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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:24 pm
The frigid breeze chased his hair about in wild tousles, occasionally obstructing his gaze while the hunter sought understanding of the new world around him. The moon and stars felt muted beneath the thin film of pollution that obstructed the city from its sight. Where Umber stood, one boot anchored against the parapet, he secured a decent vantage point that offered an array of city for him to examine. Ice blue eyes combed the streets littered with people, churning to and fro on errands unbeknownst to the new officer. However, his curiosity peaked when he realized that not one of the individuals milling below bothered to look up and notice the hunter amongst their midst.
Not that it negatively impacted him, considering his orders.
What has everyone so averse to being aware of their surroundings? Most have cell phones in hand and all attention buried therein - with a few bumping into their surroundings rather than take stock of them. That can't be normal. Crossing his arms, Umber resigned his gaze to the short stretch of street beneath his standing, where cars backed up during late rush hour traffic and people milling through the district clustered up into groups of friends and acquaintances. The penumbras like smeared stars cast from jaundiced street lamps offered their own yellowed tint of those he knew to drain, further accentuating his sickly view of the city.
What remains so fascinating that it steals their attention away? Is it some machination of the Negaverse to ensure higher draining success? I cannot be certain.
Yet even his own attention was stolen when a wildly potent intuition befell him, coaxing the lieutenant to look to his right toward a quickly approaching figure that crowned the rooftops with little effort. Her most obvious features were pale skin and hair of similar complexion, but otherwise buried herself in the darks that he was taught to recognize for Negaverse colors. She appeared remarkably similar to the citizens beneath them, already outfitted in coat and thick pants for winter's bite while Umber himself was relegated to short sleeves and a loose top. He would've asked if coats were Negaverse issue by request, but it hardly seemed appropriate.
Instead he allowed his gaze to linger on her, watching for any sign of friendliness or opposition. She may be on her way to fill her own quota. There's no way to tell without asking. If nothing else, she may have some information about the city. Only so much comes from observation.
"Hail, Officer. What has you out tonight?"There were few things Zircon ached for more than the comforting blanket of nightfall. Daylight was tedium, was a thankless job and a chorus of needy excuses. Daylight was harsh and unforgiving and held party to those like Thraen, like Penthesilea, who would not hesitate to dispatch her simply for daring to exist and thrive. It left a dirty feeling in her chest and an itch in her bones, every moment her head pounding with the need to shed her skin. Suri felt more the costume these days, the puppet on which Zircon acted out the humdrum of a normal life to ensure she was housed and fed. But it was a facade nonetheless, and come sundown the night was shelter, her hunting grounds, open and free and full of glittering darkness, just like Chaos and Metallia. As a Captain of the Negaverse, her eyes were better, she was faster, and the troubling thoughts that gnawed at her felt somewhat smaller, if only in the moments where she vaulted over rooftops, the crisp air tearing at her face and her hair.
She chose this part of town to roam in because the small shops provided plenty of opportunities to drain, and yet for some reason its Order presence was relatively low. It was far enough from any of the schools to draw students who might power up, she supposed, keeping her eyes on the streets below. That was the danger of a warforce comprised of children in this day and age, a weakness of the White Moon. Why use soldiers with curfews, with only half-developed minds and bodies? It was a mystery to the captain, and something she often brooded on. Fighting a war against other adults was a test enough, but to bring in those who were too young to possibly understand? Unfair to both the child and to Zircon, who while resentful was resolute in her duties. She'd killed them before and she would do so again.
Her thoughts went to Astrophyllite, who was only fourteen, but she pushed them aside. Fourteen or not, she'd still been a traitor.
Somewhere in the distance burned a warm chaotic ember, and the signal piqued Zircon's curiosity. Her course veered somewhat westward and she made for a sprint, closing the distance in what felt like a blur. She bounded onto the rooftop holding the signal with a spring of her legs, landing softly and with an impassive stare. The man before her might have only been a lieutenant, but she found it nevertheless difficult to extend her trust the way she might have before. What if he, too, was a sympathizer?
