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 Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 7:02 pm
Lieutenant Galena was genuinely shocked when offered a chance to assist by the way of interrogation with her peers. Since she had been strong armed into Negaverse service she found herself low enough on freedom that a once proud and arrogant young woman had become silent and obedient in the name of survival.
It didn't take long to understand that any sense of choice once in Negaverse sights was an illusion. Your movements and schedule were ostensibly yours to decide, but you had a quota to fill and orders to follow, and choices were guided to the point of not having very many options to ultimately work with.
Even joining had been leveraged with becoming an unfortunate starseed donor.
She could be summoned, teleported, manipulated, and she, in the last year since her corruption, had grown used to quietly drifting through wherever they put her focusing only on surviving with as little effort in her service as possible.
So the option to question anyone as if she were a trusted operative caught her off guard immediately.
Late to the game, Galena had been spending her time lurking, wondering if such freedom was a trick. She'd be watched, she figured. Almost definitely. It would have been smarter, she decided, to pass up on it. Sticking her neck out to curiously peer at things was counterproductive to her goal to keep her head down and hide behind allies she'd made and be noticed as little as possible.
Eventually, however, temptation prevailed. Ashur and Babylon both had so many interesting things to say about knights and one was here, bound and beaten by her comrades. Vulnerable to her prying.
She crept into Valhalla's funhouse 'cell', giving only a polite nod of acknowledgment to his guard outside before she crept closer, head tilted as she twisted the fingers of her gloves in front of her. Soft spoken and uncertain in tone, she managed the courage to speak, "Are you awake?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 8:30 pm
There was no chance for sleep here, only waiting. Valhalla felt dazed, his head pounded from little food and water, and even less rest. He had gone willingly in order to hopefully spare Chaldene the same fate, although everything he knew about the young man meant he would have probably fought back, anyway.
The visits by various Negaverse officers of varying ranks was no surprise, but the tone of this woman’s voice was different than many of the others. Slowly he shifted from where he laid on the hard ground, turning his head up just enough so he could get a better look at her.
“Yeah,” he responded simply, his voice worn and weary. He wasn’t that much of a fan of all the armor he typically wore, but the cape would have been nice to keep to stay warm, and he knew he didn’t look very ‘knightly’ left in only his tunic and dark leggings. “You have questions…?” he prompted, attempting to sit up and deciding the effort wouldn’t help. “Sorry,” he mumbled, breathless and embarrassed from the effort, his bandaged hands still bound behind him and to the floor.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 9:15 pm
Galena's doe eyed stare down looked almost hungry, but Valhalla's own question was met with silence.
She visually traced over the various discernible wounds on the beaten and bloody knight, but other than the long stare didn't seem to have much in the way of facial expression.
"No... I suppose not..." She admitted. "You appear to have been questioned quite thoroughly already. I am not an experienced officer, I wouldn't know what useful things to ask of you regardless of your ability to deliver."
The timbre and pace of her voice was on the quiet and slow side, like someone carefully thinking about and choosing each word. And she was; The wrong turn of phrase could have terrible consequences. She wouldn't delude herself into thinking she wasn't being eaves dropped on.
She moved to sit, knees together under her to accommodate the pencil skirt of her uniform. Her hands rested on her knees, but it didn't take long for her fingers to brave reaching over to brush against the edge of his tunic near his neck. Steady, and ready to snap back close if he felt inclined to snap at her.
Once a ghost of physical contact was made, she quickly pulled back anyway, apparently satisfied with confirming he was real.
"Perhaps introductions," She meekly offered, although for him it was mostly pointless formality. "My name is Galena."
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:10 pm
Valhalla watched her curiously. Many of the young Negaverse officers were ambitious, often taking it upon themselves to make quick work of him and the other captives. But this one seemed just as curious about him as he did of her. His eyes closed as she reached out to touch his tunic, holding still so as not to scare her or make her think he was offended.
He looked up at her once she pulled away, his head still resting on the ground. Maybe he would try sitting up in a few minutes…
“Valhalla,” he offered as well. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said softly, offering her a small, pained smile. “Are you here to keep me company, then?” He didn’t mind, either way. Anything was better than getting beaten. “Have you seen any of the others…? How are they…?” Were they still alive…? Who had been captured that night and forced through this hell?
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:07 pm
"I think we both know it is not," Galena countered his 'nice to meet you' with a frown. He couldn't even lift himself without wincing, and she wouldn't dare to believe there was any genuine nicety left to be hand. It was probably as much a trick as the offer her own faction had made to allow her to interrogate at all.
"I came to see," She said simply. "I am not your ally, so don't try to get me in trouble. Just because I didn't come here to slice you up doesn't mean I hold any enemy sympathies," She nearly announced, completely robotic and practice as she smoothed out her skirt and tried to at least look a little professional and marginally icy, sitting there on her knees. "I haven't spoken to any of the others. It took me this long to decide I wanted to try my hand at any of you at all. I don't have questions, I only wanted to see what you looked like."
Although almost immediately after claiming to have no questions or interest in him beyond voyeurism, a question came. "You are a knight, yes? Ashur says that you are awakened spontaneously without recruiters to convert you."
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:09 pm
He stared at her, startled when she turned down his greeting. Perhaps he’d been a bit too hasty in thinking she would be different than the others. Would she turn violent towards him as well? Valhalla let out a small breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, turning his head to stare up at the ceiling as she spoke.
