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 Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:38 pm
From the look on Fluorite's face as she popped into subspace, she had been in the middle of a shower.
The wet hair probably helped come to that conclusion as well - the heavy curls were falling harder on her shoulders than they usually did.
She had never been directly summoned before - she had always been ferried over by a captain or a general, and so the sensation was extremely new and alien to her - and she looked at the still slightly unfamiliar surroundings with wide eyes.
s**t, did that mean she was in trouble ??
It was only a few seconds afterward that Alunite popped into existence right beside her - and nearly dropped the orb of energy he had just gathered in surprise. He was a little more familiar to the sensation than his sister was, but it didn't make it any less sudden or jarring.
It was only after their respective surprise clearly that the siblings noticed that they were both here, exchanging confused glances - neither seemed aware of what exactly they had been summoned for.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2011 9:49 pm
Hiro sat perched on one of the flat slab 'arms' of Tanzanite's makeshift throne. He and the General Queen had been having a discussion when the siblings popped in, obeying the summons from Tanzanite. The quiet murmurs broke off. Hiro sat up straighter, taking on a regal pose as he stared at Fluorite and Alunite.
The tip of his tail twitched, the closest he would allow himself to a smirk. The siblings looked worried. Confused as well, but mostly worried.
Hiro supposed that being called before Tanzanite might be nerve-wracking. Especially with no other instructions than 'come here now' and the tugging that only the most powerful of the Negaverse could do.
Still, this was Tanzanite's show. Hiro waited where he was, amusing himself by watching the play of expressions over the faces of the two newly-arrived Negaverse members. It was up to the General Queen to explain things, not Hiro.
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:09 pm
Tanzanite has taken a liking to Hiro. Which was saying a lot, considering that he was not a youma. Or dead. Typically Tanzanite only truly enjoyed the company of others if they fell into one of those two categories. Nevertheless, she had often found herself talking to the guardian that had bonded to Alkaid whenever he happened to be around. Perhaps it was just easier to relate to someone who could not be distinctly classified as a human.
Whatever the reason, there she sat, running the claws of her human hand quietly through his fur as the siblings responded swiftly to her summons. It was a power that she was still adjusting to. It took thought and focus to sort through those many threads of power to find the specific ones she was looking for, and her eyes opened half-expecting to have summoned the wrong officers.
Yet there they were, two heads of matching purple. It would have been almost sweet that they had progressed so evenly, were Tanzanite capable of finding joy in such sentimental things. However, she could appreciate the moment in her own way.
“I have a little test for you,” she said, “If you pass, the rewards will be great. If you fail...”
Her shoulders rolled in a shrug. There wasn't much of a way to fail that particular test, but they didn't need to know that. Fear, she had learned, could be and extremely efficient motivator.
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:18 pm
...That sounded pretty ominous, really, and Fluorite swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. Yep, completely unaware there, through... given the way they'd been summoned, she wasn't quite sure if this was an opportunity they could refuse.
"A test ?" She asked.
Alunite wasn't looking much less stressed than his sister, through he at least did a better job at not showing it in a truly obvious way. If Fluorite thought she had no choice, well, he had even less of a choice.
"Very well, General Queen." He inclined his head in respect.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:31 pm
Hiro tried to bite back the purr that Tanzanite's slow petting brought on. He was only half successful - every few seconds a brief rumble echoed through the cavern, quickly cut off, only to return after a few moments.
He approved of Tanz's motivational threats. If Alunite had been in any serious danger, of course he would have objected. But Hiro could see the experience that had built up in the corrupt senshi, and he trusted that Tanz was an even better judge of such things in her officers (because while Fluo wasn't a senshi, Hiro had known her first and he did hold a soft spot for the young woman).
"Don't worry, it won't hurt. Much," Hiro added as an afterthought, jaw dropping open to show a toothy grin. After a moment, he gave another addendum, "If you pass, that is."
