Welcome to Gaia! ::

Carmine was fairly certain that it had been obvious to anyone who encountered him the day after he became a Knight that he was hyped up. A few of the other teachers had commented on it - one had suggested he cut back on the coffee. But it wasn't caffeine, or any other drug, that had him on edge.

It was magic.

He should have stayed for hours, done grading work on the essay he had assigned - but he wasn't interested in that, for once. Usually he loved reading his student's words and providing feedback. Today, he had done a few, packed up the rest, and headed out. He tried not to take his work home, but sticking around was just not going to happen. At least it was a night when darkness fell early - so he could become Rannoch without having to worry about being spotted.

And as soon as he was cloaked in his new magical garb, he took to the rooftops. He had always liked parkour, but there was something extra special about how easily he could move now, flipping and leaping and bouncing from building to building with joyful abandon.

And then something caught his eye below him. Black and silver and galaxy and forest green --

"Caledonite!" The name tumbled out, and he bounced from rooftop to ground, landing a few feet away from the Lieutenant.

"I'm not following you," the Page replied, "but I saw you and..." He took a breath. "I wanted to talk to you. Ask you what happened. How you ended up," he gestured at Caledonite's outfit, "like this."

Because he was curious - because all of this magic was so new and fascinating and he wanted to know how a Knight of Cosmos could end up in black, with a feeling about him that gave Rannoch goosebumps. The Page took a step closer to the officer, reaching up to run his hand through his hair.

"And what you said about...needing me. I thought. I mean, I went to my Wonder, and just for a minute I had...a vision, I guess? And I thought I saw someone who looked a lot like you." He wondered if Caledonite had any memories like that. Or visions, or whatever it had been.

He had so many questions. Maybe Caledonite had some answers.

Rannoch reached a hand towards Caledonite, like he wanted to put a hand on his shoulder. But he stopped, dropped his hand, made a tiny sad noise. "I can't just leave her on a feeling," he said, and his voice was soft. He extended his hand again when Caledonite offered him the signet ring, and their fingers brushed for a moment, and he felt a brief..something. He turned it over between his fingers, considering it.

"I have one too. I found it right before I had that...vision." He held up his right hand, to show Caledonite his deep blue night-sky ring. "But I know I want to know what happened to you." And this time he didn't hesitate - he reached forward, resting his hand on Caledonite's arm.

"You say you think I...belong to you. If that's true, then can't you trust me?" It was a little manipulative, but he was desperate for answers.

Rannoch let Caledonite touch his hand, and he nodded. "The water looked like it was all filled with stars. It was...really amazing. Maybe I can take you, sometime."

He exhaled. "I was scared, Cale," he said. The shortened name rolled off his tongue easily, naturally. "I didn't know what was going on. I still don't, not really - just a little. Just what Eden could tell me." He exhaled. "But I teach teenagers for a living. I can recognize when someone's hurting, or in trouble - and you are." He wanted to believe that. He wanted to believe that the tenderness he had seen Caledonite express towards Eden meant that he wasn't as lost as he wanted people to believe.

He fell silent when the Lieutenant began to tell his story. It sounded tragic - like a betrayal, which by Caledonite's framing it was. "It sounds like he wanted you to get away," the Page ventured, "if he was telling you to run." And then, genuinely curiously - "what's a General-Queen? I'm sorry, l really don't know much about your...Negaverse? Is that the word? At all."

Rannoch swallowed. "She told me to be careful," he hedged, and he hoped that was enough. "Because some of you are dangerous - will want to do me harm for no more than the crime of being a Knight." He wanted to continue that thought, to challenge Caledonite - but not yet.

"Twenty-two? That's still young. You must have been just out of college, life just beginning - and then someone took that away." Rannoch found himself reaching after Caledonite, wanting more of those light little touches. "I'm sorry, for what happened to you. It was a tragedy."

His heart ached the more Caledonite talked - how he described the man who had corrupted him. "It's hard to believe, that someone could love you and still do that." He admitted. Maybe he was wrong in his assessment. Maybe Caledonite had been the victim of an elaborate ruse. "Who was he? Do you remember his name?" Because it felt important to know, to put a name to the picture the lost Knight was painting. To have an identity for the person who had taken Caledonite's life (apparently including his memories) from him.

He exhaled. "I suppose asking you to trust me asks too much," he acknowledged, but his hand still rested on the Lieutenant's arm. There was a brief startled expression on his face when Caledonite brushed his hair away - the magical styling left some of it loose enough to fall in his face, but he hadn't even noticed. All the tender little touches were setting him very much at ease.

"A General-Queen is your...ruler, then? Someone with the power to bring you over to her side, even against your will?"' That sounded utterly terrifying.

It didn't escape Rannoch's notice that Caledonite avoided mentioning his particular purpose - but so far, he seemed safe. The man hadn't made threatening or violent moves against him, so Rannoch felt secure in assuming he would continue to not do so.

He was content to simply rest his hand on Caledonite's, letting his fingers trace over the green-haired man's palm. There were callouses there, but not many - perhaps new ones? It was the beginnings of a story - Caledonite worked with his hands, but had maybe started doing it recently. All of it made him more curious.

He tried to pay as much attention as possible to Caledonite's words, but he found himself getting tired - and Cale's soft, gentle tone was only contributing. "That does sound...convenient," he acknowledged, trying to force his eyes to stay open. He held onto the name, though - Kerberos. "If I ever...met him, I would want to know. To be wary," he said.

That Caledonite trusted him drew a smile to the Page's face. "I'm glad - I promise, I don't mean you any harm. I want to help you." He would say it as many times as he had to until Caledonite believed it. Because he needed Caledonite to believe it.

He found his eyes starting to close, which was strange - was simply being powered up draining? He was sure Eden would have said something, if so...but it made it harder and harder to focus on Caledonite's words.

(He couldn't not focus on the feel of Rannoch's chest under his fingers - he could feel musculature there, and it made him curious about the rest.)

"Your...starseed?" He asked, and he blinked, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm just...finding myself very tired."

Rannoch nodded, agreeing to stay away from Kerberos, and let Caledonite guide him to sit down.

"I'm fine, really, just...sleepy. I was up late last night, and then in early for school..." He laughed, a little. "Maybe I shouldn't have come out, but I couldn't resist." He curled into Caledonite's side, resting his head on the Lieutenant's shoulder, nodding along with his explanation of starseeds.

"So...she basically...put Chaos in your soul? That's. Frightening." He said, and he reached over and twisted part of Caledonite's hair around a finger.

"Carmine," he said, without really thinking. "My name is Carmine. But I'm okay, really, just...sleepy."

There was no response from the crystal; Laurelite rarely replied before arriving. It was unnecessary, she thought, and a waste of time to assure that she had gotten the message if the intent was for her to drop in as soon as possible. Instead, she let Cale bask in the silence and then, with a burst of power appeared before him.

She seemed more collected now than she had been in recent summons, but it might have had something to do with the smudged ink on her hand that indicated she had just come from desk work. She seemed to welcome the open night air (and why shouldn't she? Her office might have been lovely, but it was so stuff.)

"Caledonite," she greeted pleasantly. "You’ve someone requesting a conversation? I do hope it's interesting. I've been going through files all night and I admit, I've only got crystals on my mind. With whom and of what am I to be discussing?"