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He hadn't been expected such a response. Dead? WAIT?! LINARITE WAS DEAD?!! He looked up, wide-eyed and was about to sputter what the heck, but it seemed that those around him were moving on. It seemed to be old news, and yet it was all fresh to him. It didn’t help that he had been recovering for weeks without talking much to anyone else which meant he had no idea what had gone down. Still, time and place, and this wasn't the time. As he was trying to digest this information and wanted to find someone he could pull to the side and find out what happened to the Captain, the GENERAL who had taken him into her team when he first started and had been there for him when he was low, a face he never expected to see before arrived.

General Obsidian!

Wolframite had known the man only through passing. A lowly lieutenant at the time, he had never spoken to the officer before but had seen him fight when he had been around. When he vanished, it had been a major loss for them. Obsidian had, from what Wolframite had seen, been an amazing fighter.

Watching, he noticed another officer. Hematite, another face from the past, who came over to Tanzanite and the group starting talking. Whispering and laughing as they cracked lewd jokes like the best of friends. It reminded him of the past more than anything else. When he was green, watching the other officers as if staring at businessmen he hoped to become one day, milling around the coffee machine. Figures of success and comradery. He not only felt jealous, but envious. Tanzanite seemed to have a stronger connection to these two, but then again, she had good reason. They knew her before he arrived, and they were right at her heels in terms of power. They were the top class.

Fukalite grinned back at Painite before returning her attention back to the city itself. She kept admiring the scenery, even after Wolframite’s sudden outburst—she had flinched and briefly glanced at the captain as he began to storm off, but quickly looked away. In the end, she was still a new recruit. She didn’t have much of a right to pry into anyone else’s business when she had enough trouble trying to figure out the inner workings of the ‘family.’

As Tanzanite led them to the Arena, Fukalite silently observed the multitude of youma inhabiting the city. It was a stunning sight to see all the types of creatures that lived inside the city. They were incredibly diverse and as far as she could tell, no youma was similar to any other. Heck, her sister would have a blast here, tediously sketching out all of them for scientific purposes—assuming she didn’t die first. Fukalite scowled at the thought. The group descended a stairway that led to a large arena. It was spacious and empty, and Fukalite wasn’t surprised to find that this was the place where they would all be training. She forced back a grimace at the realization that she would need to battle youma. She had only just participated in light skirmishes, and now she was expected to do full-out combat? It seemed that this would only end in pain for Fukalite.

Just before she could drown herself in even more depressing thoughts, Fukalite was startled to find that a captain was already being assaulted by a youma. Fukalite narrowed her eyes, failing to see the iconic glow of a starseed—just the pale flames of a lighter. Standing a safe distance away, she coolly watched as the captain fortunately found himself a new youma. She held back an impressed whistle.

Linarite. Obsidian. Names of the past that held no memory nor affection for Fukalite. She could only quirk an eyebrow at Obsidian’s reappearance and then dutifully note the deceased General’s name.

Fukalite frowned, idly nodding her head from side to side and itching for another person to converse with. She scanned the crowd for someone—anyone—as alone as she was and silently crept behind Ajoite. “You don’t look awkward standing there by yourself. No, not at all,” she teased quietly. She flinched and looked at Zanazzite, buried beneath a youma. She tsk’d. “That’s going to hurt in the morning.”

The voice of Fukalite startled him, the jump visible. Ajoite turned to shoot her a sour look as he mentally cursed himself. He was too preoccupied with the youma to think that someone would approach him. In all honesty, he should have had his back to a wall -- but what if something dropped on him from above? This place was too unfamiliar to him, too strange and too... unexpected.

He opened his mouth to snap a reply at her before he mentally slammed on the breaks just in time. That... captain, was it? Yes. That captain who snapped at Tanzanite earlier was carted off elsewhere before reappearing. Snapping wouldn’t earn him any favors here, especially with what lurked in the shadows.

