Ashanite had not dealt much with the Negaverse’s Mauvians - in fact, he had not dealt with them at all. But he understood that the cats were well versed in magic, technology, or whatever it was the Negaverse ran on - and he had a need for exactly that.

So he had made his way into Negaspace, and put in a request for a Mauvian. The one that responded was a cat named Soyala, and when he got to meet her...face to face, as it were, Ashanite decided he was very pleased with his luck. She was, by his accounting, a lovely thing, black and white and longhaired, and she walked like she owned every bit of the ground she walked on.

Yes, he liked this Mauvian very much.

“You requested a cat?” She asked, and she hopped her way up onto his shoulder and perched there proudly.

“I did,” he said, and he reached up to scratch her under the chin, which got a pleased purring sound from the cat. “I’m interested in...putting something together. I’ve been working to corrupt a Senshi, named Victoria - and making him trust me necessitates quite a lot of lying. I was wondering if you had any ideas for something that might make me a bit...better at that?”

The cat purred, in a way that would have been contemplative if it was a noise from a human.

“I...think we can put something together,” she said, and then she hopped off his shoulder and started trotting away. “Do you have something to work from, Captain?”

It was strange, to have her address him by his rank and have it not be insulting. He was so used to it coming as a pejorative, with the implication of incompetence or undeservedness, that it was strange to hear it used as a genuine title of respect. Strange and a bit startling, but pleasant at the same time. He could certainly get used to having his rank mean something, and if he was successful in his endeavors with Victoria, it would, finally. This was far too important for him to leave it to chance.

“I have an idea,” he said, and he held up a leather collar - originally purchased for a very different purpose, but that was an entirely different matter. And besides, she didn’t seem particularly concerned with what it looked like. Perhaps as a cat it seemed more ordinary for her, and that suited him just fine. He was sure he would deal with enough questions and curiosities from his fellow agents, he didn’t need them from the cat he had contracted to help him build the damn thing in the first place. “I thought this might serve as a decent base? It would sit at my throat, where the voicebox is…”

“And if the idea is to make you seem more believable, it would help suppress changes in expression or tone of voice...yes, very clever!” Soyala praised. “It will need a little more oomph, I think, but we’re in the right place to find it. A bit of crystal should hold the magic just fine. And then you’ll be able to waltz off into the sunset and lie away.” She purred, and stopped outside a branching room from the hallway, wandering in. He followed, and she hopped up on a table, pawing at a piece of Rift crystal. On the table around it were what looked like carving tools. He wondered, briefly, if they might be enchanted too - would it be easier to shape the crystal if he used Negaverse tools? How much magic was in this process?

Questions he had no answer to, and likely never would.

“Do you want it in any particular shape?” Soyala asked.

That was something Ashanite hadn’t thought about. Did he want to shape this? Carve it into a form other than the crystal in front of him?

He picked the rock up and turned it over in his hands, considering. Nothing too complex, if he did shape it, because he wasn’t sure how it would come out, but something better than a simple hunk of crystal…

And a very simple solution came to mind, when he glance down at his uniform, and his eyes fell for a moment on the broken Saturn symbol on his arm. Yes, that would do nicely - it was simple enough in shape that he was sure he could replicate it, but it was also evocative. He was no longer Ploutonion of Saturn, but he would always, in some ways, be that Knight.

Might as well embrace it.

“Something like this, perhaps?” He asked, and he held up the version of the symbol around his neck. The cat padded closer, pawed at it briefly.

“An interesting choice,” she said, but there was nothing particularly judgemental in her voice. That was a relief. “Sit down, and carve - it will shape itself, I suspect,” she said. He did as she suggested, seating himself at the table and beginning to work the crystal. He was surprised at how easily it began to shape in his hands, with the tools at hand. “And while you’re doing that,” Soyala continued, “tell me a little about yourself, Captain. We’ve barely met, and I can’t ever remember seeing a Lieutenant Ashanite on the rosters, just a Captain.”

This was always the hard part, to talk about himself in a way that revealed enough without revealing too much, as it were.

“I was a Page, and then a Squire, of Saturn, before I was an officer,” he began, choosing his words carefully. “I Awakened as a Page in...late March, I believe. I became a Squire in early June, and I was corrupted soon after that.” The cat didn’t need his whole crafted sob story. “Against my will, but I’ve decided the best option is to make the best of it. I’m here now, and not particularly interested in losing more memories by going back, or whatever else might happen.”

“A wise decision,” Soyala said, pressing the side of her face briefly against his arm - an affectionate gesture if he ever saw one, easy enough to recognize even though he was less than familiar with the workings of cats.. “And look, you’re making such progress here!”

Indeed, the crystal had shaped itself easily in his hands, into the same broken Saturn symbol that decorated his uniform. Ashanite actually smiled, feeling rather pleased with himself. “So I am,” he said, and he carefully finished it, then set the carved crystal on the table.

“Give me the collar,” Soyala said, slightly imperiously, and he did, setting it on the table. She picked up the “tag” in her mouth, and pressed it to the d-ring on the collar, where a dog tag would normally be attached. There was a brief flash of purple light, and the whole thing rested on the table, combined as one. “There you go, Captain,” she said, sitting back. “A collar that will help you lie better - make you just that bit less obvious, or sound that bit more convincing. You'll have about an hour a night to use it, so choose who you lie to well.” Then, she looked him dead in the face, mint green eyes serious. “Be sure you only use it to further the Negaverse, Captain. I will be very disappointed if I discover you are using it for less wholesome purposes.”

Ashanite took the collar, unbuckling it and then fastening it around his neck. It sat comfortably, with the crystal charm resting against his bare chest.

“I would hate to disappoint a lady as fine as you, Soyala,” he said. She batted a paw in the air, almost as if she were waving off the flattery the way a human girl might.

“See to it that you don’t.”