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 Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 12:30 pm
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The small glowing orb floated overhead as she concentrated channeling her energy into the star seeds. Slowly but surely, the monster began to take form and the Queen's arms began to descend.
The need for youma was becoming even more demanding with each passing day. A daily and steady supply of star seeds kept Beryl's wrath at bay, but for how long that wrath would stay dormant, no one could say. No one wanted to find out.
Throughout the first week of the attack, Uranophane had been present as Beryl made the youma, assigning names and Lieutenants to those ready to go out into combat, the others lingering within the Negaverse until it was their time to fight. After a week, however, the Handmaiden had been dismissed, no reason or explanation given.
No one but the Queen was aware that her health was failing, and failing faster with every youma created. It was true - each youma consisted of a cluster of seeds and dark energy, but that dark energy was becoming harder and harder to replace, the more often she exerted it from herself and into each monster. One by one, each youma began to die, each severing the connection it had with its creator. She knew when each creature died and the fact the sensation was happening regularly was not making her happy. The senshi were in disarray. They had no organization, they were limited in number and power. So why, of all opportunities, were they still able to hold off the Negaverse's assault?
Granted, many senshi had died - she had their star seeds as proof of this - but a fair number of officers had fallen as well. Even Cobaltocalcite, brave, strong, stupid Cobaltocalcite had fallen to the hands of Castor, of all senshi.
So the number of youma had begun to double. She stood in the subspace creating youma until her hands were too tired to channel the energy. Her muscles were aching, her body physically weakening from the strain. It had grown so demanding that she'd been forced to return to Nealite - she'd become so weak, she was unable to sustain her true form while she worked.
And so work from that body, she did, and resented every moment of it. She harbored resentment for the body that limited her, resentment for the dormant power within that refused to awaken. That refused to aid her and empower her with the magic and darkness she needed to complete her conquest of Earth. As hard as she'd tried to awaken it, Metallia remained asleep, undisturbed. It was a wonder, with the amount of power she exerted daily, why the darkness within had not reacted to such changes.
Dropping her hands to her side, purple heels clicked their way over to the throne, where the body of the Negaverse Captain took her seat. The newly made youma skulked its ways into the shadow of the subspace, where it would lurk with the others until summoned.
One hand rose to rub her forehead, perfectly shaped fingernails gently grazing the surface of her skin.
Power. It was always about power.
They simply needed more.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:32 pm
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Sailor senshi were lucky. Their power seemed to be drawn from some kind of pure, limitless resource; their energy was boundless and endless. Pure. Effortless. It really was effortless, that was the irritating part, that the universe had decided to privilege the souls of the opposition with some special gift of magic, one that drew from itself, entirely self-contained. No mess and no fuss.
The Negaverse was quite different.
The Negaverse's headquarters, its reflective floor and frigid halls, it was all more than a base of operations or place of gathering. It was where harvested star seeds ultimately ended up when placed in the hands of the General-King or a Captain, coals to the proverbial fire of their cause -- it was a factory. It was a power plant. A cosmic boiler room, where human souls were burned down for the sake of saving the human race. Life force siphoned away to protect Earth's livelihood. And for them and their magic, a star seed was a finite resource that was gone forever once it had been used up, which created the constant need for more. Always more, it was always on the priority list for every officer: if you didn't bring back the head of a guardian cat or some intel, at least bring back a star seed. At least one. They always needed more.
So, when Uranophane had decided to show herself in the crystal-studded throne room of the subspace again, it came with that unspoken expectation: did she have a star seed?
There was a shaky pulsing noise, almost like that of a distant firework, and a small spray of pitch-colored petals that smouldered away into smoke and and nothingness. Vivianite's form had blinked into the room, her skirt and the long wavy tendrils of her hair quickly settling and submitting themselves to gravity; Lieutenant Uranophane stood at her side, a hand lightly touching her charge's arm before she took note that they'd successfully teleported in and her fingers raced their way back to her own personal space.
"Captain," she started, peering at the figure on the throne -- it looked terribly like Nealite, like Ursula after a week with no sleep -- "or, is it Your Majesty?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2010 8:51 am
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The laughter that was returned was throaty, harsh. It lacked the humor in it that the Captain's held, the sincerity that set apart the young woman from the ancient sorceress.
As if that failed to answer the Lieutenant's question, the tired voice from the throne replied, "I thought a change of pace would be nice."
There was no laughter to follow, nor any explanation as to why she had chosen the form of the pregnant Captain over the (unfortunately pregnant as well) Queen. Beryl did little to hide her dislike of the redhead - even moreso the pregnancy that plagued her otherwise beautiful form. Instead, she merely stared at the young woman, as if she were looking straight through her with eyes surrounded by darkened circles.
Beryl didn't question why Uranophane was here. The Lieutenant dropped by frequently to retrieve more of the youma - it was expected, at this point. The senshi beside her was disregarded as the Queen snapped her fingers, several youma crawling (or walking) out from the shadows towards their new keeper.
Typically, it was left at that. Uranophane would instruct them, she would assign them, she would leave - no further discussion was to be had with the Queen. But this time, for whatever reason unknown to the two subspace visitors, it appeared the Queen had something else in mind to discuss.
"Tell me, Uranophane - how is it that we are failing to make more than a simple dent in the senshi's numbers?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 3:52 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:52 pm
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:27 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:22 am
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"I think you're long overdue for a promotion, Lieutenant."
