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 Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:01 pm
Now that she knew why she was here, more or less, Amphitrite had to decide what kind of action she was going to take from here. It might not seem like she had a lot of choice, but she did, she really did. She could be the strong, silent type. She could aim for sarcasm. She could cry and beg for them to let her go, even if in her opinion, that wasn't really much of a choice at all and better left ignored.
She purposely thought too hard about it. She closed her eyes and watched scenarios play themselves out against the darkness of her lids, imagining all the ways she could play the negaverse's game. Since it had her own imagination, of course, almost all the scenarios led to her miraculous escape from the enemy's clutches. Natalie would be home in time for New Year's Day dinner of ham and pineapple, and her dad and everyone else would cry and hug her and everything would be fine. The other senshi would hear what she had done and for once, she could take pride in --
Her eyes burned. None of that would happen. There was no way a senshi as utterly incapable as she was could ever get out of this! She was so damn stupid! She couldn't handle youma, she couldn't fight worth beans, and she was going to die here alone and no one was going to be able to protect her family then and -- !
She took a shuddering breath and willed herself not to try. It was getting harder and harder to do. But this was one battle she could win, for now.
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:26 am
If someone asked him three years ago if he would seem himself in this kind of a situation, he would have laughed himself into a seizure-like fit and had probably died on the spot. However, so much could happen within those years, and much so happen did, as General Buddingtonite found himself in a 'cell', looking down at the rather adorable little senshi that he was assigned to interrogate.
It was such a typically evil thing and if Buddingtonite had a mustache to twirl, it'd be spinning so fast it'd threaten to lift him into the stratosphere. Of course, he didn't have one because facial hair never looked good on him, but the sentiment was the same.
Might as well eat this up...
Good advice. He approached the captive senshi, slowly, but making sure to accent each step with extra pressure, to make the clacking of his boots echo against the wall, creaking the floor to warn the little senshi that another wolf was at the ready to pick at her bones. Or vulture. Definitely vulture.
"Wakey wakey..." Buddingtonite said, and when she did not respond fast enough, he reeled his hand back and slammed the back of his palm against her cheek. The sound was muffled thanks to his glove, but he was certain that it'd do the trick. "Come on, no need to hit the snooze button on your brain. Wake up..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:57 am
When she heard the slow creak of boots, in anything, she resolved to shut her eyes that much tighter. Just indulge in the world of day dreams - what time was it? - for just a little longer. A place where she could still be a hero, still succeed and stand strong and proud.
Then, a voice beckoned her; not far behind was the crack of a hand against her face. Her eyes snapped open, and the sound that left her was as surprised as it was pained. Immediately she felt ashamed for having made it at all, and she bit her lower lip hard before answering quietly, "I wasn't asleep."
Someone had been bound to come eventually, even for someone as inconsequential as she was. Amphitrite thought back to her exchange with Cinnabar, and even if she couldn't put stock into the captain's murmurs of soft treatment, she knew there wasn't much she could offer. Nothing in her could damn the Order. "What do you want?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 1:02 pm
Maybe he had approached the matter a little too straightforward, he told himself, taking in the reaction he received and not even bothering to try and hide the twisted grin on his face. It wasn't quite the method that he would have usually gone with and had she appeared older in appearance, he may have even tried to work a little charm into the matter.
But she was far too young, and he almost felt insulted to have even been considered for this! Of all of the good looking captives, he was saddled with a minor.
It would figure!
"Oh, come now, little senshi, you're not good at this lying business... it's almost as though your fellow senshi didn't bother to take the time to coach you at all." Now that he had her attention, he refrained from striking her for the moment, fiddling with his glove and pretending as though the very act of touching her had somehow soiled it. "As for what I want, I would like it if you let me do the questioning here. I'm the inquisitor in this scenario..."
With the very hand he struck her with, he cupped her chin and guided her gaze up, making sure he kept her attention on him. "Now, allow me to Inquisit! Name, rank, sphere of power. Come now, don't dawdle, I am a very busy man!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:24 pm
"I don't lie, " she said softly, trying to play into the image she had already forged for herself; and even that wasn't exactly a lie, just an extension of the truth. She was the girl in over her head, and if it was what got her through this long enough for - for whatever it took to get out of here, then she could live with it.
