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Sprawled on the bed, in nothing but a ratty t-shirt that looked as if it was older than she was, Lena was having a rather good night overall. She knew that Kess was generally pissy about when the bluenette came down into what was clearly Reever Territory when the blonde wasn't about, but she couldn't help it! Kess had the best hookups, the mini fridge, the bed where more often than not the captain spent her nights.

Usually there was more concentration spent listening for the sound of footfalls on the stairs, ready to throw off all the lights and look like she'd come down to do nothing but sleep should the owner return. For the first two days, there had been! Yet almost four days had passed since nary a freckle had been seen on the premises which would have been worrying if Linarite hadn't felt Howlite's presence while out on patrols.

So it was okay to be down in the basement, playing Halo, questioning the dubious parentage and making crude comments about the girth of other players' mothers. Ears had stopped listening so when the thud of boots on the stairs finally reached her there was no time but to do anything but swivel her head.

"Kess! You're home!" s**t. "Ah well...hi."

Good lord the world was ending. It was Lena's first thought when not a single look was spared for the fact that Lena was playing Halo on her television, in her bed, with her Xbox, something that always seemed to spark little disputes between the two of them. Feeling all of Kess' muscular weight sink into the bed like she was made of solid stone had the young woman immediately tossing the controller aside, game forgotten in that moment of swamping concern.

Four days not seeing a hint of the pale blonde, feeling nothing but Howlite's presence in the city from time to time, meant that for four days the General King had been working. You could all but see the shimmering cloud of exhaustion hovering around Kess. Remembering a night that she had come downstairs, not long after Howlite's promotion to exalted rank to find her roommate doing nothing but tossing a ball into the air over and over with blind concentration, Lena's concern grew that much greater.

A light hand touched Kess' shoulder. Feeling the tension there it unconsciously started to rub at it. "Normally I would've caught you at the top of the stairs. I've been getting sloppy but I haven't seen you for days." Realizing it sounded like an accusation, Lena hastily added. "I knew if I got comfortable you'd show up. Glad you did."

Sometimes Lena wondered if the only reason Kess actually came home was because she knew that the captain would be there worrying about her. It was a self-centered way to view the universe but it was the way that the amber-eyed young woman always thought about things. Me first, others later, but there were rare exceptions. Like the fact that poking the blonde about that pathetic attempt at childing Lena about being on the Xbox was about as transparent as glass was like shaking an armed bomb. It might blow up in your face. It might not. Either way it was ill-advised but could the bluenette really just shrug her shoulders, go back to Halo, and pretend like nothing was wrong?

Self-centered didn't mean heartless! Kess was too important for her to let it go but Lena decided to at least move out of the line of immediate fire, sliding around so that she could rub the knots out of both shoulders. Maybe that would help dull the edges of what she was about to poke with a bit. "I'll stay off the damn box if you're home playing it. I've got so many leftovers in the fridge that I don't know what to do with myself. I even baked two pies but you weren't around to eat 'em." Not stilling her hands but clearly bracing for impact, she pushed.

"You shouldn't run yourself down like this. You're too important." To the Negaverse, certainly. More importantly though she was too important to Lena. What would she do without Kess, if Kess ran herself into exhaustion and carelessness? Things were too precarious to be clumsy now.

It was too easy to run away, to flinch from that cool voice that reached right into Lena's chest and squeezed at her lungs. It was no doubt what Kess wanted was for the matter to be dropped between them, the truce of taking precious sleeping time to fuel her body with something more than whatever it was the General King had picked up during the course of her duties. Mentally Lena made a note to get some food stashed away at The Spot for the owner to eat between customers; food placed in front of Kess' nose never lasted too long.

There was a stretch of quiet while the captain considered the wisdom of her course. Should she take the offered out and go warm up one of the many dinners she'd prepared over the past few days or remain to push harder? It seemed like her mind had made itself up because before Lena was truly aware of what she was doing, her lips were moving. "You are. And as much as I'd love to hand you a pie and let you sleep this is important." Zac collapsing was bad enough; if Kess collapsed from exhaustion the entire organization might come tumbling down with her.