As soon as the hand made contact, Beryl's slipped further down and quickly clasped around the young woman's wrist. Her free hand quickly plucked the senshi's star seed from the Lieutenant's grasp and the glowing crystal was immediately drawn to her lips.
There was no grace in how she ate it, devouring the energy like a starving man to food. The crunch of the crystal was unmistakable, shards of a senshi's former life force now feeding the Queen of the Negaverse.
One less seed would be returning to the Cauldron.
Closing her eyes, she paused for a moment to savor the new power running through her. It was a temporary high - always so temporary - but it would be enough to accomplish what was needed to be done.
Opening her eyes, the smile returned to her lips as her now free hand moved towards Uranophane's chest, slipping through without any resistance. Once her hand was securely around the younger girl's star seed, her smile grew even brighter.
"You might feel a slight pinch."
And with that, the power surged forward from her into the faithful Lieutenant. Beryl could have done the transfer from touching her arm - touching her head, touching any part of Janice Fitzpatrick. But unlike the General-King who promoted officers prior to her return, the Queen preferred to take care of things directly at the source.
It was painful, far more painful than when Uranophane had been inducted into the Negaverse. The darkness of Chaos was burning through her veins, twisting and poisoning her nerves as it traveled through her. No human body was ever prepared to take in Chaos, so its natural reaction was to fight off the overpowering sensation. Muscles were tightening, her heart was racing - and just when the fire felt like it would consume her, it stopped.
The hand around her star seed released its grip, leaving behind a lingering soreness...and a new sensation. A new power.
A new Uranophane.
The smile had waned ever so slightly from her face, exhaustion taking over the woman masquerading as General Nealite. But the edges of her lips were still curled up, the smugness slowly returning.
"Perhaps now your equation will be easier to solve, Captain?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 3:42 pm
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The first time had been easier, which was in retrospect a strange fact: when Janice Fitzpatrick had been recruited, she had no idea what to expect, or even that there would be any amount of magic involved at all. This time she knew exactly how being brought further into the fold of the Negaverse would work: Beryl would touch her star seed, it would be charged with energy, and she would change.
It was the most pain Uranophane had ever been in in her entire life.
White-hot electricity crackled up and coiled around every nerve, every blood vessel, every fiber of her being from the point where Beryl had her hand buried under her breastbone. She couldn't feel her feet in her boots anymore, couldn't tell whether she was standing, or what direction 'up' was in -- her arms went involuntarily tense and her fingers stiffly curled and twitched like they were dying spiders. The noise of Chaos energy rampaging through her body forced her mind blank, and even looking back on it she wouldn't be able to tell if being promoted took ten seconds or ten hours.
When it was all done, the pain lingered, her arms and legs latently spasmed... but unlike the Queen, Uranophane did not feel exhausted at all. She felt renewed. Refreshed. Changed. More powerful. Being a higher rank of the Negaverse wasn't just title alone, she realized: as a Lieutenant, she only felt a little above normal humans. As a Captain... as a Captain, she felt a slightly higher state of being than other Negaversers.
And if this was how it felt to be one step above the bottom rung -- she wondered what it would feel like to be a General. A General-King, even. If she'd had any doubts about Beryl in the meeting, several of them were dissolved with the realization that every rise in rank was not only in title, but in power and awareness as well.
Queen Beryl... was an enlightened being.
"I think so, your Majesty," Uranophane answered, returning to a formal stance. "At the very least, the math involved just got a whole lot simpler."
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Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 9:35 pm
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Vivianite had not said anything this entire time. She was, truth be told, a little overawed at being in Beryl's presence; would certainly never dream of exchanging light banter with the Queen of the Negaverse. So she let Uranophane do the talking, which was really nothing new and unusual. Vivianite - and Vera - were content to let others do the talking, and the leading, and in general the decision making. She was content to follow orders, like the one that had lead to her teleporting herself and her plum-haired handler into subspace.
The conversation between Beryl and her officer was one that Vivianite had mostly tuned out; listening to it in case she was asked about it later, or even asked to contribute. She deemed either one unlikely, but. You never knew. It was only when the word 'rank' was tossed around that her purple eyes snapped to full alertness, flicking a quick glance towards her friend before returning it to Beryl. Always keep your eyes on the Queen, unless instructed otherwise.
But it was hard to keep her entire focus on Beryl, when her hand slipped into Uranophane's chest. She had done something similar not long before - in fact, the starseed Uranophane had turned over had been the one Vivianite had retrieved from a luckless senshi. This was different, however. This was similar to what occurred when someone was recruited into the Negaverse; but apparently....
Apparently, there was more to it, when a promotion was involved. Vivianite looked away as the Chaos energy surged into Uranophane. It wasn't something she wanted to watch, as one black gloved hand reached up to rub gently at the hole in her chest. She still had nightmares. For perhaps the first time, the corrupted senshi wondered if it was possible for her to be promoted. She knew senshi could; they had guardian cats to do it for them, or so she had been informed. But would it possible for her, filled with a darker power as she was?
Perhaps she should ask. Beryl was speaking again, which Vivianite took to mean that the ritual was complete. And indeed, it was. Uranophane was different now. Her uniform was the least of the changes, really; it was quite easy for her to pick up on the darker, more powerful energy signature. Even with Beryl standing there, radiating a much, much darker one. Perhaps...perhaps she should ask.
Vivianite looked between Captain and Queen once more. And said nothing.
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