He was strong; that much Amphitrite could gather. Different and yet similar from those she'd encountered already. She did not resist when he cupped her chin, and peered at him intently as she readily supplied, "Sailor Amphitrite, senshi of seashells. I'm a first level senshi, awakened this past summer. I've been inactive for about three months, resumed activities in early December. I had a fight with one of your officers with impressive hair and a stupid paper crane a couple of weeks ago, and I hit him with a few sticks and ran away. Uh, what else..."
She bit her lip and mulled it over. "I don't have any friends or family who are senshi, knights, or anything else. I don't really have any powered friends at all, honestly. I'm completely out of the loop. I literally know nothing about the whole glowing senshi thing except that it's really pretty. Does that help at all?"
Hey, he was the man that said not to dawdle, right?
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:07 am
"Sweetheart, everyone lies. I lie, you lie, your friends lie..." Buddingtonite didn't particularly care for her answer, but he refrained from striking her for the moment, rather caught up in her innocence for the moment. It had been too long since he talked with a basic level senshi and he couldn't help but find himself curious. "The fact that we must take on a different appearance when he power up only confirms that we're all liars. Some are simply worse than others."
"Amphitrite? Beautiful name, though not sure about the usefulness of your sphere, but that doesn't mean one couldn't be creative." He remembered the time when he was a lowly lieutenant, expected to fight with a little pinwheel... it brought back memories, and he found himself laughing as he explained to her. "Did you know that one time, I used a scalding pot of soup as a weapon? I'm sure he suffered 3rd degree burns, but I learned to work with my environment to get the job done. Surely the same can be said of you senshi..."
Hearing her retell her encounter with one of his lieutenants amused him greatly, though there was little to use in her statement. Everything she said meant little to nothing to him- surely other officers had gotten more information out of a boiled egg than he could get out of this baby senshi! And hearing her practically confess to it either meant that she was completely and utterly useless, or it was a clever ruse to throw off the scent. The problem was figuring out which one it was, and how to weasel it out of her. He knew of one way.
"No, I'm afraid it doesn't my dear... and I've been told that if I deem our hostage to be useless, that I'm am simply to put an end to their misery," Buddingtonite said, the hand that cupped her chin began to migrate, the gloves seeking to brush against her neck and going lower, and lower, until it was hovering ever so slightly on her collarbone, over the starseed that laid deep within her chest. "I would say it was a pity, but seeing as you've no friends, or family within the order that'll miss you, I'd be lying."
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:08 pm
Like she realized the error of her words, Amphitrite shook her head, flashing him a tentative smile. "I mean, of course - I didn't say put that right - here, I don't lie, " she said, and as earnestly as possible. "I am a senshi, but I have no one to protect. I guarantee if you asked the others here who I was, maybe one would know my name if I was lucky - I might not know much, but I have nothing to gain from lying to you." Ego; playing to the ego a little never hurt, she reminded herself. "You're smart. You'd know if I was lying, and I swear to you that I'm not."
She didn't offer too much about her attack, but cracked another smile as he went into a story about his own resourcefulness in battle. Although her stomach twisted a little when she reminded herself that, most likely, he'd done it to a senshi like her. "I wish I was so creative. But when it comes to the art of grabbing things and throwing them, I'm slowly becoming a master, " Amphitrite offered, a casual edge to her voice. She desperately wanted to keep this as light and easy as possible, all things considered.
But it didn't stay that way. His hand drifted, and the threat was cast down just as simply as that. The senshi's eyes widened, his heart pounding and a tremor traveling over her. Something; she had to think of something to say, and fast. "N-not in the order, " she whispered, shaking her head. "But outside, I do, I do - I've got parents, a family, please, " don't do this, anything but this.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 1:17 pm
Too much fun! This is too much fun! Make it last forever!
He didn't want it to end, but he knew that he had other business to attend to, though such business would not have been half as enjoyable as this. Seeing her panic and squirm and getting some kind of enjoyment out of it made him the monster that others likely pegged him to be, but what did he care? No one was here to judge him, and he was going to take full advantage of it.
