[REG] Know Your Friends Well... (Alkaid, Castor, Uphane)-FIN

[cibarium]

Janice had to be honest with herself: she still did not know much about what the Negaverse was, or what working for them entailed. She'd gathered that it was a paramilitary force, and she was going to be working directly under someone with the title of a monarch- a queen.

A monarchy.

Before her initiation, this would have bothered her immensely. Now, however, she only occasionally amused herself about how maybe Aquinas was right about some things when he wrote On Kingship.

It was 9 pm when Janice Fitzpatrick went into the Corner Cafe and got a free espresso for showing her face there after being gone for such a long time, and it was 9:15 pm when Uranophane stalked down the sidewalk not too far away, crumpling a styrofoam cup in her long fingers and tossing it into a trash bin by a newspaper dispenser. Early by her standards, but true productiveness knew no time bias. Janice worked around the clock. So would Uranophane.

She had also learned during her chess match with Charonite that the Negaverse was the 'other side' to a disorganized, but still opposing force. The sailor senshi. She was supposed to dislike them. She'd already had that part taken care of long before she'd taken her side.

Things were expected from her. Uranophane had only a hazy of idea of what those things were at this point, but it was still enough to hopefully accomplish something.

She stopped at the corner of Fifth and Picton and stood, the acid-colored glow of her goggles concealing her eyes, waiting.  

[cibarium]

Noisy chewing and lively footsteps were not relevant to Uranophane's interests, even as they got closer and closer to where she was standing. The sounds were far too civilian, and she hadn't come out here to strain her ears for such things. She was waiting for campy catch phrases, colorful explosions, someone jumping noisily between rooftops so she could give chase, not... someone smacking their lips around an overstuffed sandwich.

So when Castor and his barbaric eating habits swore at her from a foot and a half away, she didn't move. Didn't seem to notice. She just stood there, paying no mind to the small spray of damp crumbs that stuck to her sleeve, like those military guardsmen tourists always tried to provoke into doing something other than being statues on their visits to Europe. Just standing there. Waiting. Staring out into the intersection in front of her.

This changed, however, the very second the word 'negaverse' left the senshi of hail's still slightly onion-laden mouth. Her gaze snapped towards Castor like a rattlesnake, eyebrows raising as she recognized him for what he was. And she turned towards him fully as she gave him the standard cursory once-over, noting the tiara, the collar, the... unusually well-covered legs. That was interesting, but she supposed a boy in a skirt, magical or otherwise, would have been even more so, and in a less flattering way.

"So you're in school when you're not in that getup," she started, clicking her pen a few times before scribbling into her clipboard. "Interesting."  

[cibarium]

It seemed that a negaverse senshi study session was exactly what this particular lieutenant had in mind. She hadn't made any move to attack yet, instead continuing to stand ramrod straight and etch more observations down with her pen.

Really, so far this encounter was proving to be a bit disappointing - Castor's behavior was making it an echo of her interview with that blue-haired moron so many weeks ago. It felt as if half a lifetime had passed between then and now, but there was no change in her levels of irritation because of it. This senshi was kind of an idiot; his overly slack disposition was outright ruining the mystique he was supposed to carry.

Uranophane was starting to wonder if all senshi were like this-- and if that were the case, she would have a lot of questions for the General-King about why the hell they were a problem.

Another set of footsteps... comic book rooftop clicking this time, and heading their way. Uranophane's attention shifted; she tapped her pen thoughtfully on her clipboard, and regarded the second arrival with the same calculating interest she had treated Castor with. Two senshi in one night... she grinned. How lucky for her.

"We're just having a conversation," she answered to the girl of white and gold. "Glad you could join us--"

And then Castor interrupted her, stomping flat her previously almost-friendly expression. At least this time he was saying something interesting.

"Super senshi... of... hail. What," she asked, when there was space for her to speak again, "does all that mean, exactly?"  

[cibarium]

There were two conflicts starting to unfold as the conversation went on: the first was obvious, and denoted by their uniforms, two senshi up against an agent of the Negaverse. The second, however, was seen through attitudes and expressions and their words and actions. Castor was the odd man out in this case, receiving disapproving glares from the other two for his protohuman ways of handling food.

Really, if it weren't for their uniforms establishing whose side they were already on, Janice and Khalla probably would have ended up hitting it off fairly well. Instead there was just the uneasy recognition that people on the opposing side could share some opinions; not that Uranophane found this an obstacle in the long run, Sailor Alkaid was still an enemy. She presently saw no reason to be on amicable terms with the enemy. She also was cautious about being overly hostile, however, as she was outnumbered two-to-one and was now realizing that she had no combat experience.

But Castor was still irritating, and he was blatantly trying far too hard to look cool.

"In my defense, you are carrying yourself like a washed-out pop idol desperate for attention," Uranophane sneered, as if that actually had much to do with her transcribing of Castor's every word.

"At any rate, I'm curious." She lifted her gaze (presumably, it was hard to tell when she effectively had unblinking, unfocusing foglights where her eyes should be) away from her clipboard again, regarding both the senshi who had joined her on the streetcorner. "Do you know much about what the Negaverse is trying to accomplish? Why do you... oppose us?"  

[cibarium]

Alkaid was right about the care she should take with her words, and how an ill-formed reply might tell the Negaverser more than she should be allowed to know. And as far as Uranophane was concerned, that very thing had just happened, the senshi's reply was basically her saying we oppose your means because we don't know the ends, and have no concept for the ends justifying the means.

She grinned.

"I see. Interesting."

And then her grin swiveled back over to gleam at Castor, slightly predatory and clearly amused that he'd just had his foot stamped on. "Well, then," she was saying, "that's quite an opinion to have, there. You sound almost as if you... think you're better than everyone else. That the world is lucky to have you..."  

[cibarium]

"You mean to say there's infighting amongst your kind?" Uranophane observed after a moment to parse their exchange about Nemesis, delight spreading even further across what could be seen of her face. She'd known already that their forces were disorganized and stupid, but actual infighting? Might as well just sit back and watch them kill each other, if anyone else like Nemesis was out there. "That just can't be good for you, now can it? I couldn't imagine--"

Then Castor nudged her arm, a gesture that was entirely too buddy-buddy for her liking -- being asked about how attractive Alkaid was, of all things.

"I beg your pardon," she replied, deadpan. "But I don't swing that way."

And stared.