The Seven Hells Temple

[A Broken Husk]

Tegral watched the closing ceremony with the same impassiveness he watched it's birthing. Nothing new, nothing spectacular. "Mastema." Tegral called just loud enough for his voice to carry over the distance that separated the Admiral from the small group of party goers. Hands in his pockets, the rich fabric of his suit seemed to glimmer against the night's illumination, the Admiral took a couple of steps towards Mastema and his wife with a small smile on his lips. His eyes sparkled with the flame of life, something his animatronic analogs were usually devoid of, but his smile was empty a simple reaction of the body that his heart could never duplicate. Although he wasn't as tall as Mastema the Admiral still possessed a towering stature, which made it seem as though you had to look up just to simply speak to him - his six and a half feet of height may have added a bit to that.

His foot falls brought him a step or two behind Mastema and Nana, the cool night air caressing his cold metal body. Doubtful he'd surprise the Lord of the Citadel, he had an annoying knack for trying to be more superior than he really way, the Lady of the Citadel, however, was more susceptible to startling, either way he had no intention of scaring either of the two.  

[Thanatos_M]

Than grinned at his own work for a moment, rather satisfied with what he'd accomplished tonight. He was intent on just waiting until his parents were finished and ready to head back, but that peace was interrupted by an arm suddenly giving him a firm slap on the back and grabbing his hand, shaking it firmly. Twi only grinned smugly at the boy. "Well it was nice seeing you again Than. Looks like you're doing great, and hope everything goes well for ya. Don't let those bastards take all of your limbs!" As quickly as he'd come, Twilight stepped aside all too casually. Than could only blink, not able to respond to the odd interaction. "What the hell was that about...."

Elsewhere, Val could be heard being all too cheerful while lifting up multiple boxes at a time and carrying them back and forth through a portal, all the while shouting something about mountains.

Mastema's height was never something that he much cared about; it was only natural to him now and hardly seemed to interfer with his marriage. Sho however would make his grievances about it known if ever asked. Mastema turned casually to Tegral, more at ease than anything. He still had one arm now placed around Nana's shoulders. "Ah, Admiral, what can I do for you this time? Is there something we left unfinished earlier?"  

[Nana_Wing]

*Nana would turn her head towards Thanatos and Twilight when she heard Twilight's voice again, it was nice to see him still around. Upon heading Mastema announce the General, Nana's gaze would shift a little to just glimpsing the man lightly, before looking away and down a little. It appeared she still wasn't fully comfortable with him around. Even if the attacks on the Citadel were directed by KB, the general still carried out those orders. There was also something about the way that man looked at her, that Nana didn't like much. Nana would make a light 'ahem' sound while looking away, and would try to focus on something else*  

[A Broken Husk]

"In a way yes and in a way no." Tegral said, his voice as casual as it had ever been. Mastema wasn't a threat, even if he had the backing of KB and the Citadel both, and his wife was target fodder if anything else, so there was no reason what so ever to be either afraid or wary of the couple. "You see I'd hate to spoil such a wonderful evening, and I use that term loosely and only because no one's dead yet, with business so I was hoping you'd accept a little gift." Drawing from his pocket Tegral presented the Lord and Lady both a pair of black cellular phones. Made simply of the same plastic one could find on any planet in the 'Information Age' the phone had a basic slide design with a digital display screen, the numbers zero through nine, the asterisk, the pound sign, a green call button and a red disconnect button. As with the other phones passed out by either Tegral or his second in command Rookin, these phones were capable of linking with the Admiral's personal 'public' line - a direct L.A.N with the other phones and a remote com unit.

"Nothing extravagant, mind you, just a way to get in touch when you've got some free time. I have some business propositions to discuss with you." Turning his attention towards Nana he added to her, "And some personal matters to discus with you." A moment passed before the Admiral took into consideration how uneasy the woman was with him, how awkward of a presentation he may be proposing, then added, "In a public, or secured, location of your designation with either Mastema or his Generals to act as body guards and I, disarmed, with either one or the other of my two Commanders."  

[Nana_Wing]

<_<;
With... me?

*Nana would of course turn to look the admiral in the eye at that point. Perhaps it was the tone of the admiral's voice or the lack there of, but his words seemed to make her a little more uneasy. If Mastema could be there, his generals, anyone she choosed in a public place, why not here and now? Or was the personal matter of a 'very' personal nature, something she might not want to talk about in this public location? A brief release of adrenaline into Nana's system would give her a slight chill, and made her highten her other senses*  

[Thanatos_M]

Mastema was somewhat quicker to act on his wife's apprehensive feelings than the admiral. Although allowing Tegral to speak to Nana, Mastema stepped more in front of Nana, toward the admiral, and addressed his wife, ignoring the admiral for a brief moment. "Dear, the admiral and I have a few things to discuss. Perhaps you should go talk to Twilight before he has a chance to leave. I'll come find you when I'm finished here." His offer was said with a smile, although he didn't give her much of a chance to respond; he already knew the offer would be much more appealing than staying here with the admiral.

