thankfully, there was more to concern himself with than temper tantrums and big feelings. Even as they were all speaking, and apparently trying to start a fight (which he was sure the White Moon loved), Jet watched as the floor suddenly started to light up, filling the hexagonal shape and pooling in five specific points.
As the others moved to the walls, Jet took a step towards the center of the room. He kept an eye on Faustite and Heliodor, before glancing over to where Aquamarine was, and then the White Moon senshi.
He watched the illuminated shape on the floor, and then up at the ceiling. It was the farthest place he could get away from everyone else talking and whispering to each other. There was something there, just under the supposed white noise of the storm.
He took a quiet breath as he looked at the murals from where he stood at the center of the room, listening to the vibrations and tapping his fingers to count and keep track, not particularly thinking there was more to it than just something to keep himself focused.
Focused, and not wanting to be tempted to pull Faustite aside and remind him that, as a General Sovereign, he needed to keep his cool, especially around so many of their enemies.
The mural itself seemed like a fairytale that danced on the wall. It was mesmerizing. Enchanting. The story it depicted was that of science fiction and fantasy.
The vibration stopped, paused, and then another started again.
Some strange creature decided to devour some unknown world, and the people living there were clearly terrified.
Stopped again, paused, started the pattern once more.
They came up with a way to trap the creature. Lightning surrounded it, but the last wall… there was no conclusion to the story. Then again, what was to say the blank wall was the conclusion? Which of the images was the start? Or did it simply repeat?
Pause, and again.
Jet let out another breath. His head hurt. The heaviness that seemed to press down on them. Or maybe just him. He wasn’t sure. He tipped his head back as he counted out the time of the deep vibrations on his arm, watching as the light simmered through the strange clouds above.
Aquamarine did not give Heliodor the courtesy of a glance, nor was he concerned that the borrowed tablet might function well enough to pick up the exchange.
“Oh, ******** Up. You talk so big and fail so hard. So sorry you can’t fraternize with the enemy right under our noses. Run along and go ******** up somewhere else.”
Aquamarine did not need Jet’s help, but a little smirk twitched onto his face to receive it all the same.
Kolina
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:22 pm
Eternal Sailor Kerberos (Blossom, if you will) Investigating: The blank wall, #6 Casual Examine: To see if Faustite punching wall #1 causes any reaction
Ooh, Jet's boyfriend-or-whatever was spicy. And, honestly, for all Kerberos was well aware of Order's chaotic organization, here was a reminder that the Negaverse was much less the well-oiled machine it seemed to be. Did he feel the tiniest bit of smugness watching Aquamarine tear into another General-King? Yes. Was he going to say a goddamn word? Absolutely not. But he noted who exactly was clustered with whomst, and who might become a problem if things got any messier.
"Call me Kerberos or Blossom, whichever one makes you happy," he said, lightly, "since I think most of us are acquainted." At least somewhat. Perhaps not in the best of ways, but Jet remembered him enough to know his name (sort of flattering!) and that was something.
Perhaps it wasn't a surprise to see Faustite explode. Undermined and insulted, plus Heliodor was probably one of his boys--but the sound of him punching the wall still made Kerberos wince. And yet, his eyes drifted to the image on that wall, waiting for a moment to see if it changed at all from the violence.
Jet cut in to mediate, and Kerberos had to admit, that sounded more like the perception Muri had shared of him than the one Kerberos knew for himself. Perhaps in his day-to-day, Jet was a more diplomatic leader than he was when he was watching people purify in front of him.
Not that it made him any less aware of the kind of power Jet could wield, given the rank he'd clearly achieved and given that Aquamarine was completely right and you didn't get there with clean hands, but it was something. Maybe.
If nothing else, it was all observations of the inter-team dynamics of the enemy, and there might come a day when it was useful.
But there was one other thing that had his attention. Murals on the other walls, yes. But the fact that one stood blank....that was fascinating, too. And perhaps there was something to be learned there. He dropped his voice, for Murikabushi only.
"I'm gonna do something stupid. Do not follow me."
The floors reacted to their movements. The lights followed them. Perhaps...
Muri was heading for the wall next to the blank one, and Kerberos followed, then branched off.