She paused at his formal tone, lifting the goggles from her face with a searching glance. At one time she could have accepted his politeness as a matter of course, but now she was unsure. "More pleasure than business, but duty always calls," came her reply, her chin tilted upwards as if it might make her taller, more self-assured. Was he searching her for sincerity? Two could play at this game. "And you, Lieutenant?" Zircon was sure to make the distinction of his rank clear--she was the one with authority here.So she dodges the question. She seems combative. Did I put her on edge, or is there another cause? Umber unfolded his arms, allowing them to hang at sides while he offered a nod toward her as a vague assumption of respect. Lacking all militaristic background, Umber was at a loss in such a rigid system. For a long minute, he let his gaze hang on her form, her stance, her body language that spoke of teeth and knives before he offered any further words to her question.
“The quota.” Afterward his gaze returned to the streets below, with the masses petering out as the hours stretched long into night. “And learning the city. It’s foreign to me.”
For a span of time, his gaze returned to the smattering of muted windows and lamps that cast their own pale gaze into the darkness possessing the city. Nightlife bustled with its own shrill, boisterous song while the pair locked themselves in charged silence. The animosity felt palpable to Umber, though he made no effort to showcase his recognition of it. After a time he shifted his attention to the palm of his hand, raised and open toward his face to allow private viewing of the skull tattoo within. Idly he wondered if the Negaverse offered its own body modifications to their seasoned warriors. And from there, his mind wandered further.
I wonder if it’s commonplace for the Negaverse to recruit from outlying areas. No - it’s pointless to wonder of their recruiting habits. I have more pressing concerns right now.
She acts offended, or abrasive. Why? She could be higher rank - she uses lieutenant so scornfully. “What rank are you?” Lacking any distinct method of determining rank feels like an oversight in a purportedly organized military. Or I could be missing the cue. I wasn’t raised in these types of structured environments. The only rank I was taught to recognize was the food chain - and none of these people qualify as cannibals that I’ve seen.The lieutenant stared at her with cold, wintry eyes, scanning her over as if she might have been a map, and Zircon didn't care for it. What was he gleaning from her demeanor, what did he find in his search? What weakness would he assume on her behalf? What did he find lacking? Zircon tried to keep her posture tall and resolute, looking every bit the stalwart officer she told herself she was.
As the lieutenant's gaze melted from her and went streetward, Zircon stepped closer to follow suit, glancing over the bustling people below. "It's hard to reach your quota from up here," she commented lowly, her voice a shade softer in its edge as her eyes wandered out across the crowds. "You're from out of town, then. What branch?" The feathers and beads said somewhere northwest, perhaps as far as the Anchorage precinct, but without any tells from his demeanor or voice she wasn't about to presume.
Zircon braced her shoulders and stance, her expression furrowing back at the man when asked what her rank was. Couldn't he tell? Or was she just so weak that her aura made no difference? She could protest, but she bit her tongue--anyone who had to explain to someone else that they were powerful was either delusional or lying.
"I am a Captain," she objected, crossing her arms with a frown. "My name is Zircon, I work with Intelligence. And yet I've never seen you before. What's your name, Agent?"”I was added to your ranks about a week and a half ago. I do not know if the Negaverse keeps tabs on its officers or how often those tabs would be updated.” And I doubt it bears much use to learn of the new lieutenants.
Another glance was spared in her direction when she shifted toward him, which initially roused a bristle that soon found no grounds for occurring. Afterward his gaze returned to the dwindling livelihood below, where soon not even the shades of man were cast as stains across the concrete. “I’m not used to picking out rank yet. I’ve met… three of the Negaverse. And the lieutenant and I were preoccupied.” As a captain, she may know a great deal about the creatures with glowing markings across their bodies. She may know far more than just that as an intelligence officer. I’m not certain I understand the classifications in the ranks.