There might not have been a way to really fail the test, but it didn't hurt to keep the kids on their toes. Let them think that death was the reward for failure - it often was in the Negaverse or on the battlefield, after all.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:52 pm
The General-Queen stood slowly. Chains dragged across the stone with an echoing clatter as she rose, her wings stretching wide. She craned her neck first to one side, then the other, the vertebrae loosened with a series of loud cracks. Her arms stretched upwards and out, her back arching to th same snapping sound. Loose muscles were suddenly tensed in anticipation, and there was a visible change in the way Tanzanite stood as she let her arms fall back to her sides. The spines at her shoulder now stood up straight, the horns twisting into the wild purple hair like ears laying flat.
It was unsure exactly what she was preparing for until the moment she vanished, reappearing behind them immediately. The hands of those wings came forward swiftly, each grabbing for a sibling and trying to throw them hard into opposite corners of the small room.
“You will face many obstacles together as you fight in this war. The powers of the senshi are varied, nearly unlimited in their potential. You won't know what many of them can do until you see them do it. Every time they get stronger, they learn new attacks. Their vile magic grows more powerful. All the drills, all the spars, all the practice in the world cannot prepare you to fight against them. You must be able to improvise, no matter how strong your opponent.”
Tanzanite's voice echoed in the small cavern, and the muscles in her blackened arm tensed visibly. It was becoming clearer with every world where this test was going, and it did not bode well for the purple-haired siblings.
“I can feel your energy at all times, or drain if I choose. I'm faster than you, stronger than you, and I have as many arms as the two of you put together. My defenses against physical attack are impeccable. My offense is both short and long ranged, and your magic-” she turned her gaze on Alunite, “Will not work against me. Hiro will not jump in to save you should you fail.
Now attack.”
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:15 am
Those cracks did manage a wince of Fluorite before she managed to regain control of her expressions. She was, by far, the most easily readable of the siblings. Every feeling she had was easily picked up and understood by anyone who knew how to read body language.
She might have had control on her face, but her eyes never lied.
Alunite was the more impassible of the two, through still clearly nervous - every muscle tensed, at the ready. Redirecting his emotion toward an outlet that might be useful for what was to come.
There was little that could prepare him for this, through. One second the general queen was in front of them, the next she was behind, and he was off the ground.
Then he was airborne.
There wasn't much time to do much of anything but to instinctively turn himself in order to hit the wall in a way that would cause the least damage. The hit was pretty brutal still, but it wasn't that high of a drop, so he managed to land on his feet.
Fluorite didn't fare much better. She tensed with the sudden teleport, but didn't move in time to avoid being snagged, ending up with her feet wayyyy off the ground.
This was a little unfair, really, but she understood the point. The senshi weren't going to play fair.
Then she was launched as well. She didn't have the time to make sure Alunite wasn't becoming a pancake, not now - unlike her brother, Fluorite landed feet first, managed one step on a large crystal cluster before launching herself right back toward the General Queen, her weapon taking form in her hand - that single playing card.
This was, perhaps, the most literal example of 'up s**t's creek without a paddle' to have ever been displayed.
Once he'd landed, he knew he couldn't stand and regain his bearings for long. So he turned and made his way as well, sliding to try to get her from the back.
Through, with the wings... General Queen Tanzanite probably had nothing that even came close to being called a dead angle.
Well, divide and conquer, right ?
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 5:17 pm
"Hiro will not jump in to save you should you fail."
It was a reminder to Hiro, not just a warning for his trainees, the cat knew. It was hard to bite back his instincts to yell out, to tell the siblings what they should be doing, no, try that instead. But this was the General-Queen, and Hiro knew she had a plan. She liked Hiro's senshi. This wasn't a pointless game, or needless violence.
So Hiro lay down, sphinx-style, on the arm of Tanzanite's slab of a throne. Though he occasionally tensed, and though his tail twitched, he otherwise didn't move. Hiro simply watched.