Kerberos looked at the burn scars on his arm. Considered all the many promises he had made to not do something that dangerous ever again. Decided that yes, what he was about to do was on that level, probably. Or at least was equally risky, given the unknown quantity they were all facing.
Oh well.
He put his hand flat on the blank wall, and waited to see if anything happened.
Funny. He gets told off while Aquamarine is given a pass. Go ******** figure. At least no one could see how hard his eyes rolled. But fine, if Jet wanted to play those games then fine. Helio was quite capable of deferring to his only superior officer there as well.
Of course though, Aqua had to get the final say in. A petulant child needing to affirm himself and Helio could not for the ******** life of him understand why Aqua had to act like such an a*****e.
He wanted to clap back. He wanted to assert himself, but instead took a route that, a year ago, would have never been plausible for him. Instead of turning back and giving Aqua any sense of self-worth, Helio instead completely ignored him.
sunshine alouette
guine
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:55 pm
General Benitoite ICasual glance over: Wall 3, by Chalcanthite Investigating: Wall 2 - serpent and the world.
A nod from the blond as he listened to Aquamarine, he would indeed keep his eyes on the other general king and both his pets, he wasn’t liking how this all looked and felt to him. That aside he didn’t say more as things lightened up further in the room, good for them as they could see far more details now, and he might have investigated things further but it seemed some people wanted to take charge and others had to disagree. Listening to it all, the blond had stepped back and away from Jet and Aquamarine as he headed towards Chalcanthite.
“While I respect my General King’s and their orders I will respectfully decline taking orders from you - General King.” Nodding his head towards Faustite. “And before you accuse me of treason, or some other nonsense, I would request you reign your temper in and think reasonably. Should something go wrong you cannot possibly get a message across to us all quickly enough to avoid possible injuries. Now, I wouldn’t mind if your slow manner of communication resulted ina dead senshi.” A pointed look to the loud mouth senshi, they really hadn’t known when to suit up had they?
“But I’d rather not have that same risk applied to those of who actually serve chaos. See for you to communicate, someone needs to be looking at your hands, meaning taking their own eyes off of things, and then they translate the message to us all. It lacks efficiency and for that reason, above all other reasons, I am declining and will instead put myself under the direct orders of General King Jet.” He didn’t look back to Jet, and his partner, but instead he reached Chalcanthite’s side and grasped his arm.
“If we leave this room I want you by my side, I want your bow covering my back..” His words a whisper as he stared up at the much taller general, knowing his back would be safe if the other were there with him. Chalcanthite had seen enough of this war, had done enough, that the smaller blond trusted him. Standing there, at Chalcanthite’s side he glanced back over his shoulder towards their fiery General King for a moment before looking back at the wall in front of himself and Chalcanthite.
“Now, if our General King is done punching walls and acting irrationally, when we’ve all been abducted by some unknown magical force, perhaps we can get to figuring things out.” Already he’d spotted something which niggled at his mind and after a few moments pondering it he turned slowly and pointed to the second spot. “The snake - it’s wrapped about the earth. Isn’t there a serpent wrapped around the world in Norse mythology.” He didn’t know if it meant anything but it was at least something to go with, and it was better than nothing.
He wasn’t that familiar with Norse mythology, perhaps someone else in the group was, but he had worked for a time in a witchcraft store. They had carried books on all kinds of old religions including that of the Vikings. With books on Norse deities and more he’d read some of them out of boredom when working, something to flip through and pass the time with, it was there that he’d encountered it. If only he could remember the name…but those names escaped him, as did most names of things which were in that language.
That said he looked over things at the wall for a moment before letting Chalcanthite know he was heading off to look at the wall he’d mention aloud. “If we move towards the hallways I want you with me.” A nod, firm and quick, before he was breezing off to the second wall where a serpent circled the world. Pulling a glove off in order to feel the wall while looking over things. "If anyone needs to call me anything Bentoite works, I'm certain enough of you already know me." Not a single care as he spoke, nor a glance to those who without a doubt knew him. He didn't care about those who might dislike, or even hate, him. Let them feel whatever they pleased, it mattered little to him.
And another one had to step in and act all high and mighty. Helio was done.
