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 Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:32 pm
She was doing it again. He had felt this energy once, and it had left him grinding his teeth for nights on end to the point his jaw had nearly locked and he had a toothache.
That CAT had pissed him of to no end, but time and a lot of turning over the same meeting in your head made you notice a few things. Like, despite the cat poking at him and not dying by the end of their meeting, she had said she wasn't a fan of Ares.
Another was that he figured out where he saw the cat from.
She had been there.
It was why he wondered why she wasn't protected now and back then, and why she wasn't a fan now. Despite the fact he didn't think she deserved a chance to explain herself, she had information. Valuable information that could help him win.
It was why, dressed in his disguise of a black cloak, hood up, white mask on, black capelet over his upper body, and black clothes to hide his uniform, he found her again atop a roof radiating her aura in all directions.
"You really do like attention, do you." He said from behind his mask.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:32 am
"I adore attention," The woman with cat ears cooed with a detectable note of dryness as she glanced up from her nail file to briefly acknowledge the man in the mask and shift her legs.
At first, from the angle, it appeared she had moved her legs down from a perch into water with the way they broke through the reflective surface. It was apparent this time she'd come prepared. She had a mirror up here.
"Your aura says general, I'm assuming we've met before," She said, not sounding quite as chipper or friendly as she usually was with lieutenants or captains. Generals had a poor track run with her.
But she hadn't hopped through the mirror yet. She sat there on the roof, letting her legs dangle in like she was simply sitting poolside.
"The cloak and dagger bit is intriguing. Friend or foe, general?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:19 am
He hadn't noticed the mirror until she rearranged her legs, and as he looked down at the reflective glass, he stepped back. Mirrors made him nervous. They had the potential to send enemies in an instant, and as far as he knew, were open speakers that allowed his voice to carry. How did he know what he would say to her wouldn't be relayed to the others?
But she had said she hadn't liked them before.
But how could he be sure?
His hands, once raised, settled at his side, but gripped the fabric about his hips as he tried to keep himself from panicking. However, he did keep his eyes on the mirror when he spoke again.
"I'm wondering that myself. I hope it is ally, but the mirror has me wondering."
Wondering if he was screwing everything up, all that he was planning, in speaking with her.
"I had heard from someone that you weren't thrilled with the DMC. Is this true?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:36 am
She glanced at him and waited until he had finished his question before she reacted, and did so by childishly flicking her nail file at him and crossing her arms, looking away with a, "Tch. Ignorance."
Her tail behind her bristled and flicked about with agitation, even as she quietly said nothing for a moment. And by the time she spoke again her face was a scowl.
"I'm sure there are several general kings or queens you ascribe a certain, deep amount of loyalty to, even if nothing other than the virtue of having served with them for so long. How would you feel feel, if after one's death, a young and ignorant officer without nearly the experience or history styled themselves the newer, improved version, usurping a name and title that doesn't belong to them, that they never earned, and mounting a movement that spit on everything you ever fought for together? Disgraced your organization and your name"
She made no motions to hide the bitterness or anger as she pursed her lips and eyed his disguise.
"That's what Ares is to me. But the DMC? They're practically as inconsequential as youma. They aren't even alive. The fact they mimic my magic and mirror usage isn't any fault of mine. I've been using this magic for a century before they existed, I plan to use it for centuries more."
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:33 am
He breathed in quick, shocked and then totally surprised that Ares was dead. The leader was gone and now left to just Leto? No wonder Europa had wanted to punch her, and that meant that he wasn't even dealing with the original leader. While he was happy to hear Ares was dead, he had to remind himself that if he startseed wasn't taken then that meant she wasn't dead for good. He also had no hand in seeing her end, which was something he needed. He wanted to serve justice where it was due, and killing Ares had been one of the major highlights of this attack.
While this was a bit discouraging, he reminded himself that the DMC must be weaker now without Ares and could then be stomped down for good.
"So Ares is gone?" He said, taking a step, nearly wanting to skip, towards the cat before stopping. "Was it...." He licked his lips, almost tasting how delicious her death must have been. "...painful?"
He could feel his heart racing in anticipation of a great story, hungry for details, but he tried not to loose his head.
"You do not know much about other sides. Chaos has changed hands many times to other leaders. Leaders we have seen punished or left who were closer to us than any others." Charonite. Nealite. Tanzanite. Even the Queen they all worked hard to bring into power wasn't around any longer. He had seen the throne go to many people - and now entities.
