Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was not often that he spent time on the upper levels of the Dark kingdom, he favored the rift a great deal, it was there that his War Room lay. There were the piles of papers in neat stacks with precise handwriting were organized into easily accessible information on all whom he encountered.

Notes regarding activity of senshi and soldiers alike, like whom among them had done well, who might bear watching, who needed rewarded and who should be punished.
For the sailors of course it was powers, deeds, and information on their uniforms, colors and accessories. There were details that could range from the clearly useful to the seemingly trivial in nature. It was simply the way his notes evolved, starting well before his induction to the Negaverse and being honed into something potentially far more dangerous.

But he stood here now, he stood gazing into the dark crystal that stood as a warning to all those who served, at least it was intended as such. He stood there gazing into it like a statue himself, whatever thoughts he had when he gazed into the stone were kept to secret, but they were shadowed nonetheless. Heavy thoughts that spanned past and present, likely stretched forward to thoughts of days to come. Ambition, not simply personal, far from it, no, something had been started and he tried now to reach out in his mind to see where it would end.

What would become of the senshi, what would become of the Dark kingdom, what of the battle in the Surrounding? Such a terrible loss, such an unexpected one that it still cut at him, twisting the knife and rekindling the dark fury and passion in him. It filtered through the crevices of his life and linked fingers with the terrible understand he had gained with his promotion. The strange dance he found himself in with Tanzanite, the curious understanding that he had never asked for, but now could never turn away from.

He raised a hand and pressed it to the cold surface, tracing it almost gently, though his eyes spoke another story all together. “We have come so far…” He whispered.

It was a subtle motion, the shift of his eyes to her, precise and studious. The blue eyes stayed for a moment cold before they warmed slightly and he nodded. The opinionated feline was apparently not in ‘poor graces’ despite their differences of opinion. It was actions as much as words that mattered. “Dahlia.” He said with a small nod. “It’s been some time, though you made a good show of yourself in the surrounding, for as well as it went.” He offered. The praise might have been small but it was sincere.

His fist curled into a fist against the cold stone before he dropped it to his side and glanced a final time at the ‘sleeping’ figures with in. What would they make of him now, what would they make of what the Dark Kingdom had become? Did it matter? The past was to be learned from, he would not see it repeated.

“Has anyone ever told you the story of this?” He asked almost distracted as he turned back to her. He waved a hand at the dark crystal with a gaze that seemed detached enough that he would have done any cat proud. “What we’re to learn from it? I think there are more here than were strictly intended, perhaps that’s for the best, don’t you think?”

He cast one brief glance towards the throne room where Beryl was no doubt perched on her dais and throne like an overfed spider, waiting for the cords of her much-abused web to shiver. Waiting for some new prey to toy with and then suck the life out of. If she had little whispering flies…then he would find a legion of singing birds to bring him the information they both craved.

“My apologies, I’m afraid I’m rather introspective today, what may I do for you Lady?” He crouched and offered her a hand to brush her cheek against.

“Here, allow me to give you a lift to see.” He said and carefully picked her up to bring her face level with the frozen figures behind the purple ‘glass’. “Almost pretty isn’t it? Like a fairy tale, lovers twined forever behind crystal needing no more than each other’s embrace. The one time General King Charonite, who recruited so many, and General Nealite, who loved him, once host to Beryl herself.”

He let that information sink in before he continued. “What lesson is to be taken away is that they were traitors. They if nothing else had the audacity to be in love, he loved Nealite perhaps more than he did the queen. One more reason that Love is such a dangerous word, perhaps the very reason Senshi stand so firmly behind it as one of their rallying points.” He murmured and scratched at her ears as he stared into the ‘sleeping’ faces.

“We have changed so much since he was the only one here, so much since when she earned her rank as General. I will wonder forever just how much influence she had on Beryl by merit of being her host. You could call it a sacrifice that she gave herself to it, but that is not my story to tell or judge.” He offered to let her ride on his shoulder as he turned and walked away.

“So many things can be learned in this place, but so many of them are never mentioned, people simply assume that others must know and they slip by. It’s curious, how many other things I wonder go unquestioned, how many other hidden doors might there be like the Rift, don’t you wonder?”

“Love is a deadly thing, it traps even those who guard against it.” He murmured, his eyes half lidded with distant thoughts and he looked sad, but not displeased.
He shook off the thought that so distracted him, and reached up to rub her ears. “It’s hard to be new here, isn’t it”? He said and tucked a finger to rub under her chin. “One day you’ll be telling some wet behind the ears lieutenant or senshi the story behind this pillar as though you were here when it happened I think.” He sounded amused at the thought.

“One day you and I will find those secrets that are waiting for us, until then I’ll keep searching for the pieces to the puzzle.” A pause for thought before he spoke again. “I hope you will not stay offended after the meeting, remember that even if we disagree, the fact we are willing to speak of it is in itself a kind of respect. If you were not worth talking to you would simply have been ignored. You’re of value to us, as much so as the senshi though I realize that is not necessarily a popular view.”