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 Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:25 pm
There were many within the city that hated the cold. Many within the ranks of the powered that prowled the streets and fought in the underground war for power over the lives of the mundane that resided within the concrete jungle they all called home. Many, but not General Xenotime. The brisk air, sharp as glass in her lungs, was just one more reminder of life, and the woman had always willingly embraced life. She watched her breath fog as she sat on the edge of a corner grocery. The streets below were empty, folks too preoccupied with last minute holiday shopping to bother wondering too far from the shopping districts. Here, in the midst of apartment buildings and liquor stores, it was quiet, peaceful even. The only thin that would have made it better would have been a sprinkling of a snow, but, alas, the general would take what was handed to her. She was lost in thought, but even then, the young woman was still on alert. Still mindful of her surroundings. Every sound made it's way to her ear, and when a power signature flickered into being at the edge of that internal radar they all seemed to possess, she felt that too. Head turning the glance down the long line of open street in that direction. From the feel of it she'd guess a knight. Or rather, a squire, if the level of power she was picking up could be trusted. It piqued her interest. Had her sitting up lean forward on her perch with hands curling over the cool concrete between her knees as she watched and waited. A bird of prey, watching for the mouse in the blanket of leaves on the forest floor below. "Come out, come out..." She purred to herself, smile pulling full lips in a wicked curve.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 6:29 am
Isaiah did not cherish the turning weather, but he tolerated it. He tolerated it as he tolerated Blaine, endured it as he endured his Wonder. He dressed well enough for the occasion, with a double-breasted coat, long sleeves underneath, an undershirt, and a wad of scarf poking out over the top of the v-necked cinch of the coat. Beneath black slacks he wore ski socks and long underwear to stymie the cold from leeching into his bones. His footwear was, perhaps, the least sensible of his outfit, given that dress shoes fared poorly in keeping one warm during wintertime, but they were obligation left over from a need to look presentable at business practices.
The glass cane thumped against dirt and dreary grass as he drew farther from the growing mob in the shopping district. The parks and forests now offered vast swaths of seclusion for the privacy of powering up, or for retreating from Christmas' ever-present reign. He passed a bench on his way, littered with old papers from the flyers they handed out yesterday. A Christmas carol, he knew, was set to start in the heart of the city. The rest of the details crumpled beneath his foot as he walked on, ignoring the abandoned stack. He wanted the privacy to don the mantle of Scholomance as much as he wanted to be free of the holiday.
He leaned flush against a tree and spared a scrutinizing glance to his surroundings. Not even the birds paid him any heed. No one lingered in the area. Nothing wanted to set foot in the forest for all of its cold and all of its dolor, and that was just fine for him. Breathing a slow sigh, his modern business casual gave way to dapper and charnel. Immediately he recognized a stifling, blackened aura clouding overhead.
"s**t," he snarled.
Not now. He glanced in ire behind him, through the netting of branches that obscured him thoroughly. Nothing showed against the flecks of rooftops that he could see, even if he felt the general there. It isn't Cinnabar, but it might be Labyrinthite. I'm not doing this twice.
"I pledge my life and loyalty to Saturn, and to Scholomance," he breathed in a whisper. "I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine." Yet the world remained static around him - he never saw a shift of scenery into the still pools and foreboding loom of Scholomance. Nothing changed. Don't tell me I'm ******** barred from visiting my Wonder now. The Code must've had something to do with this. Am I undeserving, now, of this mantle that no one will take? He sneered behind the mask.
Finally he stepped out from cover and into view, then looked to the rooftops for evidence of the General. He found her in short order. "Did you want something, or were you just admiring the view?" He spat caustically.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 7:34 am
Silver eyes widened just a touch when he stepped free of his cover to call out to her. A different breed, she mused silently, as she took in the curve of ivory on his shoulders, the bone at his arms, the grotesque mask that hid the lower half of his face. A knight, undeniably, not like any she'd seen before. This one is different. Still, she recognized those colors, blues and greys, and the dapper cut of gothic regalia. It had her tilting her head as she peered down at him, lips pursed even as a smile still pulled at them. "It's worth a look or two, wouldn't you agree?" It wasn't like her to hold back from violence, but she did now, intrigued. "The nights young. There's time enough for other things." A threat, perhaps, or merely the promise of one that lay dependent upon the general's whim. "Tell me something," she called back to him, dropping from her perch to stand on the edge of the aluminum and steal awning that covered the door of the corner store. "Are you allied with Mont Blanc?" The one that had been stolen from her grasp, but she'd find him again. "Or Ashanite," her lips twitched, and waved a hand in a feigned display of error. "I'm sorry, he went by another name, didn't he?" Slender fingers lofted to tap her chin as if in thought. "what was it again...Ah! That's right. Ploutonian, right?" The last she purred in fondness. Was this another of the captian's companions? Someone else to lure away from the light. The ones with the closest allies were always the most rewarding. Not just for the potential to claim more, but the opportunity to inflict as much emotional turmoil as possible. Xenotime grinned down at him, enigmic and inviting.