Ajoite took a breath and tried again. “Really?” He asked, his train of thought jumbled yet again as Zanazzite screamed. He spun around, taking a step back at the sight. “Holy sh--” He didn’t move forward. He was petrified with fear, unable to do anything but stand and watch as Tanzanite strode forward to deal with the situation.

“I do not believe,” he began quietly, “That it would be wise to stray too far away.” There wasn’t any attempt to hide the quiver of fear in his voice. He was going to have some nightmare fuel for tonight. Thanks, Zanazziite.

He was tense as he watched Ilmenite struggle with the intangible yoma, if it were any one else he might have considered it a very effective 'stop smoking' program, but given it was Ilmenite... no, he rather suspected that Ilmenite would take surviving this experience as a justifiable reason to keep smoking, even with Obsidian's added commentary.

He gave Ilmenite and the General both Nods, Ilmenite for surviving if nothing else, and Obsidian for... well, it was Obsidian, there was a certain level of awe there just for having seen and heard of him from back when He was Lieutenant and Obsidian was Captain. He glanced between them, watching carefully how they got along before letting his gaze wander again, listening to the sound of things growling in the dark with curiosity...

He turned next to Wolframite and leaned in just enough to speak quietly to the young man. "I will speak with you later concerning her." He said darkly, He had somehow missed that Wolframite had not realized the fate of Linarite and it irritated him not to have realized. He might have balked at Wolfram's outburst but they were once together on her team, their old rivalries had if nothing else made them stronger. Now at least they could be called allies.

He brushed the edge of his knuckles against Ammolite's... or Lyra's arm, he didn't speak to re-assure her just gave her a look that said yes, he would tell her more later. It wasn't one of the kindest looks he had ever given her but, there was a light edge of...was it sympathy or pity in it, hard to say. His own emotions concerning her were a hopeless knot, tangled up with what the BMC had done was who she had been as a civilian and a lifetime of knowing a girl he once thought purely gentle. It was harder to take than many other things in his life.

Ilmenite should have balked at Obsidian's commentary, probably should have flushed and gone flustered: but his reaction was a startled blink and then a flicker of a smile, biting down on words but thinking them all they same. They were allowed to be that crude? Really? Ilmenite had spent so long fighting against his own tongue, and the general came out of nowhere with more than halfway-suggestive obscenities on the tip of his?

He opened his mouth to counter, at last, and then snapped it closed at the scene created by a lieutenant at least as dumb as he was. That was a relief. It took some of the tension off...

He hovered in the midst of the group, looking back toward Zinkenite and Lyra like he was a bit lost, unsure if he should rejoin them or fall in step next to Obsidian as part of new and unexpected duties. Pale eyebrows knitted together and he toyed with the lighter before tucking it away into his pocket. He hadn't even gotten to finish his cigarette.

As chance would have it, Sugilite had been up and about, searching the dark city for that section of the population who still continued to walk around alone at night, despite the danger that was clearly present. The sensation was still relatively new, and she had given a short sharp exclamation as she had been yanked from her rooftop perch into the vast dark cavern. After that, she had kept her mouth shut, and listened.

The offer to pass through the door had been taken up immediately, with barely a thought otherwise. Who was she going to follow, this magnificent woman or some queen she had never seen? As she had followed the cluster of agents down the winding halls, she had listened with polite interest to the story. It was interesting, in a way, but apart from revealing the past behind this place, she filed it under 'world history'. The story of a bloody and failed revolution was nothing new, she had read it in many books, over and over again. What was far more interesting to here were the creatures that clawed at the crystal around here, and more than once she nearly tripped up, so intent on them was her focus. Sugilite had only seen a youma once before, at the end of the prom, and it's shrieking howls had nearly caused her to forget who her true enemies were, and attack the beast itself. These ones though ... she had never tried to write poetry herself, but if she was to, she was sure now what her inspiration would be. The beauty of what she saw caught in her throat and caused her eyes to swim.

