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 Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:29 am
Something was coming.
It didn't feel like a senshi - otherwise, the girl peeking nervously around the corner would have been long since running in the opposite direction. No, it seemed familiar - but she'd never met anyone with an energy signature quite like THIS. Of course, she hadn't met very many other Negaverse agents at all (if this is what that was), so she didn't have much of a basis of comparison. Gypsum decided, after a bit of hesitation, to approach with caution.
She rounded the corner as casually as possible - she recognized the part of town, but she didn't have reason to come here often. She eyed the neighborhood curiously - who could be out here?
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:19 pm
At this hour, most of the city had gone quiet -- the buzz of activity dying down as people left their places of work and meandered toward home, businesses closed, only bare-bones grocery shopping left...
But not here. A Thursday night and instead of quiet there was a crowd, clustered around a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place. College students, mostly there to take advantage of the $3 pitchers of Corona and cheap-a** nachos, they'd taken advantage of the unseasonably warm night to spill out onto the street. Chatter was quiet, at least, an attempt to keep from disturbing the neighbors, but it was still noticeable as they stepped out for a breather.
She could follow that aura to Ilmenite; in the alley with a young man, the pair of them talking absently. It seemed friendly enough, except that if she looked closely, she'd see the way the young man's eyes drooped, the way the energy leaked out of him and into Ilmenite's grasp as their cigarettes burned down.
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:45 pm
As she made her way down the sidewalk, she pulled her coat tighter, tucking her hands under her arms. Oh. She must have wandered into the collegiate part of town.
Despite herself, she tried her best to avoid eye contact with the people milling around what looked like a taco-joint-gone-bar. Guen didn't drink as she was under age, but Gypsum couldn't help but eye the pitchers of beer littering the tables... She tore her gaze away. No. She couldn't afford to be distracted AGAIN, and honestly after the hijinks of prom night she wasn't sure she was up for the massive headache in the morning. Did beer even give you a hangover?
Glancing around, something caught her eye in the adjacent alley. Two boys -men, she corrected herself- were chatting in the alley. And one of them was...
She hung back, uncertain. Gypsum didn't want to interrupt but she also didn't want to attract undue attention by standing there staring, so she moved near to one of the few empty tables at the restaurant, fidgeting and looking for all the world like she was entirely out of her element. She wasn't sure why she even wanted to wait to talk to this guy. She hadn't realized until now how isolated she'd felt, from her friends, her family; she'd never really run into anyone else on patrol before, oddly enough. She didn't want to squander the opportunity.
Biting her lip, she sincerely hoped none of the students milling around tried to talk to her.
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Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 11:07 am
At least Gypsum wasn't going to have to wait long. Minutes, maybe, and then the poor civilian crumpled in front of Ilmenite. He moved quickly to catch the young man under one elbow, almost sad that it went so quickly, and help him down to a sitting position on the floor up against the wall.
A pause. A quick rifle. He took the cash out of the kid's wallet and tucked it into his own pocket as he straightened, shaking out his coat --
And then he looked up at the watching Lieutenant, eyebrows raised and head tipped to the side, straightening his uniform and debating, for a moment. Trying to decide if the girl looked horrified or accepting, if she was a fresh-faced recruit who would be startled by the vague callousness, or if she was already jaded enough to accept it. Not enough to go off of for a look, so he hummed and started in her direction with just one last look back over his shoulder.
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:24 pm
She glanced from the man back to his, well, quarry - and her brows furrowed, but she didn't speak up. After all, she thought, blushing in shame, she had done some pretty awful things in the name of justice lately. Or even just for cheap thrills. And they were PROTECTING the citizens, after all - their ...victims... were just paying their dues.
Even if it was in cash.
Besides, she realized, he looked old enough to be out on his own. The thought was both frightening and... she had never thought about what she'd do when she no longer could rely on her mother and father to provide for her. Could she work for the Negaverse and hold a job? Or would she be taxing her fellow citizens too? WE'RE the good guys, she reminded herself, but lately that dogmatic belief had begun to ring false.
She bit her lip and watched him approach, wide-eyed. She had been an idiot, coming out here. She was just a stupid kid. If her mom found out-
If she knew any of the things she'd done-
Gypsum suddenly felt very small indeed.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:57 am
Ilmenite never really thought of himself as intimidating. Even as a General, his inward opinion was more lovable pain in the a** than authority figure, even when he struggled to keep himself business like and proper. As such, the look on Gypsum's face -- flushed and looking frightened, panicky -- made him hesitate, blink, and reassess. The lightness had gone out of his step, the cheer.
He looked briefly back over his shoulder as he hit her table and hauled out a chair, checking her line of sight and then pulling a face. He finally, after a moment, sank down to sit. "He'll be fine. Just have a killer hangover. I swear, it's not that bad."
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 12:52 pm
"I- uh!" She cleared her throat - what was wrong with her? - as he sat down, and tried again. "I'm um, sorry." But then she couldn't resist adding, "...is that true? Really? I've always wondered but- " But no one's ever done it to ME, she added silently, feeling a little guilty. It was somewhat a relief though to hear that assertion from him. He seemed to be a lot more experienced, after all, and it rallied her to know she wasn't quite as big a monster as she had feared.
She sat up a little straighter, fidgeting. Well, whoever he was, he hadn't tried to EAT HER yet. Maybe her mom was wrong about this part of town - after all, she and the guy sitting across from her were probably the scariest things on this street right now. It was a fact the sixteen year old had a very hard time remembering. Not wanting to sound stupid, she added, "I think a hangover was part of his plans for tommorow anyway, if he was hanging around here." She sniffed. Ugh, it smelled of beer and, well. Cheap tacos.