“And it’s Umber.” Zircon seemed continually unwelcoming, though he knew not why. Perhaps it had nothing to do with him after all - he found no reason for her to react so aversely to his character when nothing overtly offensive was aimed at her, unless his lack of understanding for ranking systems had something to do with it.
“I don’t know anything about the branches, but my home isn’t far from Destiny City. Wasn’t. “Captain Zircon, would you tell me what you know of the city?”
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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:21 pm
Zircon's firm expression waned once Umber began his explanation, the feeling of guilt spreading across her face in a warm blush. This lieutenant, assuming his story was true, was far too recent an addition to the Negaverse to be subject to the power plays and deceits of his own brethren. After all, he was an agent trying to get his bearings in a time where officers no longer had a stable network of superiors to guide his hand. Umber could take this encounter and turn his back away from the true cause, feeling disenchanted by the establishment of indifference and losing faith in their need to harvest, to fight. By choosing to force her authority with an icy grip, Zircon realized, she could be feeding into the very system that created the Astrophyllites, the Kadyrelites. If she was going to make a difference, it needed to start here and now.
"I...apologize," she finally murmured, dropping her shoulders as she glanced back to the streets below. "It's been so long since I was drafted, I forgot how daunting the experience can be. I imagine it's worse if no one bothered to fill you in."
Zircon turned to face the lieutenant, offering a thin smile. After all, she was still a teacher by day. "I'll tell you anything you'd like to know. Where shall we start?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:41 am
Was it appropriate to cite Xenotime as his superior officer? Or would his lack of understanding for the Negaverse come as a blemish on her career? He couldn't guess the proper approach to this conundrum and forsook the idea of including her name entirely. General Xenotime had a very new agent on her hands, had she not?
"I know some things. I've been given a manual to study, but it makes assumptions that the agent is familiar with the city. There are no maps." And hadn't Xenotime mentioned something about quest for maps, or something else about a googol? "And the city is much larger than what I'm used to. It takes some time to scour on my own. If you know anything about better areas to drain, or how to recognize the different districts, it would be useful to know." And what of the Negaverse itself? Certainly there are threads of information that lie outside the web spun in that training manual. It offered no history of the Negaverse, nor of their enemy. No understandings beyond that their enemies are foreign invaders and must be stopped. It left him disconcerted and suspicious.
"What was it like when you were drafted?" It felt like an innocuous question - one she wouldn't disparage, unless there was an unspoken rule about prying into another officer's career. From a location where they wore their history so proudly, he couldn't comprehend this need to hide what serves as foundation.
"And what can you tell me about these branches?" He hoped they were literal.
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 12:24 pm
So he was even greener than expected--but that was no problem, just an interesting challenge that Zircon would rise to meet. "The city is large if you haven't spent time here," she explained, gesturing vaguely to the ground below, "But the districts themselves are smaller, easier to learn in chunks. The best places to harvest energy are like this one, business centers, well populated with plenty of areas to sneak someone away. They have large buildings, usually, with fewer people populated at night. The ones who stay after dark are often destitute or criminal, therefore easiest to harvest."
"That being said," she continued, gently clasping at one of her wrists as she frowned, "School districts have high concentration of senshi and knights on patrol, so they should be avoided until you have your bearings. Many senshi are still teenagers, and they even use children to fill out their ranks, so avoiding areas with high populations of children can help ensure your safety. In addition, this actually makes the typical work week the safest time to patrol, while the average White Moon soldier is tied up with civilian responsibilities." She paused for a moment, then added, "The typical work week meaning Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 5 PM." It was probably safe to assume that Umber knew as much about office life as he did Destiny City itself.
Zircon's pensive expression faded, and she glanced up to the sky. "I wasn't 'drafted', per se. General-King Charonite saw my potential and offered me a chance to better myself, so I took it. Things were different, then--I was assigned a captain to watch over my progress, we joined teams and learned tactical procedures, tight-knit operations." Her shoulders wilted and she let out a sigh, sweeping her eyes down to the streets below. "But we have lost so much in the years since this war began. Charonite is dead, Beryl is dead. Tanzanite. Marthozite. All that remains is Metallia, and to most of us her will is unheard, leaving the rest of us to stumble about blindly."