Still wanting to hear the news, he continued. "Do you wish to see them gone. The DMC? Once and for all. These users of your magic. These nobodies that run around the city creating a mess of all things? Do you hunger for their end as much as the others I have spoken to?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:51 am
The look he garnered was not a good look. It was the look of someone with no patience, and with little faith in their conversation partner's intelligence.
"As far as I know Ares isn't dead, she simply abandoned her court. There is no body. She was never a leader, there's a reason she could never gain any leadership role in the parallel court before Nehelenia died. No one trusted her then, and if your stupid war hadn't killed the remainder of our court no one would have trusted her now." She willfully ignored the fact Gaia had corrupted. But Gaia was like a background figure. Earth's cryptic senshi who was rarely a presence to be noted.
"Sorry to disappoint you," She sneered. "Not that anyone should be surprised. She was an awful leader. She created the Blood Moon Court and abandoned it. When real senshi were too difficult, she made the DMC, and when that got too hard, she abandoned that."
When he accused her of not knowing much about other sides she glanced at the nail file she'd flung at him earlier, disappointed she wasted it on that moment so she could throw it again.
"I know plenty about other sides. I don't know how your upper hierarchy works, but I don't really need to. You're the one who doesn't know much. All I hear is the tunnel vision ideals of White Moon this, Chaos that. You know, there's more to the universe than your singular brand of Chaos and your version of this war which is not unique by any means. The DMC is this universe's problem. They're products of Ares seeking power by playing with the infections here. This toxic dimension and its toxic people with it's dead planets and--"
She cut herself off and almost choked as she swallowed down the rest. She was ranting off topic, and her anger was getting the better of her.
"Ares is an insult to my court. I was her cat once, but I'm not sorry she's gone. The DMC are just youma with better carapaces. Parasitic monsters created by Chaos that dig into a White Moon senshi's brain, kill them from the inside out and claim their memories and their face. Killing them is a mercy," She paused, needing a beat to think about her next statement, "But evidence of an insult I'd gladly like to see cleanly eradicated. They're weak imitations of my life's work; Their presence is nauseatingly disgusting. I respect my dead allies, unlike Ares I have no desire to pretend they're still alive by making puppets out of White Moon corpses."
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:24 pm
It was almost too good to be true, and he stepped closer, eager for the information she freely spilled. His information regarding the DMC was limited. All the members were loyal to each other, which should be considering they were a tight group that had worked together far better than any senshi faction in the past to kidnap and torture a group of Negaverse officers, including Tanzanite – one of the stronger officers at the time and most experienced. Getting information about the DMC was hard unless you wanted to try tricking one into thinking they were friends and that in itself was a nauseating idea. Not to mention it would point too many fingers at him when the attack happened. They already knew who he was in one way or another anyways, and having him talk to any of their members with anything but death threats would be suspicious.
He cringed at the recollection of who the cat was. He had seen her there, in that room, when they were murdered. For her to call the current DMC disgusting was a bit of a joke, but he let it go. He needed her and the insight she had – as much as he felt she was responsible for the crimes committed that day.
She could be sorted out later.
So she was talking about those before Ares. He took note of that.
As he drew closer, he stopped again before he could even see his reflection in the mirror, as if it would melt his own skin. It was a death trap in his eyes, and he didn’t like being near it. It was why he was paranoid with having a mirror in his own apartment.
They were windows.
They were doors.
They were watching.
They would come.
“Then will you join me and the others in fighting against them? Regardless of rank and side, we want to fight them once and for all and see them done away with.” He wanted them dead. He wanted the DMC to be a thing of the past that new officers only vaguely heard about in gossip.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:41 pm
There was a strange tension in the air as she stared at the disguise, and the way his body language suffered as he came closer. She pulled her legs out of the mirror and let them rest on the solid surface again, raising one eyebrow at the figure.
"I can't fight, I have no physical benefits to offer you on the battlefield. Cats are there for guidance and to retain information."
She paused and pursed her lips to think, drumming her nails on her knees before she spoke again.
"But I'll tell you whatever you want. What would help? How they work? How their souls work? What it's like in their mirrorspace headquarters? Names of Ares' replacements? How the mirrors work?"
She made a slight roll of her shoulder as she leaned on that arm.
"I know everything. But if you're going to clash with them, I don't suppose it would be too much for a personal favor, since we're both being so mutually helpful and all."
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:43 pm
This was all information he greatly needed, and he knew that his advice and what she had to offer would be more valuable than another fighter. This could give them the edge they needed to win.
"I would like to know that." He said, honestly.