"I don't think I've met anyone, well. I just meant to say, um." She flushed again, an angry red. She felt stupid. Why WAS she bothering this person? "I'm sort of, uh. New, you know. I don't really know anybody. And I've never seen you around before," she added the last with an edge of curiosity. "Are you um. Like, one of our bosses?" She knew that in theory, there was a hierarchy in place. After all, there had to be, for her to be at the bottom of it.
"I'm, uh, Gu- Gypsum," she corrected. Gypsum was a way more impressive name anyway. Gueneviere just sounded like someone who was in desperate need of rescue all the time.
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 8:06 am
Oh, god, she was so young. For a moment, it was startling -- it made Ilmenite blink, trying to figure out just how young. He hadn't done any personal recruiting yet, something which he should likely amend, hunt down some likely candidate and bring them over to the crew, but...part of him balked at the idea. Fifteen, sixteen maybe, his sister's age? Was he willing to do that to kids so young?
"...uh." Better to have faith in his fellow officers. If someone had recruited her, surely they'd seen something useful there. He rubbed at his eyes and, after a moment, summoned up his usual grin: bright and relatively easy going. It covered up whatever uncertainty might linger under the surface.
"General Ilmenite. And I imagine I am." He hesitated, then leaned forward a little. "You haven't met anyone, or you haven't met any Generals or...?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:39 am
The smile triggered her to relax a bit, and she sunk into the chair. It looked genuine and disarming, and she felt a little bit of relief. She hadn't realized just HOW nervous she'd been- approaching this complete stranger.
General? "I um, I don't believe I have, or at least...Not in a while," she added the last a little distantly, biting her lip in thought. The name of the man - it had to have been a man, she was sure - who had offered her this opportunity eluded her. "I'm usually by myself. I have to slip out or, you know, mom worries - but dad usually isn't a- " Er. She paused, realizing how stupid and childish that much sound. Her mom. Really? Mommy's little girl? Hardly.
She sucked in a breath, and continued. "So anyway, I like usually don't come out here, and I saw you, and...Well." She paused again, thinking. "It's nice to see a friendly face." Gypsum stressed that word, nose wrinkling at the thought of the many not-so-charitable senshi she'd had the misfortune of running into.
"So what do generals do? Uh, if you don't mind me asking. Besides like, you know. The usual stuff," she asked, gesturing at the man in the alleyway offhandedly. "Am I supposed to call you sir?" It could be said that she was woefully undereducated on the subject.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:55 am
"If you call me 'sir', I'm going to feel older than I already do, right now." The idea made his tone go dry and his mind wander a little -- to the way that he usually called Tanz 'ma'am', and the fact that Zink didn't get the same treatment. Or, at least, never in earnest. Sometimes, in joking, in passing, teasing or flirting...Ilmenite made a faint noise.
As for her other question. Well. Something he was struggling with himself. Ilmenite's attention flicked away, back toward the alley, making sure the guy didn't come to and potentially interrupt their conversation. It also served as an excuse to gather his thoughts, at least to some degree.
"...we're supposed to recruit, naturally." It came slowly, carefully. He didn't want to offer up any wrong information. He'd rather limit how much he offered.
"And gather energy from our troops. Not, you know, like that." It came with a roll of one hand, meaningful, as his eyes settled back onto her. "But with an open palm and a salute. Collected energy, turned over for the good of the Negaverse."
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:26 pm
"But where does it all go?" she asked, leaning forward expectantly. The unasked are we doing the right thing flickered in the back of her mind.
Recruiting. She could remember - remember when she thought it would be adventurous and exciting, when she would finally be able to be the hand of justice. Except, she had learned in time, the hand of justice was all too often stained with misdeeds. She just hoped in the end they could make it right.
Maybe she shouldn't have asked. Maybe she didn't want to know.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:20 am
There was a moment's hesitation: not uncertainty, this time, but perhaps discomfort. She was young, and she was new, and he didn't really want to scare her off, and teenagers had a tendency to push, to prod, to keep digging when they should leave well enough alone, maybe. Dark eyes went distant as he tugged off his hat to turn it between his fingers, white hair a rumpled mess around his ears. Someone needed to forcibly haul him off for a haircut.
His mouth set and he shot her a brief look, his answer coming out surprisingly dismissive, as if it didn't matter. Meant to stop the spiral, perhaps. "Metallia."
And with that done, he leaned forward, dug for another line of conversation. "Do you have a captain, right now? Someone you're answering to? Someone who should be teaching you?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:32 pm
Her line of inquiry was stopped with a question, but she couldn't help but think - Metalia? Was that like, a band? Yeah, she had definitely heard that name on the radio a couple of times. What would a rock band need with energy? She must have misheard.
Yeah, wow.
But there were more pressing questions on the table now. Of the kind that might get her into a spot of trouble. "Uuuuh. Noooo?" Her voice took on a questioning lilt- ok, it was really more of a whine. Was she supposed to? Whoops. Well, that was strike one against her right there. She'd met other agents, and she assumed some of them were captains - she had to turn that energy in somewhere, but she hadn't had anyone really TEACH her much.
Besides, that sounded a lot like a babysitter. She was sixteen, ok?
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:09 am
Ilmenite's mouth opened to reply to that -- and then snapped shut with a clack of teeth, his expression somewhat lost. Skitterish teenagers [and that hint of whining] were definitely not his strength. They were alien, a bit, and simultaneously dug up a desire to smack them around a bit and to hold their hands, and he really wasn't sure which was the more appropriate reaction.
So. He dug. Worked to come up with how he'd reply to anyone else in this situation, to explain where she stood without being dismissive or awkward or condescending. Impossible to tell how successful he was.
"...well. What are you..." he hesitated, bit down the urge to emphasize in a way that might be taken as sarcastic, and rubbed at his eyes. "What are you doing with the energy you collect, then?"
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