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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 8:08 am
It's worth about as much of a look as my wonder is. Biting his tongue, Scholomance offered no response to her rhetorical question. While irritation gripped him, he forced himself to respond to the general in a more neutral manner; aggravating her now would only pull him into further tribulations.
She mentioned Mont Blonc and Ashanite both, and he knew with immediacy this general's name. "You must be Xenotime." The gleam of bare shoulders, of vivid greens laced with deep purples provided a lurid backdrop for the stark black across her face. War paint, perhaps? A symbol for her descent into the darkness of the Negaverse? A simple addition to the uniform as time went on? "I know them both. I've never met Ashanite as Ploutonion." So here it is again, Ashanite's scheme to drag us all down to chaos. I wonder if she saw my note.
His leg groaned with his continued standing, and Scholomance summoned his weapon to hand for support. Immediately the pressure lifted. "'Ally' is a strong word. I associate with both of them, but it's difficult to claim ally to someone who follows a separate path to your own. Mont Blonc, I expect, wants to see the world turn to good. He wants to see Ashanite return to his wonder and the life he once led. Ashanite..." He paused, searching for some explanation for the captain's actions. "His motivations are more nebulous to me - I cannot count him as an ally if I can't perceive his goals. What he wants, I don't know. Maybe only to survive." Maybe to corrupt everyone he considered friend and end his petulant loneliness. Maybe to prove that he's better than the lot of us, who stand steadfast by our broken and harrowing wonders.
"General, if you're going to ask me questions, we might as well make this an exchange." Scholomance tugged down his half-mask to reveal the rest of his face. Let's try this suggestion, Code. Let's see where it gets me. "What can you tell me of Metallia and her claim to the Earth throne?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:27 pm
It seemed to please the general a great deal when he recognized her, calling her by name, and with a satisfied smile she was stepping off the edge of the awning to land light-footed on the pavement below. Effortless. "Yes I am." Pearly teeth flashed in the shadow of her hood as her head tipped in a small nod. Though she stilled when the cane appeared in his hand, pale eyes resting on the summoned weapon with keen alertness before sliding back up to the squire's face when it became obvious he wasn't calling the weapon to try to attack her. The girl listened intently as he spoke, picking up on mention of separate paths, like a blood hound catching a scent. The corners of dark lips twitched in the dark, the almost imperceptible hint of a smile as he went on to describe the nature of his relationship with Ashanite. If it could even be called that. Of course she knew what the captain was after. Or rather, she believed she knew, the truth wasn't too terribly removed from the reality he presented to the world around him. At least in this. Asha wanted his friends brought over to the Negaverse, a simple desire, he just didn't want them to be forced. She seemed amused by his request, and has the mask was drawn down to reveal the bottom half of his face, Xenotime obliged fair play by pushing back the hood so it fell against her shoulders. "I'm always happy to answer questions of the curious sort." Especially when they came from what could potentially prove a future asset to chaos. Of course, she hadn't expected him to ask that, and her surprise showed for half a second--eyes widening, lips twitching--before she had schooled her features into neutral lines. "I can tell you that she's a heart of the Negaverse. Our power, all our power, is from her." As she spoke she walked towards him, body language casual and nonthreatening. "The throne is her's, because it lays in her domain."
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 7:10 am
Oh, did I strike a nerve? How interesting. Xenotime's features indicated as much - at minimum, surprise. Isaiah listened intently to what she said of Metallia, as the central pillar of the Negaverse and owner of the earth throne. It added further to what Hvergelmir had to say of the matter. He wondered if the Cosmos knight knew more of her than that.