“I stood there and gave you a full on word for word translation of what he said and you still decide to ignore it?” He turned to stare Beni down, taking a few steps towards the General with little care for whose feathers he ruffled with his words. The high road wasn’t worth it sometimes. ”Not once did Faustite request to take the lead or even insinuate it. Attacking him for a disability he gained in combat against Order is a low ******** blow. Shows how much faith you have in Metallia for having promoted Faustite who is, clear and above, your better.” Each word was sharp and directed straight at Benitoite.
“If you are unable to put your trust in us, perhaps take your issues up with our Queen.”
Sleet Tempest Snape
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:57 pm
General Benitoite Casual glance over: Had been Wall 3, by Chalcanthite Investigating: Is now Wall 2 - serpent and the world.
Without moving from where he was, or even bothering to look towards the voice, the petite general decided to respond. “Yes, indeed you did and how if we are moving and under attack will you be able to translate properly? To see his hands and what he signs? I’m not attacking the General King for his disability, simply stating what does and does not make sense in a situation where we may be under attack. Do remember that this is an unknown place with unknown factors involved. If we do somehow, at some point, come under attack some things would not be beneficial for the team. That would be like asking us to follow a blind person who cannot see.” A shrug of his shoulders, uncaring what the corrupted thought of his words, he wasn’t here to mince words and play nice. He was here against his will, with no choice in the matter, but he would do his job and help in sorting this all out to the best of his ability.
“ You can see it as a low blow if that pleases you, which I assume it does, as I assume attacking me also pleases you. However I would request that you manage your temper.” He hadn’t raised his voice thus far and wasn’t interested in having someone raise their voice to him, not when he’d been as calm spoken as possible given the raised voices of nearly everyone else in the room thus far. He had been tempted to tell the corrupt to save it, save their temper, and fight him later when he could bring his weapon to bare and smack them in line. But he refrained from it, held his own temper, he knew how to keep his calm and would continue to do so.
“This isn’t a matter of trust, it’s a matter of common sense - which I’m going to assume you lack at the moment. Again, I would suggest holding your temper and perhaps thinking over what I’ve said. They do not speak of a lack of trust but rather what makes the most sense. If you are unable to see the sense in my words perhaps you should hold your tongue for now.” Now he turned on the corrupt, pale eyes narrowing as he spoke.
“If you think this is a lack of trust, and me questioning the choices of our Queen, then I invite you to bring your complaints to her about me. As it seems you are calling my loyalty into question, without saying the words, so perhaps you need to speak with our Queen about that - let her decide my loyalty. Because right now, where I’m standing, is right where I need to be.” Working to help get himself and his fellow officers out of here, he wasn’t standing about or chatting it up with order. He was working to help rather than losing his temper like some toddler who didn’t know how to share a toy.
Turning back around, his pale eyes went back to the second wall. Let the corrupt attack him from behind and show their true nature. If they did that he knew what that would look like to others, and hopefully so would they.
Kolina
(Beni, and I, have no issue with someone with disabilities. What he is saying is only ic and out of a concern of danger. If anyone wants to reach out to talk about this, please DM me and we can talk.)
Jet had been trying to concentrate on the vibrations and the strange flashes of light in the clouds above them. He was actually planning on enjoying a bit of time to just investigate and not worry about things, but tensions were high. He knew Aquamarine was a little much, but he could never think that he was anything but justified in his anger.
But what he didn’t want was there to be some kind of fissure when they were still supposed to be working together.
“I appreciate the vote of confidence, but let’s discuss all this once we get back home,” he requested of Benitoite with an exasperated sigh, losing count on his arm for the length of the vibrations.
“Once again,” he said to Heliodor as well, seeming more tired in addition to being frustrated. “You literally said if anyone had issues with people of our own faction, to talk behind closed doors. Come on... I’m begging you all--”
He didn’t even finish the sentiment. He just needed them to focus on trying to get home. He didn’t care if Faustite was giving orders, whether or not he said he wanted to. He didn’t care if Benitoite decided to only follow his, because in this case, his orders would just be to follow what Faustite said if he was taking the lead in this impromptu mission.