"The Negaverse is now organized into three groups--branches, as you said," Zircon noted, holding up three fingers for emphasis. "Intelligence, Infiltration, Special Operations. Intelligence officers, like myself, keep records of active soldiers and perform reconnaissance missions to discern the weaknesses of the White Moon. Infiltration acts as mediators between the Negaverse and civilian life, fostering sympathy for our cause and screening for potential new recruits. And then Special Operations, or 'SpecOps' perform the most high-risk operations, and are the elite of our fighting force."
"Ideally, you would train under officers of each branch, before assignment to one yourself," she explained, nodding her head. "Until then, you are considered part of an unspoken branch called 'General Operatives', or those who choose not to specialize their careers. These officers collect energy, run patrols, and fill in the gaps for the other three branches."
It was good to see that the lieutenant had an inquisitive mind, and she nodded at him in approval. "You're smart for wanting to be informed, I've known a number of recruits with far less interest. What else would you like to know?"
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 12:02 am
Destitute or criminal being easier to harvest? Wouldn't they be used to crime, and therefore vigilant of it? Or does that have more to do with personal upkeep - that they might be weaker from lack of nutrition? I suppose only experience would tell. He listened carefully to her while she explained better regions to avoid or harvest in, and inwardly wished he was issued a pen and notebook with his uniform. A lot of information was disseminated to him, and he loathed losing the lot of it to the failure of the brain to record memory proper. Luckily some of it summarized down into 'drain energy from 7am to 5pm, avoid school areas, stick to business centers'.
"I think the only part that has remained the same - at east for me - is the assignment of a superior officer. It seems they've abandoned the group tactics mostly." She named off the laundry list of deaths, which suggested the organization was falling apart at the seams. He wondered if this were true, or if he only drew another assumption out of the ether. "I don't think I've met any of the General-Sovereigns. They might have grown scarce in hand with the Negaverse due to... Whichever factors eliminated those you mentioned." Were they all General-Sovereigns? He wasn't certain, but common sense suggested that front like work and duty often made a target out of the head of the snake. Such a death often became military figures, despite the prowess they offered in battle. However, without the story behind their perishing, Umber could only make loose inferences.
In crossing his arms, Umber's thumbs ran over the bony elbows and epicondyles. The specialized branch information proved highly useful and piqued his interest, and luckily Zircon answered his followup question without him having to ask it. "So would training under an officer of that branch specialization give me an edge in... I assume there's a transfer process involved? Or some kind of screening test to eliminate poor choices transferring into that branch?" Information was of interest, infiltration fell out of the equation with liaison duties, and special operatives claimed a good deal of attention as well.
"Can you tell me more about what you've done in your position as an intelligence officer?" He only recently embarked on energy draining and running patrols - any specializations would have to wait until he claimed his bearings in the barest of tasks. "Where is all this information kept? And is it possible to access it locally, like..." He sighed through his nose, trawling his mind for the name of the rectangular equipment often sitting before a student, or wandering teenager. "Like a tablet? I haven't seen anything like that issued, but if there are more amenities at higher rank..."
All of his questions felt like shots in the dark, but they offered a starting point in forming a knowledge base. He was lucky to encounter a higher-ranked officer willing to provide that information, or even possessed of it - for how many might brush him off or assign orders and move on?
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 7:45 am
"General-Sovereigns are an...elusive sort," Zircon replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You probably met one when you were first recruited, as they're typically the only ones capable of the induction itself, but it's possible that a particularly powerful general was capable of awakening you as well." In the early days, even captains were capable of bringing people into the fold, provided they had the general-king as conduit, but that was years ago, and strange, terrible things had come from further experimentation.
