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 Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:51 pm
Gemma was showered and fresh as a daisy, all warm and snuggly in her bed with her teddy bear clutched against her chest, waiting for sleep to come, when she felt tingly all over. Like her atoms were being magnetized. Like she was being pulled.
The next moment, she was standing in a dark, cavernous hall, wearing that lovely, dark coat, her teddy bear competing for arm space with her ouija board. It was, miraculously, all in one piece, and waves of relief washed over her. The elbows of her coat, too, were fixed - not even patched, but like they’d never been ruined at all. The lieutenant ran her hands along the sleek fabric, exhaling slowly, and looked down from the ceiling.
General Avalon stood before her, covered in blood. Dripping with it, practically. Her sword hung at her side, clenched loosely in her hand, and it was slick with gore. She had killed tonight, thought Astrophyllite. It must have been an alien, but-
But the blood smelled like rust. Like human.
“Avalon,” she said, curtseying to the general, unsure what she ought to do with Stuffles, who was very brave when it came to fending off nightmares but outclassed when it came to Negaverse operations. She tucked him under her arm, pressing him tight against her side. His ancient squeaker squawked.
“Um,” she said, glancing around. The room wasn’t - it wasn’t featureless. Quite the opposite. But it was built out of no material she’d ever seen and it was full of deep shadows and she was distinctly sure she’d never been here before.
Also, this might have been a dream.
“Where are we?” Astrophyllite asked the general.
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:52 pm
It didn’t matter what Bischofite wanted now. He was what he was, and what he was certainly wasn’t going to be making any great waves training a young Negaverser. Astrophyllite didn’t seem bright, no, but she seemed good-hearted, like the kind of lieutenant Avalon would want on her side. Good at following orders. Probably wouldn’t cause too much trouble even when she reached the higher echelons of things. Avalon didn’t even stop to contact Zinkenite--the man didn’t have any control over his troops if Bischofite could get away with such a large-scale operation and only fail because the entire thing had been spurious to begin with--she just. Teleported to the Rift, and called.
“You’re in the Negaspace,” she said, and she finally slumped into a chair. She settled her still-bloodied sword across her thighs, laced her fingers together over the blade. “I’ve brought you here to inform you that I am taking over your training. If you have any objections, now is the time to state them.”
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:54 pm
“Oh,” said Astrophyllite, watching Avalon sit. She had a lot of questions about what Negaspace was: where was it? Was it like a secret base? Were they still on Earth, or were they off in fairyland? But - Avalon was holding a sword, and she was very clearly well-versed in its use, and Astrophyllite did not want to give the general any reason to decide to use her sword on her. So she said, “Okay.”
Training? With Avalon?! The lieutenant’s heart raced with excitement for a moment, but then skipped a beat. Her stomach lurched. Astrophyllite wasn’t allowed to have nice things. She was dumb and she was bad and she was going to wind up, quote-unquote, addicted to meth and living in a crackhouse. She had a lot of questions. She wasn’t sure what to ask first, so she opened her mouth and let whatever was on the tip of her tongue bubble out: “Are you being punished?”
No. That was dumb, she thought. Why would Avalon be being punished? But if she’d been assigned Astrophyllite and being assigned Astrophyllite was a punishment then Avalon had to be being punished, unless- unless-
She’d broken her weapon and ripped up her sleeves and gotten sent home from the op early tonight and Bischofite had never liked her, not really. Astrophyllite’s heart sank. “Am I being punished?” she asked. She was sure she’d done plenty of stuff bad and wrong and worth punishing, like her energy spheres hadn’t been big enough or she hadn’t gotten enough of them--
Her eyes went back to the blood-slick sword across Avalon’s lap. It smelled like blood, the same way Bischofite always smelled like blood. Astrophyllite’s voice shook, and she asked, quietly, “What happened to Bischofite?”
If he’d done something wrong, she hoped no one thought that she was involved! He never told her anything! Not even things she arguably needed to know!