They needed to have a solid, unified front. It was embarrassing to have all this break apart in front of people who would undoubtedly use it against them.
The audacity of Benitoite to talk down to him as if he were a child. While Helio was angry he did not scream or yell.
The three of them were stepping forward throwing problems out where there ******** wasn't any. And even if there had been, they weren't problems that needed to be aired like this!
With Benis words, it became clear that this was a loosing battle. One that was attacked against him and Faustite for unknown reasons. So, as much as he may have wanted to rage and scream, he didn't. Instead and angry calm settled over him.
“Fine. I have no issues submitting a formal complaint. I'll be certain to relay everything stated here.” Was it going to be his words against theirs? Sure. But then again, Aqua did start up that lovely little recording. It may not have caught everything but it would be something.
“And seeing as I don't need to take orders from any of you, per General King Jet of course, I believe I'll stick to my own General Sovereign.”
His eyes shifted to Jet. “I hope that appeals to you, sir.” Not that he cared as he turned and moved to Faustites side.
Maybe not the clap back he wanted, but Helio was furious and beyond thinking straight. They had obviously banded together instead of putting forward a combined unified front. Maybe Jet was willing to excuse Aqua’s antics and Benny's outright disregard for others, but Helio didn't believe that would fly when presented to the higher up. So ******** ‘em.
This fight could wait.
sleet tem1pest snape
gu1ine
Kolina
Inquisitive Agent
Offline
Seiana_ZI
Codebreaking Conversationalist
Offline
Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:23 am
Character: Transcendent Eternal Encke Personally:sipping tea taking notes on Chaos's drama Active Investigation: The angle of Wall Six he can observe by leaning back Passive Investigation: Glancing toward where Benitoite appeared from (Wall Three)
When Solaris asked if he was getting anything, he shook his head. He was getting more utility out of the burner phone and the flashlight than anything else, and considering it wasn't like he could text anyone, and the flashlight was barely working, that wasn't much. Perhaps it was fortunate that the room itself decided to assist them in what they needed by bringing a bit more light into the environment.
Hm.
Everyone was announcing codenames, but Encke didn't open their mouth to offer a single one of their own. They weren't missing the fact that basically everyone in the room knew them already. Encke knew he was a known commodity. Let them call him Encke, or lightning bug, or shitty a** human if they wanted to. It didn't make a difference to them.
It might have been worth noting for a profile why each person chose what they did, but he could also match quite a bit of it in his head, and there were bigger fish to fry. Unfortunately. If it was just him, he really would just let them evidently cannibalize each other.
Encke couldn't help constantly glancing over their shoulder for two reasons. One, well, if they were committed to at least helping Solaris they didn't want someone to sneak up on him. Two, he was an actor. There was a part of him that couldn't help listening in to everything happening around him, and he pulled out his burner phone to make some rapidfire notes and hit the recorder within the app in observation while it seemed others were distracted by each other.
Those notes, with the app still open, got palmed to Solaris when his attention returned to the task at hand.
It was hard to find any single location that was not at least partially occupied by Chaos, and that bothered him. Benitoite was far too close to Solaris for comfort with his shift toward them--he had come from that other wall, right? Kerberos was far too close to Faustite and Heliodor for him to really want to move terribly far, as much as the darkest wall contained the most mystery. He didn't exactly want to go back near Jet, either, and leaving Solaris by herself was a bad move.
So, he remained.
But if they were leaving--which likely unfortunately meant they were leaving--Encke needed to make sure they had as much information about this new s**t as possible. Perhaps if he leaned back slightly, he could catch something interesting on the dark wall that he could share with Solaris.
As a bonus, keeping his head on a swivel made sure he didn't keep his back to anyone, significantly.
Kaefaxx
Encke's Notes App Holy s**t - they're more divided than the respon to heli made them seem. Guess faus's team isn't? - is the ******** name related to the purify ambush or the kidnap - aqua called muri loose lips? - ig you don't have to listen to all superiors??? Figure out who listens to who - - beni and aqua don't listen to faus but do listen to jet? beni says bc need transc?? - - heli is faus - - jet and aqua behavior tracks with db - i know all but one?? Of their names these codenames are silly - we gotta learn asl