"Training with an officer of rank allows you a chance to showcase your skills, be it in battle, harvesting, or simple strength of mind," she explained further, taking the moment to glance briefly over his entire frame. "Captains report their assessments to generals who report to general-sovereigns, who ultimately make decisions as to officer assignments. It's rare to be placed in a branch where you feel unsuited, but if you're unsatisfied, you can always petition the head of the branch you seek to join for reassignment." All too often, Zircon had seen headstrong young lieutenants vying for glory in SpecOps only to be placed in Infiltration or Intelligence instead. Several of them seeking reassignment failed to survive their first encounter with a high-risk target--life as an InfO hadn't been a punishment, but rather a warning they refused to heed.
More details, more clarification, good questions to ask. Zircon thought carefully over her experiences, tumbling them like stones in search of the precious gems underneath. After all, it would be fruitless to sift through the entirety of her service, varied as it was. "Mostly, I scout the city, track patterns of order's operatives, become familiar with their movers and shakers. My role is primarily non-combative, if I can avoid confrontation--many of the enemy are blindly uprooted into battle, with no sense of the greater context of their actions. I speak with them, if possible, and I try to glean as much information as I can from their words and their actions. Some of them are sympathetic to our cause, and I refer them to an Infiltration officer for proper processing. Some of them are high-risk, and I report them to SpecOps."
The captain shifted her weight, her eyes turning towards the stars. "I also spent a semester away from Destiny City, studying under regional experts in an attempt to crack the code on Order's ability to space travel. So far, we've had no luck, but I occasionally correspond with the Italian Corps to bring together our research. One day, we'll be able to prevent any senshi activity on Earth." Zircon had seen something close to that day, filtered through the eyes of another version of her, but the vision did not give her a sense of ease or calm. Instead, her expression set into a grim line, her eyes narrowing at some unknown assailant in the night sky.
After her moment of reflection, her thoughts came back down to Earth and to Umber, collecting herself. "We have data banks in Negaspace, but they're often times not as quickly updated as word of mouth, which is why it's important to network with your fellow officers and be aware of current threats. None of our systems can be accessed remotely, so they're not really useful for an in-combat analysis." Again, the captain's brow furrowed, and she put a puzzled finger over her pursed lips. "You'd think we'd have these things by now..." she muttered, mostly to herself.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2015 7:54 am
"I've never met with a Sovereign. The one who awakened me was a general - Xenotime - and I've only needed to report to her. Should it be assumed that the training I've accomplished under her is being relayed to one of these General-Sovereigns?" If that were the case, would he find himself suddenly reassigned to a different general and different branch? Her words suggested the possibility. However, they also suggested the ability to transfer to another branch, assuming he found any potential new assignment intolerable. I wonder which of these she might find most suited to me. I should solicit her opinion sometime.
"Information sounds like a primary liaison for both of the other branches. Do they rely on your throughput to make decisions?" I can't imagine having to engage the enemy outside of combat and hope to glean important information from them. Perhaps the role itself would be fine, with myself very nearly suited for it, but I was raised to kill what I stalk. "Assuming I need information from a particular target... I should be able to solicit an information officer to learn it for me? Or is all information gathering coordinated by the head of that branch and then all information available for access added to the database? Are there forms to fill out to request information on any given target?"
The system of branches sounded coordinated in theory, at least - while he was uncertain how well the model is enacted, the idea provided a sound basis for utilizing the strengths of the individuals in their ranks while accomplishing elimination of the enemy in an efficient manner.
Her segue prompted a furrow of his brow, and for a moment he cast his gaze off to the ocean of stars above, as if searching for what magic she found there. "They can travel space? Are you certain of this?" He had neither seen or heard information corroborating this, but being so entirely new to the Negaverse and its war left him at a loss for personal experience. Zircon explained it absent any hints toward attempting to fool him, and the topic seemed to distress her somewhat. What purpose would there be in lying about it?
The implications involved still left him unsettled.
To network would require other officers. I have seen next to none since my joining - and as far as I know, there's no regular meetings mandating attendance. Xenotime never spoke of such things. "Networking is fine so long as there are venues to promote it. I haven't seen many officers since starting patrols; am I to assume there's a Negaverse mandated meeting or venue to promote this networking? Absent that and field-based connection to information, we sound crippled."