"So you're saying the earth throne is literally within her domain? Is it part of..." Scholomance struggled to pry the name from memory. He heard it but once, and never directly addressed to himself. Hvergelmir's speech of it did not broadcast a vast understanding of the Negaverse's dominion. "The Rift, is it? Where Earth's old city used to lie." Where the knight academy is as well. The Negaverse laid claim to it, surely, but was it theirs? Did the Negaverse evolve as a splinter faction of the knighthood, as the earth's natural protectors while knights left their homes for Sol System planets? Hvergelmir doubted it. Scholomance was less inclined to pass judgment on the body of the Negaverse.
Regardless of how they came into possession of the throne, they owned it now.
And what would that mean to him? He found little time to answer the question with Xenotime approaching him. Running was briefly considered and quickly dismissed; the extent of his injury barred flight from anyone of his power level, much less a General. He remained, though his gloved grip tightened on his cane. "Do you fight for her as a protector of Earth and its throne, then?" He would've far preferred retaining fair distance between the pair, and he questioned that logic - a Negaverse agent could just as easily teleport the distance in a blink and reach for his starseed before he could react.
They were, effectively, the top predators in this vile game.
"Lastly, do you know the history of how the Negaverse came to be?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2015 7:33 am
He knew more than any member of order should, least they defect from the Negaverse themselves. Perhaps that was the game here, though if it was a traitor holdinf infosfion, it wasn't him. He was too curious. Another, then, whispering in his ear? Maybe he'd tell her, if she asked the right questions. "Yes, the throne remains in what was once the Earth kingdom, within Metallia's domain." Where exactly Xenotime wasn't sure of. She'd never been curious enough about it to go seeking answers. It didn't matter to her, so long as she obtained the power she'd been promised. She watched the squire tense as she drew closer, and couldn't quite help the pleased sme from showing on dark painted lips. Cautious by nature, or her reputation proceeded her. Either way, she had to give props to the man for being sensable. It never ceases to amaze, how many little fish charged in recklessly, trying to take down a shark. "Do I fight for Earth's protection?" The question rolled off her tongue, tone thoughtful and amused. "Well, I do live here, so I suppose in a way I do, though that's certainly not the main reason." She could have lied, but what was the point in that? The more candid she was, the more curious he might grow. "I desire power, and through Metallia I have gained it. More than I ever could as a mere human." Or most senshi, for that matter. In matters of sheer strength, the Negaverse had the advantage. Always. Now history was a little trickier. "For certain, no. I can make correlations though, educated guesses." She seemed to be focused on his attire, pale eyes gliding from boots on upward, resting finally on his face. "When corrupted, Knights become officers, and vice versa when purified. Our histories are connected somehow."
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:58 am
"How interesting." The Negaverse owned the Kingdom of Earth and everything within its passages, then. The one who held the throne ruled the lands - therefore, Earth was already Metallia's kingdom, and Order simply waged war to reclaim it. Usurping, they call it, when it's just a little less than favorable. "Then, as far as I'm concerned, she owns this world."
Scholomance walked a slow, deliberately wide circle around her, utilizing his cane in the process, until he stood with his back to an old wooden bench. The gravel crunched beneath his feet while he sat upon its surface, then clasped both hands over the cane that he balanced between his legs. Fingers drummed restlessly on the fovea capitis - whether via impatience or anxiousness wasn't readily apparent. When he looked to her again, his eyes remained bright with a very careful curiosity. It would not do to misstep here.
"Metallia isn't the only progenitor of power. Wonders supply a power of their own. Or, more accurately, they provide a convenient conduit for it. I wonder who you would've been in the past, and which planet you abide by? Well - there's not much for it now. I've never heard of knights gaining teleportation, so it's quite guaranteed that one valuable ability would be off the table. I'm not trying to convince you to purify - as far as I'm concerned, the balance of order to Chaos is quite far beyond my realm of influence - but it's more of a what-if puzzle assuming knighthood found you before Metallia did." His leg ached terribly, forcing him to pause and refocus his concentration. He needed his wit, yet his mind endured a fog of longstanding pain.
Scholomance nodded slowly to her inference. "That seems to be the hardest aspect of this war to find information for. My ancestor didn't seem to know anything either, and considering he was alive a thousand years ago, when this war started..." Scholomance shrugged. "It's looking like dead ends are everywhere.