She wanted to see what he looked like…? That was laughable. What else would he look like. “Are you disappointed…?” he asked, glancing towards her for a moment, before focusing his attention back up on the ceiling. He hadn’t noticed until now that there must have been some kind of painting, creating a false sky. But like the walls, the paint was chipped and peeling. At one point in time, the room might have actually looked a little cheerful.
“You know Ashur?” was his first response, alarmed that he might be there as well. “He’s… he’s not here is he…? I… I guess that’s kind of how it happens. I can only speak of my own experience…” he told her, although his mind was with his friend, hoping he was okay. “I needed to help a friend stop a youma from from hurting someone,” he said simply, not needing to go into a lot of detail to explain. “She risked her life to save me, and when I was trying to help save her… a compass appeared suddenly… I touched it and became Valhalla…”
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:37 pm
"Not in the slightest," Galena answered, tilting her head to a slight angle as she wondered what she would have to be disappointed about. He was a living specimen, in the flesh and bound. Not dangerous, but still present, to satiate questions she was ashamed to want answers to.
She reached out again, fingertips lightly resting on the bridge of his nose with morbid fascination, like he was an unreal creature she'd never seen before.
"I've met Ashur," She confirmed, but her already naturally quiet voice lowered in volume, wary of the guard outside. "He was the first of your faction to show me kindness since I was recruited-- er... well. Even if he did begin the encounter by throwing a soda can at me," She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders.
"His name is not on the list, if he is a prisoner, I am not aware of it. There were..." She trailed off and her stoney demeanor seemed to waver. She withdrew her hands close to her own body as she thought of the one she'd heard of. Mintaka, the ladylike senshi with a tea set who had offered nothing but comfort and company.
...it is out of a yearn for knowledge that if you ever wish it...
Mintaka only needed to be asked, she didn't need to be tortured. Galena would try to salve her guilt for avoiding the crane senshi's room with that mantra. But Valhalla seemed equally forthcoming and kind, and his state before her couldn't be ignored as easily.
"There were no names or faces gathered that I recognized," She started again to finish quietly without much resolve.
She listened to his story, and stayed quiet for a moment after as she looked down and twisted the fingertips of he lace gloves. "I see," She finally murmured as if coming out of being lost in thought. "So," She put one hand on the floor to steady herself as she leaned forward, tilting her head over his again, pushing the boundaries of invasion a little further each and every time a motion was made. "So you are saying there is no being or organization which forces you to be Valhalla?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:25 am
Valhalla didn’t know what to make of her curiosity with him, probably because he wasn’t sure what she was really curious about. Was it him, or rather just knights in general? Regardless of what it could be, he closed his his eyes she reached out to touch his nose.
Her hand was warm, or at least warmer than he was, and he reveled in the tiny bit of heat her fingertips provided. It was probably strange, for him to find the touch of a stranger’s fingertips comforting, but after being beaten and abused, it was hardly something to complain about.
“There’s a list?” his eyes were open again, looking up at her in curiosity and horror. “Do… do you remember the names? Please, I… I need to know,” he told her, trying and failing to not sound desperate. He could hear their screams, but he didn’t know who… at least not all of them.
He didn’t flinch when she leaned over him, staring up at her instead, as if trying to beg her to understand with his eyes. “No… I’m Valhalla because I was born to be Valhalla. As far as I understand it, anyway. Senshi are born senshi and need to be awakened with the power of a guardian cat… something must be locked for them… something that prevents them from coming into their own.” Perhaps some kind of cosmic deadbolt — maybe to protect them? From what Ganymede told him about her past life, Liesel hadn’t been awakened by a cat, but it was revealed soon after he was born, and then Ganymede’s powers came to Liesel when he was older.
Knights… knights were different. “I fight to preserve peace,” he explained, although his thoughts were still with the list she’d mentioned. “What knights do with their powers is their own choice, and I choose to protect those I can, no matter what their side is in the war…”
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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:37 am
"Not an official, overarching one I would have access to, if any," Galena hastily corrected herself. "I am not here to be your friend or risk my neck to be your ally," She added as a reminder almost for herself as much as him. Had anyone been writing down a comprehensive list of the names given in the reports filed with their superiors, she was certainly not going to ask for it, and it was better to backtrack on the entire concept.
"Strange..." She murmured, poking him with a bit more of a solid and firm touch. "That anyone would choose to be a foot-soldier in such a war without strong goal or cause. If there is no one who simply tells you to be then I suppose that means all legions of order are strictly volunteers, then."
She sat back and clasped one set of fingers over her other hand's knuckles in thought.
"Protection and peace is a noble calling, but there must be more to it. There has to be, otherwise why is there so much fighting from which one needs the protection which gives you purpose? If it is only a choice without leadership or coercion, why do so many take up the fight?"
Why is all of this happening? Seemed to be the confused and unasked question struggling visibly beneath porcelain features.
It would be a lie to tell him she hadn't skimmed over who had revealed what and who was captured. No knights who had spoken to her, Antiope wasn't present. Mintaka was a hard truth she'd tried to ignore. She twisted the fingers of her gloves again. "Is there someone you fear may be captive who is of importance to you?"
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