As the group filed out into the great caverns, she managed to wrestle her face back into a neutral expression. The architecture was impressive, yes, but for her the crystal corridor had been far more striking. As she felt her heartbeat return to normal, she watched the reactions of those around her with faint curiosity. Quite a few stood and stared yes, but some seemed to brush it off with a wave of the hand. Had they known about this place before? Surely not. The arena though, drew her attention back to the city around her. They were expected to fight youma? One on one? Sugilite would have protested, but a desire to not put herself forward kept her mouth firmly shut. Still, there was no way around it, youma couldn't be talked down, or tricked. There was no way of outwitting them, which was the tactic Sugilite preferred to employ when cornered into a fair fight.

These thoughts had stewed in her head until a commotion around one of the captains drew her gaze. Standing up on the tips of her toes, she had craned her neck to see what was happening. Had he been attacked? Uncertain, and unable to clearly see what was happening, she was left with mostly confusion. As the excitement died down and people went back to running around, yelling, and posturing at each other, she dismissed it and went back to stewing over the thought of facing off against a youma in battle. The thought worried her far more than fighting a senshi ever would, in her mind they were far stronger an opponent than any magic wielding teenager.

((late reaction post, daaaarn you work))

If the arena itself had scared Scheelite, then the bonding process between Ilmenite and his new youma had scared him shitless. Others watched on in awe, some had moved forward to help. Scheelite? Well for a brief moment he had inched foward, not quite understanding what was going on but driven by a need to help his fellow officer.

He had never made it more than a foot though. Ilmenite couldn't breathe, acid eyes had been quickly drawn to the Captain's chest and the way it was definitely not rising and falling as it should be. With each shade of pale Ilmenite went Schee matched it, until he finally tore his gaze away. The General had whimpered, reaching up to cover his ears (the headphones simply weren't enough), and shutting his eyes as much as possible. Breathe he told himself, a silent plea to both his own body and that of Ilmenite's suffering several feet away.

In this regard, Scheelite was completely useless. It was quickly apparant just why he was of the few exempt from battle training, though to most it likely looked like he just needed more of it. In reality he was fighting to chase away the haunting image of Dioptase sliced to ribbons before his very eyes, bile threatening to spill at any moment.

He stayed in this precarious state long past the incident itself, only coming to his senses as bodies began to move around him. Slowly he came out of the flashes of the past, chancing to open his eyes and uncover his ears. He had expected to see Ilmenite dead on the ground....but instead he was walking with the others? PHEW!

Still, he felt ill and it was going to take a bit to get back to his usual good-naturedness. A much more subdued Scheelite tailed along near the rear of the group, the color slowly coming back to his features.

Hematite had sort of rolled his eyes at Obsidian's pseudo-greeting and tried to pretend he wasn't bothered by it. He never could take Obsidian in a fight, and the fact that the guy was still alive after spending ages in this place meant nothing had changed. He'd been about to turn around and find Alkaid again when he saw Uranophane storm over to Obsidian and greet him with a slap across the face.

"Captain Uranophane," Hematite said slowly but quite loudly, taking a few steps in her direction. He came to a stop just out of arm's reach of both Uranophane and Obsidian and leaned on his sword like a pole, glancing between the both of them before turning full attention to the captain as though she was the only one who could understand his words. "I hope you know that slapping wild animals only makes both of you look stupid."

"Take a few steps back right now and personally deliver double your energy quota to me this week, captain." Like he'd ever have a problem ordering Uranophane around. "As a thank you for trying to keep your hand attached to your wrist."

He seemed to be more intent on getting her away from Obsidian than the extra order he'd tacked on, as he'd stopped comically leaning. In actuality, he didn't want Uranophane to die just yet. If anyone was going to be the end of her, he was sort of hoping it would be himself. Like hell would he let Obsidian beat him to that too.