"So you say, so you say, but I'm certain that you have to hold SOME kind of value to us, otherwise we'd never pick you up!" Buddingtonite said in a mocking manner, keeping his hand above her chest, edging those fingers closer and closer and closer and threatening to dig in at any moment. "How about this. You want to live, don't you? You want me to spare your precious little starseed that you harbor in that chest of yours? How about... a trade. I will allow you to keep your starseed, in exchange for... hmmmm, one of your loved ones? How's that sound?"
He knew the plan was flawed. She could have picked some random stranger in the street and it have no affect on her, but that wasn't the point. The point would be to see if she was willing to resort to that, the point was to see if she was willing to soil her hands and allow another to die in her place. That was the point.
"Well? Tick-tock, time's running out. Do you accept my deal, or no? Remember, SOMEONE is going to die by the end of this. You merely have control over who..."
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:16 am
Amphitrite paled visibly, and sweat trickled over the edge of her brow as she leaned as far away from him as she was able. It was pathetic; she had done the same with Cinnabar just a short time before, and now here she was again, cowering.
The sick part was, in her panic, in her unyielding fear for her own life, she actually considered it. Not her family themselves, but he wouldn't know whose name she was giving. It could be anyone. She could choose an enemy, a former friend who'd spited her because she talked too much or gotten too close to a boyfriend. It would be so painfully easy to do it - it wouldn't even be her doing it, and maybe then this guy would let her go home and -
A strangled sob caught in her throat, and she tried to pass it off as a cough or a laugh. Anything but what it was. "I-I have nothing f-for you, " she sputtered out, bowing her head and squeezing her eyes shut. She didn't want to die. She desperately didn't want to die, but she couldn't do it. Not because she didn't want to, and that was the sickest part. It was just because she knew it was wrong, and she had no damn place ever questioning Ganymede that night if she was willing to let someone else die for her. "Sorry..." She said it less to him and more to the family she was convinced she would never see again in that moment.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:53 pm
For the longest time, all Buddingtonite did was smile, though there was no tenderness or mirth within it. No, it was as cold and frigid as the entire seasons of winter, and it only curled even tighter as he listened to Amphitrite carry on. He wasn't sure what to expect as far as her answer went, but truly, he didn't care. There was no guarantee that he would actually stick with his threat, even if she did provide a name.
That'd mean hunting people down, asking questions, then justifying dragging them before the senshi here to the other Generals. Far too much effort, but he wasn't willing to let Amphitrite know that. As far as she knew, he'd be the type of guy that would go to ridiculous lengths to do it.
For a moment, though, he actually felt moved by her tears, but not in the usual sense. No, he held no pity for her, no care either, but to know that someone wouldn't be willing to forsake their family or friends when he himself would have corrupted his brother and entire family at the drop of a hat... it disgusted him. "How noble. How very sickenly noble of you... it's a pity you are wasted on the like of a court that willingly abandons you at the drop of a hat. I almost pity you. You're useless to them... and if you have no information to give me, nor starseeds to provide, what use can you be for me? Surely you have something, ANYTHING... that you'd be willing to part with? Try me, my dear... I will willing to negotiate with you."
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:12 pm
He was right, of course. Every officer who had come to her thus far had told her what she already knew; she didn't know whether to be glad that she knew so little that she didn't have to lie, or whether she wished she had enough to... bargain or something, on reasonable terms. Something that made her worth having, enough insurance to get her through this. As it was, she couldn't give anything even if she wanted to.
"I-I really don't... I went to the moon once, and I got zapped to Avalon one night, and other than that the biggest thing I did was hit your agent with a stick, " she said in nearly a mumble, still looking down. None of that would do her any good; this guy wouldn't care about the moon, and she knew about as much about Avalon as she knew about anything else. She'd only just gotten the chance to ask Ganymede about it not that long ago... even if it felt long it had been years since that night in the park. "I don't even really know anyone, really. Just a handful of powered names, " and she'd forgotten half of them by now.
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 12:44 pm
Useless.
Buddingtonite couldn't help but agree, and his good mood seemed shot now. He crossed his arms over his chest and could not help but allow his disappointment to be seen in the way he shook his head and clucked his tongue against his teeth. The classic tsk, what more could have been used to express one's disapproval? Besides, of course, telling them so and slapping them around.
