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 Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 9:42 pm
Being a senshi seemed to be pretty simple. Also pretty rare, at least in the Negaverse. Out of the people he'd met, none of the others were senshi--but he'd heard of another one, and managed to find out where she'd be and when--well, more properly, how to find her. Who knew that senshi gave off dark auras? It was just another piece of the mystical puzzle he had to put together, he supposed. Another thing to think about tomorrow morning. Still, he didn't exactly want to meet this Vivianite when there was a Lieutenant Uranophane around. He knew people were most often made uncomfortable by things when there were people to impress around, and, well.
So he waited until he thought she might be by herself and followed the dark aura--they seemed to share it. He clambered up a fire escape and spotted a girl with long pink hair, grinned widely. Kin! "Hello? You're Vivianite, yes?" He jingled over to her, held out a bouquet of brightly colored wildflowers. She, too, had the cracked hole in her chest--and the black star marking on her forehead. Did all senshi have that? He made a note of it. "It's nice to meet you."
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Posted: Wed May 05, 2010 9:53 pm
Vivianite had not heard there were any other corrupted senshi. Well, no. She'd heard about Tisiphone, once, and that was all anyone else had ever mentioned to her. Oh, wait, Nova, but she was dead, and a warning to never underestimate Kunzite. Who, unfortunately for Vivianite, was her team's assigned target. Not that she was a member of a team! Not officially, and only because Uranophane was a member of the team.
She was, however, now aware that she gave off a rather obnoxious power signature and was thus rather surprised to notice one following her. Hematite felt like that, sometimes. Hopefully it wasn't him.
But the jangling of bells was unlike anything she'd ever heard from her erstwhile Captain, who tended to clank from all the chains. "Yes," she said before turning around and staring in shock. What...? Vivianite's gaze flicked over him, taking in all kinds of details, but the two that stood out the most were the two he'd noted on her - a spiderwebbed hole in his chest and what looked like the black star on his forehead, though it was slightly obscured by hair.
She took the flowers somewhat automatically, murmuring a quiet "It's nice to meet you too," while gazing at him quizzically. Another corrupted senshi? But what was with the bells on his outfit? And the bandolier, that was odd too.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 1:37 am
He was still grinning. The bells on the toes of his shoes were shoved, rather haphazardly, into a pocket with his seventh and largest bell. They did not jingle; no bell on his bandolier jingled as much as the ones on the ends of his sleeves, which he couldn't quite bring himself to remove. The little copper bells were quite cheerful--and jangly--but cheerful.
She seemed quiet, which was fine. It meant he didn't have to talk too much. Instead, he turned off to stare along the city skyline--what they could see of it. It was more an apartment high rise, some businesses, and then buildings he couldn't quite identify.
"I've never done this before," he said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Well, I've been on the roof of a building before, but--you know, it's just." His articulation failed him, but the grin he flashed spoke volumes, possibly enough to fill an entire encyclopedia. Here was someone who was glad to be here, thrilled to be meeting Vivianite, thrilled to be standing on top of a building with a ridiculous outfit and a bandolier of bells with mahogany handles on, his sleeves jingling as he crossed his arms over his chest. "How long have you been... awake," he asked, still contemplating the spider plant resting on a balcony across the way.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 12:55 pm
He was grinning. Vivianite hadn't met any Negaverser prone to grinning (she obviously hadn't met Scheelite), but he was standing here, smiling like this was the best thing ever. She looked down at the wildflowers for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Never done what?" she asked, looking genuinely curious. There was certainly a lot that could fall under the 'new experience' header, especially if he was newly corrupted. And he was smiling again; Vivianite offered him a shy smile back, finding it almost impossible to resist that infectious excitement. Uranophane was dour, serious, and businesslike. They rarely joked, and Janice's smiles tended towards the sardonic and cutting, much like her sense of humor. It was...refreshing to be around someone else, someone who certainly seemed thrilled to be here, talking to her. Alkaid hadn't, but that was an entirely different situation.
"A couple of months," she shrugged off, although it felt like forever. It felt like yesterday. "I," she started, looking at him while he stared out across the rooftops. "What's your name?"
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 9:03 pm
The gesture he made encompassed the rooftop they were on, the buildings around them, the skyline and the street below. It was pretty encompassing. "Not used to seeing it from all the way up here." Literally and mentally. He had practically run across the city last night. It was intoxicating, this power. And freeing--he knew he had to follow orders, but how was up to him. And him alone! It was quite thrilling. "Following an aura to find someone. Did you know we could do that?" His hands dropped to his sides, bringing out another whispery jingle from the bells on his sleeves.
"So long?" Spinel pressed his hands together. Well, operatively, a couple of months was not an insurmountable obstacle...
He straightened up, his grin a little shamefaced. "I did forget to introduce myself," he said, "My name is Spinel, of Bells... in case it wasn't obvious." The topmost bell on his bandolier chimed a tiny bit when he flicked the handle.