"If you don't mind my asking something a little more personal, why did you choose to try and corruupt Mont Blonc? Sure, he's a Saturn knight who knew Ashanite as Ploutonion, and I assume Ploutonion would want him on a friendly level, but frankly, the boy's useless for a military institution. Secondly, Mont Blonc didn't seem to know you before that instance, which suggests that neither of you shared any kind of personal connection. Does Ploutonion mean a lot to you, General?" He eyed her intently then, looking for all manner of reading material hidden in her countenance.
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Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2016 3:01 pm
She was very still as he circled her, eyes following him, head turning just a touch to keep him in sight for seconds longer, but it didn't seem as though she feared him at her back. Te easiest explanation being that she didn't. He was a squire, and if that limp was genuine, then he was an injured squire. She, a battle trained Negaverse general, had nothing to fear from him. So she let him circled around behind her, smile growing by the second until he had finally taken up post against a close by bench. Violet brows would lift as he mused about her possible planetary alignment. Who she might have been in the past, and where her loyalties might have fallen. It was something to wonder about, though there was no way she knew of to find out. Even if such a way had existed, would she have bothered? Hard to say. Curiosity was a power thing. Perhaps in the abstract, but her loyalties lay in the Negaverse alone. Well. Save for herself, of course. "An interesting puzzle." Her past, the origins of the war, all of it. "But I'm not sure if the answers are out there anymore. Lost to history, perhaps." As the conversation shifted away from the unknown and onto her previous attempts at corrupting a certain squire the general's lips pursed, gaze leveling on Scholomance's face as she considered her answer. The truth, again. "Ploutonion means nothing to me, because he no longer exists. Ashanite, on the other hand, is being trained under my care. He is important to me." More than she'd like. Of course, she was still a bit angry at him over the whole ordeal with Mont Blonc, though he was making strides in redeeming himself. Crossing her arms loosely, Xenotime's fingers curved under either elbow. "Mont Blonc would have been a present to my Captain, but more than that, he would have been, will be, a catalyst. The Squire is well liked, connected. Taking him deals a blow to the white moon, as well as creates the opportunity to enlist more of his allies so they can remain with him."
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 10:04 am
"Ploutonion still exists if you're exploiting his ties to Saturn. You cannot deny a Captain his former heritage and yet use it to your - or his - advantage." Scholomance watched her pleasantly, though inwardly he expected some kind of retaliation for calling her out. The general knew quite well that she was far stronger than him; Labyrinthite knew the same. He received repercussions for his actions back then, too.
Her further explanations shed significant light on their activities - one that, for once, gladdened him for his lack of ties to the White Moon or other knights. "Ah. I see." Taking him does deal a blow to quite a few people. While he is not an exceptionally good fighter, or participant to any capacity on the war front, he is a support for a handful of people. She's right - Mont Blonc is ideal tactical ground to take, even if he isn't particularly useful himself. interesting how our chosen allies come to haunt us. I should be more careful on who I pick for confidants. "I like Mont Blonc. I expect, then, that I will continue to have relations with him even if the Negaverse repurposes him. In any case, his fate is not mine to command."
Absently Scholomance massaged his aching hip as he spoke. "I've also been attacked by a Negaverse General - one by the name of Labyrinthite. He very nearly sheared my leg off. I wonder - is that related to Ploutonion somehow? Did you coordinate with this general on a kill-or-corrupt scheme to support Ashanite with reclaiming his Saturn brethren? It's not the first time this kill-or-corrupt option has surfaced for me. Obviously, I cannot sustain another go of it - my injuries prevent me from going far, and I can't say I am terribly tactically versed. This puts me at a disadvantage when dealing with the Negaverse or other enemies I entertain.
"But whether these kill-or-corrupt attempts are related to Ashanite or not does not affect my next point. As the knight of Scholomance, I have at my command a weaponized research institution that I cannot utilize as a Negaverse agent. Nor can I make use of it if I'm dead, as you can imagine. I request that you grant me clemency from the Negaverse for the sake of opening trade. If you find that magically engineered creations may be useful for the Negaverse in its future, then you may want to make it a point to clarify me as a non-threat to your faction. Does that sound like a deal to you, General?"
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