He chose not to strike her- to do so would have been utterly useless and my spread her useless germs onto him, and that was something he nor any officer in the Negaverse could afford.
"So, you know nothing, and according to your own court, you are nothing. Would they miss you should I take your starseed? Would they care? Would they even notice your absence? I bet not." Buddingtonite carried on, growing bored with just standing and circling her chair instead, like a cat that had broken a rat's legs and simply waited for it to decide to flee or fight. Not like it mattered to the cat, nor to Buddingtonite, as both knew that the victory was theirs. "A pity, to be so utterly insignificant, so unimportant. You will be forgotten, except by those of us in the Negaverse that had the most unpleasure of having questioned you and wasted out time. What a terrible life in store for you... I suppose you should be thankful that it'll be a short one."
End it.
Now that he disagreed with, and he gave her hair a flick, before coming to stand before her again. "Well, I've had just about enough of my time wasted here with you. Should you decide you actually know anything, or should they decide that you have a better use than simply converting oxygen into carbon dioxide, then I'd be happy to interview you again. Until then, continue not existing in a realm of importance."
To the White Moon, she was useless. To the Negaverse, as she currently was, even more so. And he hated having his time wasted! He turned away to leave, wondering what he could do to regain that lost time back...
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Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 1:37 pm
He was right, of course. No one in the Order would say anything like that, Amphitrite was sure, but... they didn't really need to. She was a faceless cog in the machination of justice that they could take or leave. Even if she had known that, it still stung just a little to be reminded. That's just how these people were though. She should have been numb to it by now. Her skin was just too thin for this; some superhero she had turned out to be. She wondered what Ash would say if she saw her now, saw what a half-baked senshi she had ended up churning out; maybe Ash already knew. Maybe that's why she hadn't heard from the cat after she'd fallen off the radar.
There were better, more capable senshi in the world. Ash had probably just moved right along to those, and Natalie wouldn't have blamed her. It happened a lot. She made friends, and then they found better. Wouldn't be the first time... but in this case, it might be the last, huh?
She didn't want to die here; she didn't want the last thing she saw to be this place, these people. Anything, she'd do anything, she'd --
"If I'm so useless, " and she was, "Then why keep me here? - killing me wouldn't be worth the effort - " Or she hoped. "I won't transform again if you want. I'll stay out of your way, I'll be a normal girl. Just, please. Please just let me go. I don't belong here, " she wasn't crying as she said it, or shouting. In that moment, she sounded as desperate as she did exhausted. Already, even as she pleaded, she knew her words were falling on deaf ears.
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:14 am
He wondered if his words were having any affect at all and if so, how much of an affect it would have. Positive, negative, or was it all simply one big waste of time. He was willing to step outside of the room and peek in to see how she'd behave, but there was no need to. She sounded so desperate, so hurt, that he almost found himself forgetting that she was a White Moon senshi at all. Something about her just reminded him of his precious Azurite, and he wondered if this was necessarily a good or bad thing...
He paused from his departure and offered her a smile, though one couldn't guess if it was clearly faked or not. "Look, my dear, I've already deemed you worthless and once I set my opinion on something it seldom changes-"
Bold faced lie.
"Secondly, there's no guarantee on us that you would do any of those things. You could not resist the temptation and the allure that supposedly comes with powering up- heaven knows I couldn't." Buddingtonite continued, remaining in place and shrugging his shoulders as he spoke. "Perhaps you're right- perhaps you don't belong here, but sadly that is not my place to decide. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go talk to my superiors, see if maybe, just maybe they can rack their brains together and figure out a good use for you. Right now, I'm thinking... youma chew toy."
He offered her an even wider, faker grin, then all but sauntered out of the room, leaving the senshi to her fate, whatever it may be. His parting gift to her? His charming laugh... it was the least he could offer her, though it was mostly for himself as he was all too humored to have done such a thing and grow acutely aware of the silliness of it all. Did he really need to go so evil?
Of course. It's all a game, an act, a show... might as well enjoy it.HanaKirei And this is a good place to call it a wrap? C: I think Buddy prodded her feels enough...
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 4:42 pm
ChibiGingi Sounds perfect to me. smile
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