"Kess, what's going on? I know..." She swallowed pride, swallowed the bubbles of appropriate anxiety that were bubbling to continue. "I know I'm that traitor Captain Linarite but I'm getting better. You've seen me getting better. I remember things, useful things. Didn't I do a good job with Avery?" That mission had gone off almost seamlessly, the bruises in Lena's backside healing with almost no sign that it had ever happened. "If you need help you can ask me. I've been at this longer than anyone else in the city at this point. I can help you." Lena had absolutely zero idea what she was offering herself up for.

For once, she didn't much care. There were times when things were more important than your own self-preservation and where Zinkenite had gotten indignant fury before the offer, Lena threw herself at the chance to assist Howlite. Howlite, who was working so hard she may very well snap soon. Who would get hurt when the General King didn't have the control required to suppress the Chaos inside of her?

Lena didn't want to find out.

Benitoite? A General?! Of course Lena recognized the name because if there was one thing she was good at...well. There were several things she was good at. Snooping through people's personal things and eavesdropping were two that she'd carefully cultivated over the years. Or at least the years she could remember. Realizing that her mind was wandering into how she'd been snooping through Zink's neverending piles of files in that dark room down in the Rift, the bluenette pulled herself back together mentally to respond. "Kess, is this going to be a punishment for him or for me? I mean I know I'm being a little pushy but come on." He was a General which meant there was a minor discrepancy in strength. There would have been one in speed but Linarite was small and agile, hard to hit making up for the difference.

Yet Benitoite was Intelligence which meant not much time was practicing his more physical abilities, eschewing them to concentrate on ones of the mind. It had also felt good to be with Lieutenants Bischofite and Leucite during the mission for the filming footage. It actually had felt right to be commanding two new members of the Negaverse, helping initiate and indoctrinate them into their exclusive and dangerous little world the best way she knew how.

How much good could she do when all of the SpecOps lieutenants were under her tutelage? Chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip as if she were considering an offer rather than responding to a direct order, Lena nodded. There was no reason that the General King should be leading training sessions in any case; it was rather beneath her and more often than not ended up with wounded lieutenants when they got too cocky and had to be knocked on their asses. Linarite, at least, could do it with minimal injuries on their part.

"I like that idea though. I can do a lot of good for you and for the lieutenants in that kind of position." Finding the tightest knot, working it out, she leaned forward to kiss a pale and freckled cheek. "Thank you for trusting me." Trust meant everything to Lena when she had so very little from those around her.

It wasn't going to keep her off the Xbox though. That was a pipe dream.

Promotion. Panic seized briefly at the heart of Linarite for she, more than any other, understood that further tampering with her starseed was a death sentence in almost every scenario. In and out her breath went before their lips met, almost in reassurance that Howlite had no intention of destroying what little was left of the promising young Captain, even if Lena knew that wasn't the point. Howlite wasn't in the habit of kissing any of her officers; this was Kess holding her. Kess, who had apparently been massaged and reassured out of whatever place she'd retreated while the General King took care of important business.

Or so she'd thought. That almost-offhand comment about the abiding friendship between Zinkenite and his former captain that led her to interfere in a department that was not her own, that had her blowing off patrol at times to assist the other General King with whatever he was dabbling in that night, could not be ignored. Honey-colored eyes flickered with a little bit of worry, a little bit of guilt, before it passed and was again under control.

Watching Kess change put a smile on her sunny, petite face, glad to notice that some of that depthless exhaustion was gone from the face of her girlf -- roommate. Hopping out of bed, slipping an arm around the waist of the other woman, Lena all but bounced towards the stairs. "Actual food before I let you have pie. Someone has to balance your diet cuz lord knows you're not gonna do it yourself." Linarite. Howlite. It was almost as if four people lived in the space that two occupied, separate worlds side by side but ne'er the two shall meet.

It was a precarious way to live and perhaps, to a point, they were in denial but it worked. For now they were happy and wasn't that all that mattered?