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:54 pm
She tipped her head a bit to the side and said, “It’s alright if you don’t know where you are. I’ll explain later.” Right now was not the time to get into it, not with Bischofite a youma and somewhere else in the sprawling crystalline caverns. Avalon wondered if the Hall of Shadows would reach out and drag her in next time she walked through it--but she doubted it. She had only done what needed to be done.
The Lieutenant’s next question, though, was outright offensive. “I’m not being punished,” Avalon snapped, her dark eyes narrowing at the thought. If anyone tried, she’d laugh at them. She sincerely doubted they would--such an operation, run without approval from the higher ups, in direct conflict with the Negaverse’s goal of defending Earth, would not get her a demotion. Perhaps a firm talking to, if that. Did she think she’d get a reward? No. But she had acted within her parameters as an officer to defend those under her charge. Kerberos, Persephone, the pink-haired corrupted, even Lieutenants like Astrophyllite herself would have been in danger. Some Captains went into the Rift to attain their youma and never came back out; it was common knowledge that the monsters were a regrettable necessity, not really worthy of the respect officers routinely received.
She took a deep breath, waving away all of Astrophyllite’s questions. “I’m choosing to take you. You’re not being punished. I think you have potential, and I will make sure you meet your potential.” It would take a lot of very specific instruction, she thought with a sigh, but it was nothing more than she did in her day job as an instructor. “Bischofite is not your concern,” she said. “I took care of him.” Or… well, he yet lived, but as a half-youma. Barely living at all. “You’re reporting to me now.”
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:58 pm
“Oh,” said Astrophyllite nervously. “Good,” she said, and worried that she’d grievously offended the General. Avalon did look a little bit peeved. She explained, “I was just wondering, because Zinkenite assigned me to Bischofite to punish him.” So she’d be his responsibility. His burden. And the other general sure hadn’t been shy about making sure Astrophyllite knew his displeasure. She didn’t even know what she thought Avalon might be being punished for - just that since she was her commanding officer now, there must have been something wrong.
But, she considered happily, perhaps not. “I’ll work hard, Miss Avalon,” Astrophyllite promised, straightening her back. The general thought that she had potential, which honestly was not something she had been told a great many times in her life and she didn’t want to blow it now.
I took care of him. Cold pooled in the pit of Astrophyllite’s stomach as her eyes were again drawn to Avalon’s sword. He wasn’t her concern, no, but she remained curious. “Is he dead?” she asked tentatively. “Did you kill him? Did he do - did he do something bad?” She expected he must have, if he was dead. He’d already gotten her in trouble once, for sending Astrophyllite to eat pizza with Gehenna while he helped stage a coup.
“I’m not in trouble for the bad thing he did, am I?” she asked, lowering her voice. She didn’t know for sure, but - she had a very strong feeling that Avalon would not have taken care of her mentor if he hadn’t been seriously endangering their cause.
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 1:59 pm
Avalon shook her head. “Then Zinkenite was wrong. I don’t think you’ll be a punishment. In fact, I expect to find training you to be fun.” She smiled at Astrophyllite, and corrected, gently, “It’s General.” The sword vanished from her lap, leaving only the blood smear on her bare forearms to indicate that it, and its grisly grime, had ever been there.
She beckoned Astrophyllite forward. “You’re not in trouble. I’m not in trouble. And yes. He died. It remains to see if he’ll get better from it.” Avalon frowned at the thought, and hoped--dearly--that the youma was the mind left in Bischofite’s body. Not that she didn’t think she could handle a monster, because she clearly did that every single day. Mostly because she didn’t want to have to stab a fellow General. “He’s a youma now,” she explained. “At least in part.”
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:02 pm
Astrophyllite shivered. Bischofite had become a Youma? She hadn’t known that was even possible! Granted, she knew that all Youma had been people once, but she’d never stopped to wonder how that metamorphosis happened, how you went from human being to creature. What had Bischofite done, to twist himself like that? Clearly something bad. Something worth killing him over.
