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 Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:35 pm
[Backdated to late May 2015]
Natron had gotten some...interesting reports back, so far, regarding how Captian Zircon had handled the Lieutenant he had assigned her. Were he being honest, he had assigned her Pyrophanite - difficult, mouthy, and every ounce the disrespectful teenager - as a bit of petty punishment for how she had handled Astrophyllite at New Year's. And also because he suspected her method of physical discipline would work a bit better on him than on a child he suspected was from an abusive home.
But the only way he was going to get the full story was to hear it from her, and so he had summoned her to the Rift, so they could have a face to face conversation. He suspected that regardless of what happened, it would prove interesting.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:57 pm
The chains never went away, they just changed hands sometimes.
Zircon never resisted the call to Negaspace. She wasn't sure she could, even if she tried, but she was regardless a dutiful captain and ready to be nothing but biddable to her betters. She appeared in the crystalline halls with a tidy little pop, her posture at parade rest and her eyes steady under her ashen blonde bangs. Her expression was tentative until she caught sight of the General responsible for her summons, at which point her features went coldly blank.
"General," she greeted with a stiff nod, blinking slowly as she searched his features for something of interest. Natron might have somehow convinced the other General-Sovereigns that he was worth his leadership position, but he was no Charonite, no Tanzanite, nothing more than a bleeding heart under all that matching leather. And yet he was the General and she was the Captain, so what did that make her, other than someone bound to do as she was told?
It made her sick to think about.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Her hands were tied insofar as it came to outwardly voicing her opinions, but her tone was all but friendly. Professional, cordial, polite even, but there was no sense of amity in her words.
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:45 am
It wasn't exactly hard to tell that Zircon was less than pleased to respond to his summons. If she had known who was calling, would she have come at all? Part of him wanted to ask outright, but it would probably be entirely counterproductive. His intention - this time - wasn't to be hostile, even if perhaps he had gotten aggressive with her over Astrophyllite.
"There is, in fact," he said, and he kept it at exactly the same level of cordial unfamiliarity she had approached him with. God, he was out of his depth, dealing with people years his senior who were technically under his command. Why the hell Zinkenite had promoted him, he still wasn't sure.
"I'd like a full accounting of what happened with Pyrophanite, please. I've heard pieces, but I don't know how much is exaggerated, and how much is true. I suspect you're far more likely to give me an accurate picture than he is, frankly."
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:34 am
Of course he wanted to know about Pyrophanite.
The corners of Zircon's mouth turned downwards, but she nodded once obediently, thinking back on the day she'd been tasked with training the difficult agent. "Lieutenant Pyrophanite came for training fifteen minutes late and with some frozen beverage, calling out for a 'great master' to teach him. When I told him the proper way to address an officer of rank, he referred to me instead as 'babe' or 'squirt'." Zircon's nose scrunched, but nevertheless maintained an even tone while she recounted the story. It would not do to lose her temper here, not in front of this lieutenant-coddling general.
"I slapped the slurpee out of his hand for his second offense," Zircon explained plainly, "Not much of a lasting punishment compared to some, but the lieutenant took offense anyway, using lewd language to express his ingratitude."
The captain let out the smallest of satisfied sighs, unable to contain the hint of a smirk at the edge of her lips. "For the third offense, I threw him to the ground by his starseed. From that point on, the lieutenant was compliant, but the possibility of a White Moon senshi in the area cut our training session short. I couldn't risk his injury in battle while he's not yet combat trained, so I told him to power down and seek safety while I pursued the senshi."
"Following the senshi garnered no further leads, but Pyrophanite and I shall be meeting next week for follow-up training, and I presume he'll be on time." Zircon relaxed her shoulders and nodded once more, looking up at the general's face for signs of anger. "Should I clarify anything further?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2015 2:57 pm
Natron listened to her story fairly impassively, with his expression kept as even as possible the entire time. So, as expected, Pyrophanite had been disrespectful and immature - not exactly a shocking twist, there. Zircon's handling, though - well, honestly, he couldn't exactly fault her for it.
"So you're telling me he was disrespectful, insubordinate, and immature," perhaps as expected from someone as young as Pyrophanite, but he would learn quickly, "and all you did was throw him down by the starseed? Honestly, I commend you for not pulling it out or throwing him off the roof."
After what happened with Astrophyllite, he suspected that praise for rough handling of a Lieutenant would be unexpected.
"I didn't approve of how you handled Astrophyllite - I think I made that entirely clear. Physical discipline was never going to be the right way with her - she's a child from what I'm pretty sure is an absolutely terrible home situation and beating the s**t out of her is just going to frighten her and push her away. Pyrophanite?" He waved a hand. "Pyrophanite is a disrespectful s**t who, as far as I can tell, only respects strength. Throwing him around a little to get him in line was entirely appropriate, and so was not dragging him into a fight when he's nowhere near prepared. I'm incredibly pleased with the way you handled this, Zircon, for what that's worth."
