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Serandite had been kneeling with the other generals. It happened every meeting-- the discord of agreement and dissent and the voicing of opinions. Uncharacteristically, knowing her nature, she had never spoken up even once. If not for the lowering of her chest and the occasional lift of her gaze, her presence could be compared to that of a rock.

The only exceptions was Alkaid and Apatite. Alkaid's appearance, naturally, drew many eyes, Serandite being no exception. The corners of her lips lifted, as if a chuckle of approval might be voiced but the sound never came. Or perhaps, it had been drowned out in the sounds of everything else. Eventually, whether it was in the near or far future, Serandite might obtain the chance to congratulate Alkaid but the time surely wasn't now.

Concerning Apatite .. Well, the pink-haired General queen always had quite a rosy way of approaching matters. A rose with many many thorns. Apatite had always earned Serandite's sincere regard and respect, the female playing a crucial role in Serandite's development. Her hand lifted to brush her fingers against Serandite's lips, as if stifling something, her head slightly turning to the side. Even a general wouldn't dare to have the audacaity to laugh-- Look where that had gotten a few others in. The situation held little amusement .. unless you counted Apatite's little "Bella" bit. Having recently watched the franchise of the vampire series, Serandite realized that Apatite's hatred was well-founded.

But Tanzanite did often have a way of dampening even those mite-sized forms of amusement. Her eloquence pierced the heart-- Serandite was becoming used to that. It was bold to state that her words had more influence then their Queen Beryl .. and yet, that would simply be a ill-mannered truth.

There were many parts of each other that Serandite and Tanzanite didn't know. But what little they knew was what mattered. Tanzanite knew Serandite. Therefore, the hand that reached up to brush her fingers against the edge of Tanzanite's winged-arms. Paralleling to the show of contact that had given a lieutenant the coldest shower of a lifetime, one had to hope that Serandite wasn't about to experience the same. As though one picked up the ends of a dress or taking one's gloved hand in a form of courtship, carefully and preciously, Serandite's fingers curled lightly, to squeeze gently .. As if that was her answer.

There was no need for words.

The small gesture was quiet and brief, Serandite's hands returning to the blackness of her kimono sleeves, lost, as the sleeves returned to trail amongst the ground. At one point, Serandite had been a child in this army. That had disappeared some time ago .. Serandite wasn't entirely sure when.

As another General-Queen made her entrance Garnet barely gave her a glance. Not out of disrespect to her but mostly because she suddenly felt like taking her eyes off Tanzanite for even half a second would spell her doom. Stand your ground, stand your ground, stand yo--....

Garnet slowly looked away from Tanzanite to stare at Hematine with huge, widened eyes and a look on her face that did all the talking for her. What the s**t were you thinking?! That idiot! Why did he of all people reach out and touch the walking feather duster?! He hated touching people! Ugh. He was the dumbest smart guy ever. Finally Tanzanite spoke and Garnet snapped her attention immediately to the winged woman, raising a brow at her words. Tanzanite had asked her a question. All Garnet had done was acquiesce to her request. The General-Queen had posted her a challenge and she had accepted it like the proud little peacock she was. She did her best not to flinch as the woman came up and draped over the two of them, giving Hematine a glance to make sure he wasn't about to flip his s**t over being touched..especially by that arm. What was even..?! It was like it had been infected with the ugly disease!

Shut up, it was a legitimate disease.

Garnet was hesitant to walk as Tanzanite began to lead them across the room, swallowing hard. Keep calm. Don't lose it. What could she do? What would she do? She could do many things..oh yes. Especially considering they were merely lieutenants in this army. Oh s**t. Was she going to kill them? She probably could with little effort! Garnet was silent as the grave, keeping her lips tightly pressed so she wouldn't even be tempted to speak up. She looked out at the Rift and then down at the water. She...did not like where this was going. Garnet refused to let herself flinch at the sudden bark of Tanzanite's voice, her fists clenched and her eyes narrowed down at the water below them. Don't drop me, don't drop me, don't drop me! She was still, rigid, tense. Use whatever word you wanted to describe Garnet being terrified. Her words were harsh and she did finally wince and squirm at the part about the fingernails. ********, it hurt just breaking a nail! She didn't want to imagine peeling them back.

Tanzanite's little speech...it sounded so..personal. And then she gave names. This was definitely something that had actually happened to her. Her fists clenched tighter and tighter until her knuckles turned white and her neatly cared for nails were digging crescent marks until her palms, hands shaking. She refused to allow herself to shake anymore than that but it was enough. She got it. The point Tanzanite was making was clear.

"..Tan--" The hard shove against her back was definitely not something one could ignore. Her heels pressed hard against the floor to try and stop herself from going forward but it was a useless effort; Garnet was sent flying out of the window, and in a last ditch effort not to fall out she spun on her heel and reached out for Tazanite's hand. She missed, and then gravity caught up with her.