His wife now free to go, Mastema extended his hand to the admiral and took both phones, on behalf of himself and his wife. "You'll understand if I just make a brief security check on these devices of yours before I take them to the more sensitive areas of my home." Mastema would comfortably place both phones in one of his suit pockets. "I'm not much one for business, nor do I have many materials I can lend that you no doubt already have access to. However, I will certainly hear what you have to say. Once I've examined these phones, I'll be sure to have any interference around the citadel reconfigured to allow an incoming signal, but only on the specific frequencies. As for my wife, it would be better to send those requests through me, as she would rather not be contacted directly by people outside of the citadel."  

[A Broken Husk]

Tegral shrugged at Mastema's request, both of the phones and of his wife. "Scan the phones as much as you please, you won't find anything you wouldn't find on any other phones, but I understand your caution and don't hold it against you." Targeting systems remained locked on Nana, actually more remained trained on Nana than her husband, even though it appeared his full attention was fixated on Mastema. The Admiral's eyes could have been described like lasers, for the intensity they trained on the Lord of the Citadel's face would have been enough to burn holes through his head; actually the Admiral did have high frequency pulse blasters located beside each of his optical receptors, but decided it wouldn't be the most diplomatic of things to blast a hole through the head of the man he's trying to negotiate with. "And as for Nana, by all means if you wish to listen to any phone call she receives then simply answer the phone when it rings, each of you have separate ring tones that the other can hear as well as answer. I'd still rather speak to her, though."

Tegral would wait for Nana to either acknowledge her husband's offer to depart or stay and learn first hand the information the Admiral had to divulge. If she left then fine, if she chose to remain then all the better. What he had to say, particularly his requests, rested heavily on the once pristine being's ability to forgive and forget - without Nana's even slimmest amount of trust the Admiral had little hope for any sort of mending between the Citadel and the newly founded Company Free Forces.


...The Black Company was being rebuilt, and Tegral was hammering it with an army.  

[Nana_Wing]

Y-yes... I- haven't talked to him in a good while, I'll be back shortly.

*The woman would be back, but she had to take a minute or two out to calm herself. Talking to an old friend would do the trick, then after that she would likely return to Mastema's side and the admiral could continue with what ever it was he wanted to talk about with her. Taking her leave for the moment, Nana would scoot off in Twilight's general direction hoping to say hello, and of course goodbye since it looked like he might not stay for long*

T- Twilight...  

[Thanatos_M]

Mastema nodded in response. The staring bothered him little, because he'd endured far worse piercing eyes for much longer. Although Micha hardly seemed malevolent, Mastema's second son had an affinity for staring and much more intently for whatever reason. Althoug Micha didn't have pulse blasters, the boy had a higher likelihood of burning through someone's skull. "I'm sure you would, but I have to consider my wife's concerns before I can accomodate yours. Rest assured you'll be given a fair chance regardless." Hopefully the Admiral wouldn't take it too badly. There were even residents in the citadel itself that Nana didn't always get along with in the past.

Having abruptly moved away from Than, Twilight was now turned away from most of the party. Slipping something out of his hand, he seemed to slip whatever it was into a small, pocket sized container. Sighing, he seemed to become a lot more relaxed once the container was put away, until a familiar and soft voice called his name from behind. Turning around, he was already smiling when he answered. "I think there's only one person who calls me Twilight anymore. Almost feels weird to hear it after all this time..."  

[Nana_Wing]

It's good to see you again. Have-- have you been well?

*Hopefully Twilight's eyes would remain above Nana's neckline, though in her current attire that would be a challenge. Black was a nice color on her, as was the cut of the dress, the accessories, and of course the package inside it all. It had to have been more than a year now since the two had met, no maybe two years. The children were still very young when Nana had last met with Twilight, now they were almost 3. It had been too long, Nana would have to catch up with Twilight, though not all at once*  

[A Broken Husk]

"Of course, of course," Tegral said, dismissing Mastema's unease at the potential insult, "I expected as much anyways. After all, I sure as hell wouldn't trust the man who's been trying to kill me and my family alone with my wife. I'd have a full battalion of T-2's, B.G 41 artillery support, and half an air squadron of interceptors standing between her and him." He paused a moment, looking a little contemplative, "But then again, I am known for over kill."