Swallowing tightly, she took a few steps towards Avalon. “Yes, General,” said Astrophyllite, her focus lingering perhaps too long on the blood on the woman’s forearms. Did all generals smell so strongly of blood, and so frequently? But her dark, powerful aura made her feel safe. Resonant souls. All Negaversers felt like that to her, and Astrophyllite was glad that despite her first commanding officer’s failings, she was being given a second chance. She’d never felt more at home than she did with the Negaverse.
She wasn’t sure what would be worse: to lose her place in the organization, or to lose her life entirely.
“How did he become a youma?” she asked quietly, suspecting the subject was taboo but curious anyway. Bischofite, despite his hostility, had been her teacher. Irrationally, Astrophyllite was worried she had somehow contributed to his ultimate fate - or that, even if she hadn’t been, she would be blamed for it anyway. Somehow
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:10 pm
“You remember the energy crystals, Astrophyllite?” Avalon leaned forward, because that put a little more pressure on her injury. She didn’t think it was deep, didn’t expect she’d need medical treatment, but it was still leaking blood into her boot and Avalon really did look forward to getting a decent look at it once she was done here. “He didn’t want to open a portal for us to lead the youma to destroy all the senshi and knights. He wanted to turn the city into a second Rift. Have you been to the Rift?” Astrophyllite wouldn’t be going tonight--not with Avalon--but if she hadn’t yet been introduced to the complex at the heart of Negaspace, she would be soon. “That’s where the youma live. And the youma there are not friendly towards Lieutenants or towards our allies, the corrupted senshi.”
She didn’t need to extrapolate on that more, she thought. “He was a threat to the goal,” she told Astrophyllite. “A danger to you and to your allies.” She met Astrophyllite’s gaze for a moment, and then she said, “I want you to remember this: when something endangers the Negaverse or the earth, your solemn duty is to take them down. Even if they’re your best friend… even if they’re me.”
Which brought her to her next topic: “Allow me to lay down some ground rules, Lieutenant. Firstly: I will send you to other Generals and Captains so that you may learn what they have to teach you. I don’t know everything, and neither does anyone else, but anything those Generals or Captains tell you that doesn’t directly relate to the topic I sent you to learn, you will tell me. Secondly: If you encounter an enemy senshi or knight and they engage you in conversation, you are allowed to talk to them. But you will bring everything they tell you back to me, do you understand? I am your final authority, barring the intervention of a General-King or -Queen. Thirdly: You will get me paperwork from whatever school you attend that will allow me to pull you out of school. Most high schools will have internship programs. I expect this paperwork brought to me by the end of the week, do you understand?”
Frankly, now that she was thinking about more than bringing Babylon and all those who had known her to her side, it was disgusting to assign a Lieutenant to someone to punish them. Not good for morale, Zinkenite.
Avalon put a hand on her forehead. “Do you have any questions, Astrophyllite? I’m bleeding, and need to go home.”
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Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 2:13 pm
“No, I’ve never been there,” said Astrophyllite cautiously. She still didn’t understand how Bischofite’s true intentions, twisted as they were, would have resulted in him being turned into a youma - but she was willing to blame that on her own lack of intelligence. It probably made sense to everyone else and she was just slow, stupid Gemma.
She nodded at her new orders. “Yes, General,” Astrophyllite said. She liked clear instructions and orders - they made her feel confident that she could do what needed to be done and do it well. Avalon’s instructions had left very little room for ambiguity, and so Astrophyllite, who was normally so quick to question, well, pretty much anything, shook her head.
“No,” she said. “I don’t have any questions. I go to Saint Magdalena’s - I’ll get you the forms.” The forms which she could only hope existed - she’d never heard of such a thing, but then, she’d never tried to get out of school before.
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