Hearing the recant of events from mere months ago stilled him. Chilled him with a thin layer of figurative ice. What those captured suffered would always, undeniably, mark them. It was something even those within the rescue-party could hardly ever come to truly understand. Still - it was horrifying.

But they were not children that needed consoling. No amount of consolation would heal those old wounds. They needed to be strong. harness their pain, hate, rage, sorrow, and use it. To be soldiers. A tight knit family of soldiers, ready to fight, sometimes - often times - without questioning why. Sacrifices, of course, would be made along the way. They'd win some, they'd lose some, but that was the very nature of war.

When Garnet and Hematine had been escorted over to one of the holes in the wall and left his field of vision, Bismuthite's gaze finally quit boring in to them, and returned to the ground where he customarily knelt. They rose again when the Youma Queen asked for a simple reply.

"Yes, General-Queen. Emphatically."

Fluorite tried not to grin when the two mouthy lieutenants got thrown out the window, struggled not to let her expression shift from the serious mask it had settled in. Not to their death, the sound of water revealed - thankfully - but hopefully that would teach them a lesson. Meetings were that - meetings. Professionalism was key.

And Tanzanite could be as endlessly patient as she could easily rip your s**t apart if you found her buttons and started pushing them like a moron. That was something she'd learned very, very intimately in the multiple spars they'd had.

At least she'd never got thrown out a window.

"Yes." This was all Tanzanite wanted, and this was all Tanzanite got. Fluorite might once have been one of those battering children, but now she was a soldier.

Tanzanite had made her that way.

Alunite didn't get to enjoy the moment as much as his sister did - his attention went to Alkaid when her voice caught his attention, and he gave her a small nod. He was glad he had gotten to see her before this, gotten the shock and surprise out of the way there rather than in the middle of a meeting which already seemed to be turning sour. He found it easier to look at her now that he'd already seen her, and had time to process what had happened, and how.

His thoughts were similar to Azurite's, unknowingly - that the one of them who had sought to find them a way of respect and purpose had been the one to find it. Alkaid had traced them a path.

How many of them would walk it ?

Could he find the strength to walk it ?

He would obey any who asked something of him, but there were an handful to which he would obey without question. Alkaid... had always been one of them, even before.

Many answered the General Queen, with more or less words, but Alunite's answer was silent.

He knelt, head lowered, staring at the floor once more.

All Tanzanite needed to tell him was jump, and how high.

Osumilite couldn't hold back his laughter as the two younger lieutenants were tossed out the window. Hell, he didn't even try to hold back. His laughter, however, was short-lived. Once Tanzanite mentioned the possibility of his family being in danger - his son - he couldn't find any humor in the world. The idea of Chelsea or Liam being hurt scared him more than anything he could imagine, and it was certainly no laughing matter.

"Understood," he bowed, his expression speaking volumes for his apology for laughing. There was an unsettling vibe in his stomach, an immediate worry about his family's well-being. He knew that this war made the world a dangerous risky place, but he thought that as a member of the Negaverse he would be able to protect them. He never considered it could put their lives in even more danger.

The guardian cat affectionately rested against Fukalite’s leg, bringing out a sincere smile. She was about to bend down to scoop the feline into her arms, but someone beat her to it. Mint green eyes curiously observed the other girl, taking in her red pigtails and the black wings. Coupled with the energy, the lieutenant soon realized that she was looking at a corrupted senshi, and judging by the energy level, eternal. She attempted to smile politely as the senshi took Dahlia away, leaving the lieutenant by herself again. Reluctantly, she returned her thoughts back to the general discussion.

There were a few chatty lieutenants—Fukalite pursed her lips as they spoke, she figured it was wiser to remain silent—and brief mention about Princess Chronos and the Zodiac Guard. Her face crinkled at the names. The events that people were mentioning were before her time, perhaps well before. She could only assume that this ‘Zodiac Guard’ were senshi based on the –no surprise—Zodiac constellations and strong enough to be somewhat of a threat. Slowly, more powerful energies began to appear. Fukalite stoically watched as Ascendant General Alkaid made her appearance and the another General-Queen—the lieutenant narrowed her eyes at her, she had never seen her before—compared them all to Bella. Fukalite grimaced. The last she wanted to be compared to was Bella.

An army. She remained mute at Tanzanite’s reprimand. So this was what she had signed for? Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and then opened them again.

“Understood.”

"I think before we start formulating plans we should, perhaps, learn all the information that General Queen Tanzanite has to depart to us." Bismuthite finally said, tone short, clipped, and obviously irritated.

Seriously, people were putting the cart before the horse. Tanzanite had barely been able to start telling them to full extent what she knew and had called them here for. He was tired of it. He saw it as disrespect, even if some did not mean it to be so, and Tanzanite was one of the few whom he could not tolerate others disrespecting. She had brought him in to this army, promoted him, even. He owed a lot of respect to her. And thus, he would apologize for his own interruption;

"My apologize for speaking out, General Queen."