However, there was a price. One he should have expected. He stood more at attention when the hint of a favor was proposed. "Alright. What is this favor you are asking for? I can't agree to all things if they put others at risk." He was here to protect his side after all.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:53 pm
"Oh, geez, all of it?"
She was slipping. The 20-something human who had dominated in the double soul dynamic since the DMC couldn't always repress the informal dialect and way of speaking she had outside of pretending to be the ancient cat whose powers she was borrowing.
But she cleared her throat and focused more on answering questions.
"We can start with Leto and Remarque being the two leadership personalities since Ares left. That seems to be more common knowledge than the rest of them, but I would peg Remarque as the more dangerous of the two with Leto being the empty headed brawler. Remarque is trickier, he lies."
She stretched her arms over her head before she shifted down to her full feline form, deciding she didn't need to attract any more knights or negas to index tonight. The conversation she was having now was more important.
"Mirrors are pretty simple. They talk through little compacts like this," And with guardian cat flare, produced one out of subspace for demonstration. "But don't worry, mirrors they haven't visited, touched, and tuned into are safe. And if you want to stop them from escaping, all you have to do is smash the thing. They can only move through true mirrors big enough to accommodate their body mass. Shards are meaningless. You can block their escape with a simple hammer swing."
She rambled on, thinking she was being supremely generous in being helpful and informative before she elaborated on her favor.
"There's a Dark Mirror Senshi named Orpheus. He's at super level now, with glasses and a blue overlay. So far his magic seems to be inoffensive, although he's unpredictable and angry. But more importantly angry at his court. I find him valuable. I'd like him spared, should he find his way onto a battlefield."
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:55 pm
Some of the information were things he only vague was certain of. The transportation through mirrors, and the assumption they at least had to be big enough for a body to go through. He wasn’t sure about it, and needed to know for what he was planning. The names of leaders and which was one the biggest threat was noted, and he wished he had brought of notepad and pen to write everything as Zirconia continued to speak.
He felt more at ease to see her as a cat, as the smaller, fluffier form was less threatening and he tended to have a bit bigger of a heart for a fluffy animal instead of a person. The mirror still bothered him, but at least she confirmed that he didn’t have to worry about his mirror at home being DMC capable.
“Orpheus?” He thought of the name but couldn’t think of the senshi. If he was just becoming a super, he doubted he was used for the Negaverse kidnapping. “I can only promise to tell the others that he is protected. Should he choose to fight during the battle, I will tell everyone to use non-lethal force, and if anything, throw him into a mirror in hopes he goes through it and doesn’t return. I cannot make guarantees when fights break out and if he should seek his own destruction by becoming a problem.” WP wasn’t dumb enough to be able to promise anyone during a war full safety. That would have been reckless of him.
He knelt down so he would be more at the cat's level, and hoped she wouldn't draw too near else his allergies would kick up.
“How do the DMC communicate with each other? Do they just use mirrors?” He asked, wanting to know how they could call on the others for backup.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:48 pm
"He's afraid of mirrors," She said flatly, as if unamused by the suggestion of ridding Orpheus from battle humanely. "He's an unwilling court member, toyed with for a royal's amusement. He's been a valuable source of information due to his discontent, and although his upgrade to super has caused him to become more unstable and distant, I still owe him a great deal, and would like his chances of being slaughtered lowered even if I can't completely eliminate them."
There was more to that sticky situation, but even though she was willing to share a lot, the exact nature of her relationship to Orpheus was going to be kept behind tightly sealed lips.
"However, this is why I'd also prize Remarque's starseed. Or head. Either or. I don't like people taking my things from me and I am very angry about his forced upgrade and further induction into the court. It was viewed as... personal theft. In addition to the grand thievery of their magic choices," She paused and cheekily shifted her paws and shoulders with a chipper expression and a wink, "If you were ever curious about what to give the cat who has everything."
She sat down and pawed at the mirror compact she created especially for his demonstration.
"That's sort of a tricky question to answer. I already know their version of mirror magic is weaker than mine. They have to level up at least to super to drag people with them through the mirrors, so going off of that, I'm not entirely sure where their limitations on mirrortalking are. My court could mirror talk through any suitably reflective surface, although only true mirrors could be physically passed through."
Her tail flicked back and forth as she thought. "A waxy coating, matte black spray paint, or some other way to obscure reflectivity of surfaces should guarantee a lack of ability to mirror talk no matter what their limitations are, though. If you have a choice of a battleground, some sort of airborne substance that clings to surfaces and dirties them should sharply decrease their chances of calling for back up. A pigment filled smoke bomb?"
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