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:53 am
It had always been the way of the Negaverse to cull weakness from their officers as they rose through the ranks. Tanzanite had nowhere left to rise and very little left to cull. As time progressed, she had been shaped into what she was, and she intended to likewise shape the pair of young recruits before her. Years of combat had sharpened her senses, and both her unnatural body and increased energy made her both faster and stronger. Tanzanite was a finely tuned machine when it came to close combat, and she fell into the motions as though they were purely instinct.
This was what she had been made to do.
It took only a slight bend in her legs to push her body upwards, well out of range of the incoming siblings. Any Negaverser could jump a few sEven without teleportation, her movements were swift and precise. Every General-Queen was different. Beryl had magic that Tanzanite could never even begin to fathom, but Tanzanite had raw strength and speed in abundance. The powers that enabled her to soar high above Destiny City allowed her to hold herself aloft, her gaze turned upon the pair with slight disapproval.
“There are senshi who can alter gravity. Who could decay your flesh with a touch. You must know each one of them, and you must know how to attack them. Their strengths and their weaknesses; adapt for each of them. I am not a senshi, do not attack me as one.”
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Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:38 am
In sharp contrast, the two miss-matching siblings still had so much to rise through, and so much to cull. They looked nearly the same and yet were completely different - agent and senshi, agility and something as close to hand-to-hand strength that a senshi could be. Sibilings on equal grounds right now, with one having something that could only loosely be considered a weapon and the other with magic that would not hide him from anyone who had the power of chaos coursing through their veins.
Fate had sought to break them, but now it seemed they only clung to one another all the more as they struggled to find their places in the strange new world.
How did one fight something they were not used to fight ? How did one fight someone who could have crushed them in an instant should they wish to ?
However they damn well could. There was nothing pretty about it, but it was the truth. They would need to use every trick they could think of to win... If it could be called that.
The reactions were quick - Tanzanite jumped out of the way of the double assault and while there had been an high chance that the two might have crashed into each other, unable to stop their momentum. But they didn't - instead, Alunite reached out for his sister's hand, pushing something into it before they continued their respective course.
It was unclear what exactly it had been about until both their energy level spiked. Of course - Alunite had been gathering energy right before he'd been summoned. It was perhaps a futile attempt, as Tanzanite could easily drain their power boosts from each eating an energy pearl away from them, but it was an attempt, if a futile one, to even the tables a bit, no matter the cost. They were improvising, but they worked seamlessly - not a word exchanged in between them.
It felt like fire coursing through her veins. Having to take an energy orb - be it for the boost or just healing injuries - and she wasn't sure if Alunite had, either.
But it wasn't something she could waste. Not when if could so easily be taken away. A solid kick at one of the crystals sent it shattering, sending a flurry of small, sharp shards toward Tanzanite - and two slightly bigger ones, falling into her hands. They were sharp, cutting through the exposed skin, but she didn't care.
Improvised weapons, to replace the one found lacking. Use your environement was one of the first things she'd been told.
Alunite, for his part, used his new-found energy boost differently. Used it in a way that his sister couldn't. In a way that none of the lieutenant could. A way that the general queen was rather familiar with.
He teleported. Right behind her. He certainly wouldn't remain here too long, lacking the power and wings to keep him there - but he aimed a strong kick in the middle of her back, hoping to at least send her closer to the ground, toward Fluorite.
Again, no words had been exchanged in between them. Perhaps that was the sibilings' true strength.
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Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:01 pm
Normally Hiro would be calling out his own special brand of encouragement - insults, criticisms, ideas that they should have used instead of whatever he had just seen and disagreed with. This time, though, he was silent. It was a very unusual experience for anyone who knew Hiro or had fought with him observing before.
He was not willing to influence this battle, however. Tanzanite wanted an honest assessment of their skills. Hiro was going to let her have it. Any sound from him might detract them points, somehow, or make Tanzanite think that Hiro thought they couldn't do it without assistance.
This was what he'd trained them for. Not just to fight the white moon senshi, but so that when their superiors turned an eye to the siblings and wanted to know 'are they good enough', that the answer would be a resounding YES. Hiro believed in them, so he did nothing more than crouch on Tanzanite's throne, teal eye locked on the movements of his General-Queen and his students.
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