It was a bit of a wait, in case she wanted to say something. When nothing came, he stole another glance at her. The longer lock of hair at her forehead was in his way, so he brushed it behind her ear and smiled at her, brightly. "You should smile more often, Vivianite. You look pretty when you do." It was only the truth, after all. Most everyone looked more attractive when they smiled. He'd figured that out a good long time ago; compliments didn't really mean much to him, it was just what you did. "Think about it. We're powerful and young. There's no reason not to be happy!"
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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 9:39 pm
Vivianite had not become blase about the sights she was now privy to, the locations she could now reach. Well, maybe a little; she looked out at the city when Spinel's arm swept out and saw it as something other than a battlefield or a chess board, saw it as a city. There was something wonderful about it, being able to observe the big picture and she stared out at it all as if trying to capture it forever in her memory.
She was still looking out when he introduced himself, though she cast a sidelong glance at him when he included his sphere. How did he know what it was, when she didn't? His name was a mineral, which meant that he'd not been awakened by a cat. No, he was like her and had been corrupted straight into the negaverse first. On second thought, the bells on his outfit and apparently his bandolier were a rather large clue.
Vivianite didn't say anything though, staring back away until he reached over and brushed her hair back. It was unexpected, and she flinched slightly. No one touched her. Uranophane was incredibly firm on that point, and idly she wondered if her friend somehow knew that someone had. Janice showed an uncanny sort of intuition for such things, after all. "Sorry," she apologized, realizing that her reaction could be taken badly. "You just surprised me." A wider, more genuinely happy smile was Spinel's reward. She didn't often smile around Janice anymore, or in general, but he made her want to. He was just so enthusiastic!
"Bells, though?" the girl asked, curious about how that worked. Did he ring them in a certain order to do different things?
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Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 11:53 pm
"Sorry," he said, and he really meant it, shamefaced and a little more quiet now, like he thought someone might listen in on them. He even leaned in a little bit, putting up a hand as if to block an attempt at lip-reading. "I'll warn you next time. Would that be all right?" Spinel definitely did not want the only other corrupted senshi he'd met to dislike him. That would be somewhat counterproductive.
The smile he got made up for any uncertainties. She really was pretty when she smiled, he thought; though, pensive thought seemed to suit her too. Her expression when she stared out over the city was sort of enchanting. He wished for a moment that he had pockets, just for something to do with his hands; he ended up linking them behind his back as they regarded the city.
With an embarrassed shrug, he said, "That's what I think, anyway." He picked out the smallest bell, rolled it between his palms for a moment, and offered it to Vivianite. Supposedly he had some kind of attack, but he hadn't been told what it was and hadn't really tried anything--well, he had, when he was alone. The sixth bell, second largest, he had a feeling something would happen if he rang that one. (Three times.) He had just as strong a feeling that testing it in front of a comrade would be a bad idea, something to very definitely avoid.
"They don't do anything. The bells." He shrugged again. "They ring? It's a good tone. Sort of like a glockenspiel."
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 7:11 pm
"That might work better," Vivianite replied with an embarassed sort of laugh; she was going to have to learn to deal with small intrusions into her personal space eventually, no matter what Janice thought. A strand of hair on the other side of her face had fallen over her shoulder and she idly played with it while she studied him with a slightly more intent look. He knew about as much as she had right after her corruption. Grendel must not have been present.
"It makes sense," she offered as he handed her the smallest bell, something she examined mostly by ringing it just to hear the sound. It didn't have any sort of feeling of power to her, but then again, it wasn't her equipment. She handed it back to him with a thoughtful look on her face, purple eyes lit with a thought. "You should talk to Grendel," Vivianite announced. "He helped me with my attack," she elaborated slightly. "And I think he'd be able to figure out yours." Because he was a cat; regular senshi were awoken by cats who told them their names, and spheres, and attacks. Vivianite had gotten only one out of those three - her name had come from Charonite, and her sphere remained a frustrating mystery.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 7:49 pm
He smiled at her once that was resolved, and seemed to miss her more intent stare as he returned his gaze to the spider plant across the street. It didn't seem like he was overly concerned with the fate of his bell; he wasn't precisely slow to trust, he was just slow to learn who didn't deserve it. (Spinel was occasionally flicking a look over to her, as if checking to ensure she was still there.)
"Grendel," he said, a lilt in his tone making it a question. He really hadn't learned much about being a senshi at all, he reflected as he plucked the offered bell from her fingers. It took a little bit of concentration to fit it properly back into its little pouch; the comparative size of the brass made it hard to work with. Well, a bit, it wasn't so difficult--amusing to watch him fumble with the smaller bits of leather, perhaps. "Is Grendel like you and I?" It didn't sound like a mineral type of name, but neither did Spinel. Vivianite fell more easily in line with what he thought of as 'minerals'.
