Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a long Sunday for Tag, coping with his mother's overbearing presence as she invaded his home. She had been staying with him for over a week and already caused a great deal of stress and chaos in her adult son's life. As he crossed from the kitchen with a beer in hand, he paused and looked at his mother, sitting on his couch and lighting a cigarette.

"You can't smoke that in here," Tag said flatly. "Besides, I thought you quit."

"I did," she said as she took a long drag from the cigarette. She exhaled the smoke, the tarring gas rising into his window blinds. "They're yours."

"Your smoking my cigarettes? Where did you even find them?"

"Your sock drawer. You always thought that was such a good hiding place, didn't you? Even as a teenager with your distasteful pornography."

Tag's face grew red. His mother always knew how to get under his skin. He ready to snap at her, but before he could mutter out a full syllable in response there was a knock at the door. They both paused and stared at the door. Tag approached the door slowly and opened to find a young teenage boy with blue hair standing in the hallway of his apartment building.

"Uh, can I help you?" he asked as his mother peered over from behind him.

"The meeting?," Tag questioned, a brow raised. Oh! Was this a fellow agent of the Negaverse? But which? "Oh, right, the meeting. Please come in, my mother was just leaving."

"No I wasn't," she leapt into the conversation quickly.

"Yes you were," Tag insisted. His mother undermining him in private was one thing, but in front of another agent? Inexcusable. "Its business, and you have to smoke that thing outside anyways."

His mother rolled her eyes as she placed the cigarette in her lips, grabbed her coat and passed by the boy on her way out. Once she was in the elevator, Tag motioned for the boy to come in and he took another look at the card. Zink.

"General Zinkenite?" he questioned. "You...sorry, you're much younger than I was expecting. What are you, sixteen?"

"Certainly," Tag said, picking up the lighter from the coffee table and lighting a flame to the card. After letting the flame chew its way up the card towards his thumb and index finger, he waved the card harshly until the flame died out and tossed the rest aside into his trash in the kitchen.

"Opportunities for my position?" he questioned, calling from the kitchen. It was a spacious apartment, but he wasn't too distant where he needed to speak loudly. He popped open the beer he had been holding this whole time on the edge of his countertop. "I'm glad to help out in anyway that I can, of course. I hope what I've been doing so far has been meeting your expectations, assuming you've been watched my segment."

He took a hard sip of his beer - and it was only then that he thought he should play 'host' with his house-guest.

"Do you want a beer?" he asked as he popped open the fridge, already forgetting the boy's age. Not that it mattered, the boy was old enough to be a General of the Negaverse, certainly he was man enough to have a beer. Even if not, he had a can of soda in there as well, and some juices for when his son was over.

"I am a journalist," he said with extra emphasis as he shut the fridge door with great force. He had sensed a bit of doubt in the boy's tongue, much to his disproval. Yes, Zinkenite may have been his superior but he was not about to have his position as a journalist be questioned. He took another long sip of his beer as he entered into the living room and motioned for the boy to take a seat while Tag leaned against the wall.

"I have been trying to hint at a Senshi involvement in the civilian disappearances," he started to explain. "But unfortunately, I am a journalist. There is only so much spinning that I can do without factual representation. The best I can do is put it into the public's minds that the terrorists - that is, the Senshi - may be responsible for the disappearances. I can't do much more than report on speculation until there is actual proof, which I am certain that we will find."

He had genuine concern for the missing citizens and their whereabouts, and had no doubts that the Senshi were behind it. He was a man who wanted the best for the world at heart - he just also wanted to be in charge of dictating what is best for the world.

"It is similar to something I have been considering for a while, but something I would have to get approval for by my station," Tag started. "I have been meaning to do an exposé on the war in Destiny City. Right now I am able to say the terrorists are behind this and that, but the public at large can't differentiate a Senshi from a Negaverse agent, a terrorist Senshi from one of our own. The public needs to be more informed as a whole."

"If I were to get approval from my producers, it might be able to happen," he continued on. "Of course, we'd have to be smart about how we poise the exposé. We wouldn't want to interview our fierce Tanzanite. We wouldn't want the citizens crapping themselves in their seats at the sight of her arm." Tag had a great amount of respect and appreciation for Tanzanite, but that didn't make her any less terrifying. "I would be surprised if Laurelite or Apatite had any interest, and unfortunately we don't have any other General-Queens. Perhaps an older, more mature General would do as a spokesperson."

"This is true," he laughed. "We certainly are lacking in the older Negaverse department. It was a little jarring at first, and sometimes still is, to see how young you kids are fighting this war. It seemed as though you were recruiting at the high school cafeterias. From what I understand, the Senshi even have children fighting." He shuddered at the thought of that. As a parent, and as a human being, the idea of forcing children to fight in this type of violent war was just sickening and wrong - and further evidence to the Senshi's evil ways.

"Its especially a shame since most of the cute Negaverse ladies are on the younger side, am I right?" he asked as he tipped his bottle of beer to the lad, then took another swig. "You tap any of those agents? How about that Fluorite? She's pretty cute."

"That doesn't exactly answer the question," Tag half-smirked. "Not one to kiss and tell? That's fine, defend your woman's honor. Its adorable."

He certainly was not the type to do the same. No, he was the type to create a scrapbook to commemorate his affairs and planned to one day have it published to place on his coffee table. For now, however, his coffee table was bare other than a water-ring from an old coffee mug.

He took a seat on his ottoman and placed his beer in that very water ring as he asked, "Is there anything else, General Zinkenite?"

"Excuse me?" he asked. What did he mean not a General? Was Zinkenite a...General-King? His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, but before he could utter another word the door to his apartment swung open. It was his mother, soaked and angry.

"Its raining outside, dear," she spat. "I hope you feel proud of yourself, making your mother stand out in the rain as you talk to a teenager. Don't you have somewhere to be? High school or are you another drop out?"

"Leave him alone, mom," Tag jumped in. "Thanks for coming, I appreciate your offer to help. I think I'll pick you up on it."

He reached out to shake the boy's hand before showing him the door. He was trying to be polite as possible, but with his rude mother breathing down his neck the farewell may have seemed a bit rushed.