Mulling the idea over just dumbing the truth out and showing his hand, or doing it political and try to maneuver the conversation away from the subject and thus save face the Admiral paused for a minute, glancing over Mastema's shoulder as Rookin and Kah came striding up to the closing party. It seems, what ever the Count thought, the party wasn't quite over yet. The Admiral and his soldiers had a few more things to take care of.

"Alright, Mastema, let's be frank here. I'm a soldier and I'm tired of trying to act like a politician. I want your wife to teach me magic, plain and simple." But wait, Scott! Machines can't learn magic...let's continue reading to find out what the Admiral has up his sleeve. "Once KB is destroyed I am dismantling my army, as well as my combat analogs," This particular shell was one such combat model, "I have a biologically engineered form fully capable of both divine and arcane usage stored in a secure location that I can transfer my consciousness into or control remotely. The latter of the two is what I will be doing so long as KB remains alive."

There, all cards on the table, at least in regards to his wife.  

[Thanatos_M]

Regardless of the irresistibility of Nana's physique, Twi definitely wasn't as bashful as Nana and almost immediately stood beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders in a one armed embrace. "Good to see me? Oh come on, Nana, it's been longer than that. It's great to see you doing well tonight." Whatever he'd been doing earlier was forgotten as Twi held onto his once close friend. "You look fantastic, by the way."

Mastema pretended to be working out a crick in his neck as Tegral spoke, letting him finish his lengthly explanation of how he would defend his wife. "If it were myself as the other man, you might need two battalions to be safe." It was merely adding his own humor to what was already a jest... or was it? "T-2s and BG 41s? Do those designations actually have any significance?" Mastema had of course seen both models before, but was not aware of Tegral's designations for them. He seemed unbothered about Rookin and Kah as they approached. When Tegral mentioned his desire to learn magic and intention to give up arms after his latest scuffle, Mastema paused with his head in part tilt and turn, before he started to laugh quite amiably, without any sarcastic tone to the laugh itself. "Magic? Now what would an Admiral with interstellar military command want with something so simple and vague? I hope you don't plan to make them a significant addition to your arsenal against KB any time soon." Mastema straightened himself up, looking back to the Admiral with a more serious expression this time. "While we're being frank, I'll tell you right now there are very few cells in my body that believe you. What benefit could magic have to a man of your resources and capability? Even if you are honest about your wish to learn magic, I'm hard pressed to trust that you'd want my wife to teach you, due in no small part to the facts that I don't believe you fully know the extent of her knowledge of magic and because I'm sure that a man, as I said, of your resources, could just as easily find another oracle to learn from. So just what is it about my wife which makes you lend your hopes to her?" All of Mastema's questions were serious, and he expected frank answers from the Admiral. "Do take notice that I am not denying your request just yet."  

[Nana_Wing]

^//^
Th-- thank you.

*The last time Nana had seen Twilight was when she had visited the Dojo, and that was over two years ago now. Twilight had since been to the Citadel perhaps once, but Nana didn't see him that time. At the time, Twilight had been there with Phia, while Nana was in the gardens a fair distance away. Finally another opportunity had arrived, and they could meet again, and under pleasant circumstances no less. Now it was time to see what he had been up to all this while; hopefully he was doing well, as well as his family. Perhaps he had finally married Aeris, it was just a thought*

So... how have you been? W-well I hope. Ah-- and your son...?  

[Thanatos_M]

"Oh it's kinda been a while so I can't really say just one thing about how I've been..." He sighed and spoke his words almost at the same time, emphasizing how long it'd been. "Axl? We work together, not that there's terribly much to do... or even work for that matter. Really, not a whole lot's happened since I took off from the BC. I could go on and on about how boring life is, but I'd bet you have more fun things to say." He chuckled heartily and patted Nana on the shoulder. "What about you? How's the life, married with kids?"  

[Nana_Wing]

Khnn... S-sorry, it has been a long time hasn't it?

*Nana felt a little bad about not having gone out to visit more often, but considering the last time she had, Nana had a face to face with Gabriel... Well, hiding was the first thing on her mind. Even now there was a slight sense of urgency around Nana. As if any moment she would need to run and hide or seek shelter to protect herself from harm. Though given most people in the current area wanted to off her in the past simply for being Mastema's wife, it was understandable from that angle too. However Nana would move on from such thoughts once Twilight continued speaking. She would nod when Twilight brought up working with Axl, but he had left theBC too? So what was he doing? Trainning again perhaps? Being questioned again, Nana would pause to think about how to answer*

It's going well I think. The children are growing and learning new things every day, and married life-- is better than I thought it would be. I only wish... I could find a way to be a little more helpful around home. With so many things being automated, I often find myself with little or nothing to do aside from teaching the children, reading new books with spells, or doing maintenance on my robotic friend.