He shifted to face her again, smiling more fully. "If you say I should meet him, I will," the senshi of bells said. "Is there anyone else I should keep an eye out for?"
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 8:00 pm
Vivianite watched him fumble with the bell and bandolier with an admirably straight face; then again, she might not have found it amusing anyway. Her sense of humor was decidedly strange.
Grendel? Like them? Vivianite was about to laugh, but then she thought about it and frowned slightly. "In a manner of speaking," she said slowly, fitting a couple of things together in her head. Senshi were awoken by cats, and Negaverse agents were recruited (what a nice euphemism that was) by the higher level officers. So what was Grendel doing serving the quote unquote forces of evil, unless he too had been forced astray? It was a nice little theory, and one that neatly explained why he hadn't known much more about the whole senshi thing than she had. Vivianite made a mental note to more seriously track down the tabby and share the information she'd gotten from Alkiad. He'd appreciate it, and perhaps not ask as many questions as her handler would.
"You've met the Queen?" the girl asked, arching an eyebrow curiously. He almost had to have had - he couldn't really wander around like this all the time. That much dark energy was so very easy to track, which meant that Spinel had met Queen Beryl and had been taught how to power down.
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Posted: Wed May 12, 2010 10:07 pm
In a manner of speaking? The way Spinel had heard it so far, either you were a senshi or you weren't, there wasn't really a middle ground. There were good senshi, he knew, good senshi and bad senshi, and supposedly he and Vivianite were the bad ones... but he didn't see it. Hm. Food for thought, in a good way.
"I'll keep an eye out," he said with a nod.
As for the Queen... That would be Beryl, the orange-haired one. "I met her briefly?" He had heard somewhat that previously corrupted senshi couldn't power down, which he had thought unfortunate: It would be hard to continue to study if he were to always be Spinel. Spinel was not registered for classes at Sovereign Heights Preparatory as Paul Wyndham was. "Long enough that she could show me how to return to my human self." He smiled again, a little rueful, as though he regretted not being able to figure that out himself.
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Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 9:30 pm
"That's probably long enough," she replied in a soft voice as she returned to looking out at the city. Beryl was...Vivianite admired the Queen of the Negaverse, was dedicated to her, but found the woman to be rather intimidating and was not really all that inclined to spend large amounts of time with her. Beryl was very intense, and that could be rather draining. Thankfully, Vivianite was not called on often to attend the dark Queen.
"Who else have you met?" the girl asked with a glance back over at him; he seemed so very new, and a little lost. Or at least uninformed. Maybe that was why he'd sought her out - though that didn't really explain the flowers. A faint blush stained her cheeks as she stared back down at the bouquet. Why had he brought her flowers? "Any of the Captains?"
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Posted: Sun May 16, 2010 1:24 am
He definitely agreed with the more experienced senshi's evaluation of the Queen. A few minutes was quite long enough, since he'd learned what he had to learn. It had been sort of awe-inspiring, being in that kind of dark presence. Not really the sort of experience he wanted every day, but it had been... Well, interesting! And it was pretty new to no longer really be limited by the conceptions of others.
"I've met no one but the Queen and the General-King," he said, a little shamefaced. It was a little shameful, wasn't it, to go straight for the others who were like him? Sort of like going for the familiar, except everything was strange and new. It provided so much to think about. He would have to think, later, on why this was such a thrilling idea to him. Normally he adored the status quo.
But that was for later, not while he was talking to Vivianite. "How many captains are there, then? Should I look for a specific one?"
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 11:24 am
Vivianite made a little gesture with her hand, as if to dismiss any concern he had over not knowing anyone else. "I don't know how many there are," she said. "It doesn't really concern me," the girl continued, voice rather flat. Her duties were rather simple, and she chose to by and large not interact with the rest of the Negaverse. Except those she had to - Uranophane, Fayalite, Hematite.
"You weren't, ah, assigned to anyone?" she asked, looking mildly surprised. She'd been ordered to find Uranophane and Grendel after the Queen had finished with her, and she assumed that was what had happened to with Spinel. "That seems odd." Especially since he seemed so uninformed; being assigned to one of the more experienced officers would have probably...well, it would have made sense, really.
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Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 1:14 pm
"No," he said, sounding as surprised she looked. Why wasn't she curious about the rest of the workings of the Negaverse? Spinel preferred knowing who to defer to--which seemed to be 'anyone with a Lieutenant tacked on to their name' from his understanding. But he didn't want to push, so he held up both his hands--nothing up my sleeve!--and smiled again. "I'm rather a, uh, loose cannon? You're the first member of the Negaverse besides the General-King and the Queen I've met."
Loose cannon? Spinel? Anyone who knew him would have laughed.
He was fiddling with the smallest of the bells again; it had a pure and pretty chime, a high do on the do-re-mi. "I'm sorry," he said, and his crooked smile turned a little apologetic. "Am I pestering you?"
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