Particularly given that it was a purposely unpleasant assignment.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 8:35 pm
Zircon had done this song and dance before. She would explain her actions as a member of the Negaverse proper, only to be rebuffed by someone deemed better in the eyes of Metallia. Why this boy had been chosen before others was a question Zircon could not answer, but the fact remained that in the eyes of those that mattered, he was more important, his opinions were more important, and as a general he had free reign to dispense justice as he saw fit.
Zircon scrunched her nose at the mention of Astrophyllite, but otherwise bit her tongue--that argument had long since been quelled, and her opinions on the subject were moot. But as Natron continued to talk, Zircon's tight-lipped expression began to unwind, eyes blinking slowly as she softly leaned forward. There was a pause to her breath, a moment to allow the other shoe to drop, and when she became sufficiently sure that the general wasn't being cruel or facetious, her brow furrowed.
"I'm not sure what I expected from your assessment, but it wasn't 'pleased'," she remarked, confusion settling on her face as a frown. Remembering her place, she quickly added, "If we're speaking plainly, I mean."
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 11:33 pm
Natron reached up to press a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he'd picked up as it got longer.
"We are definitely speaking frankly," he said. "I was trained under General Painite, Captain - I'm not sure if you're familiar with her, but my training can be best summed up by telling you that once, when I was too slow to dodge an attack in a practice spar, she put her spear through my gut." A hint of a smile crossed his face. "I was quicker, after that. She was harsh, but I learned."
If he had been insubordinate towards Painite the way Pyrophanite had been towards Zircon? He would not have survived the incident. He had no doubt of that. Not that he necessarily would have wished that fate on Pyro; a live Lieutenant could be taught, molded into something better. A dead one had no further use.
He exhaled. "While we're speaking frankly, I'm well aware there are well-grilled hot dogs you respect more than me," and he looked genuinely amused, "which is probably my own fault. I'm aware I'm brutally underqualified. I can't even legally drink. But I am very fortunate to have more capable, experienced officers serving under me - officers like you, Captain."
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 9:40 am
Zircon knew Painite, and recognition flashed as a glimmer in her eyes. The woman was a loose cannon, but a part of Zircon respected that ability to just give in to Chaos and truly enjoy the revelry of being one of Metallia's soldiers. Painite belonged to the old way of Negaverse thinking, even if she'd been born of a later generation, and what Natron said of her certainly seemed to ring true.
"Well, the White Moon won't show us mercy, so why should we expect it in our training?" she offered, wincing her way through half of a smile. This was a superior officer--she wasn't supposed to break rank like this. But her tone was one of understanding, or at least the attempt at it. "When we're fighting a war, there's no choice but to be strong. If we don't teach this to our lieutenants in training, they'll return to us in body bags or not at all." She glanced away for only a moment, her lips pinched in silence. She'd seen it happen more than once in her career. As a lieutenant, she'd nearly been in the body bag herself.
Zircon's expression blanched when Natron spoke again, her shoulders visibly shrinking from the general. "I--my opinion as a captain doesn't matter--" she began, cutting herself off as he continued. Again, she paused her breath, her brow furrowing. Clearly there was a punchline she was missing along the way--he was making no sense.
"...If you were truly underqualified, your starseed would have cracked on promotion," she responded slowly, watching his eyes for a response. "Zinkenite was still in high school when I began to serve under him, and I've always been surrounded by people younger than me. It's simply a part of how the Negaverse recruits--they look for talent, not a particular age."
"That being said, I...appreciate your assessment," Zircon stumbled through her words, threading a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I just hope I continue to be useful, our differences aside."
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:08 pm
Natron nodded. "Believe me when I say I'm well aware." He said, and it was all too easy to remember the crawling fear he'd felt every time Fangite powered up, or all the times he'd ended up thrown around and beaten up - Lieutenants were fragile, breakable things. "But we have to balance our approach. Too much force, and they end up fleeing, too much coddling and they end up dead."
Sometimes, he really missed Chalcanthite. His first corruption besides Fangite, Chal had been clever and quick to learn and also not at all a disrespectful little shitstain. Win some, lose some, he supposed.
Poor Zircon, though, obviously more used to Generals with a far more rigid adherence to rank than Natron himself. As much as there was something transformative in his uniform, as much as it was easier for him to stand straight and give orders when he was powered up - underneath was still Gabriel the bookstore stockboy, and it bled through more than was probably healthy.
"Your opinion matters very much, Captain, because all the rank and authority in the world can't buy me willing cooperation." He shrugged his shoulders. "I would rather we work together, as opposed to you resentfully following my orders. Even if I can't really blame you for the resentment. You're an extremely competent officer, Zircon. You wouldn't have made it this long if you weren't."
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