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Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2015 6:14 pm
"I've never met Xenotime, but I assume that she reports to someone along the chain of command." To this, Zircon frowned--it was simply impossible to know every officer in the Negaverse, not since it had ballooned so greatly in size, but it was still shameful to not know someone of General rank. She would have to find them in the database at a later time--put a face to the name.
"All of the branches are supposed to work together, but InfOs are typically best-equipped to interact with all of the other branches." The Negaverse was a huge organization, and its beliefs were equally as widespread. It was hard not to have personality conflicts somewhere in the ranks, but the InfOs at least had the sense to grit their teeth and compromise. They were pretty little liars, even if it meant they couldn't be wholly trusted. "There are databases in the Rift with open permissions, so you are welcome to educate yourself on any known enemy, though they aren't always kept up to date. Your best bet is to be on the streets yourself, gathering information, being your own primary source. There's only so much word-of-mouth can prepare you for."
Once, Zircon would have heralded the advances of the database and its value as a resource, and the thought that its presence no longer made her feel ready for war was something that left an unsettling feeling in her gut. If only she could go back to feeling so naive, that books and knowledge would protect her from hands at her throat and brands at her wrist.
"I'm certain," Zircon said with a nod, her eyes following his to the stars. "Senshi derive their power from the cosmos, and many Knights do as well. They have ruins, called wonders, that they can travel to and from at will." There was disdain in her voice, but also something envious and bitter in the way she clenched her jaw between breaths. "But it's not enough to have that--they refuse to recognize the Negaverse and Metallia as sovereign of the Earth, and so for six years they've been sabotaging our efforts to take back what is ours. If we brought the battle to them, then perhaps we could end the war once and for all."
"We are crippled," she admitted finally, looking back to Umber. "Sympathy for the enemy has caused us to turn on each other, and the chain of command has all but crumbled. We've forgotten how to foster that sense of community that once made the Negaverse strong." But she smiled, if weakly, and held out her hand, a peace offering. "That ends here, though, if there are more lieutenants like you."
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:23 am
Experiencing anything on my own has its advantages, but why walk blindly into a situation when you can have at least some idea of how your enemy will react? Umber's eyes narrowed, and he looked past Zircon momentarily, as it waiting for permission from an unknown source. Soon afterward he looked back at her. "Zircon, I would like your personal opinion. Do you think the information in the database is trustworthy?" He aimed not to imply deliberate sabotage, but if Zircon's opinion already encompassed the possibility... He would have some idea of what he's looking at.
Her declaration that senshi stemmed from otherworld locations unsettled him, and demanded trust in something far beyond his comfort zone. Coming to terms with that information required time that would be of copious prevalence at a later date - for now, he had a captain at his disposal who was willing in information dispensation. I don't know enough about senshi or their space travel to offer worthwhile debate. But on the basic premises of logic, if the enemy is at our doorstep, it's considered a siege. So why leave the castle walls empty and go out to space, which is infinitely vast? What are the chances of even discovering worthwhile targets? Or reaching them in a timely manner? Only the Sol system is accessible, and some of that demands years of travel by our current methods.
Initially Umber stared at the hand quizzically. What was he to do with this? Or was it simply a gesture toward him? "... I don't know what you want me to do," he confessed finally, gesturing toward her outstretched hand.
"But, the Negaverse needs concerted effort if there's intention to repair any of these faults." And Umber lacked even a guess at where to start within it all. Ultimately the effort did not fall to him, but to the highest pinnacles within the organization's army. He need only participate in their prescribed fixes to play his part. Still, the opportunity to fix the problems piqued his curiosity.
He paused, considered his circumstances, and then proceeded on a different vein. "Thank you, Captain," he added at last. Her willingness to devote time and patience to educating someone who amounted to a grunt deserved its own reward, if not sheer gratefulness.
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