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 Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:24 am
Whimsical Blue To Cinnabar: Do you remember me, General? You tried to corrupt me once before, and when you could not sell me on the Negaverse, you threatened to kill me. I would explain my reasons for writing to you, but I must be brief, for this is urgent. There is little time to waste on irrelevant information. I recognize you as a General who is proud to serve her sovereigns. I have information for you that will assist in this regard. It is of paramount importance - it pertains to the very life of the power you serve. If you are interested in what I have to say, meet me at the promenade by the river district. I will be standing among the rock sculptures. I will be expecting you and one other. Scholomance frayedflower To Amphitrite, To begin, I would apologize for the dire conditions you found yourself in earlier. I'm afraid I had no control over such events, and further lacked the ability to stop them. At least, though, you escaped with your life. However, I do not have much time to write pleasantries. I have information that is vital to the Negaverse's continued longevity. You will find this information quite important to your well-being and that of the entity you serve. If you are interested in making a deal for reception of this information, meet me at the promenade by the river district. I will be standing among the rock sculptures. You might run into someone you know when you reach me. Yours, Scholomance
With each passing second, Scholomance was sieged by a slurry of thoughts - some reprimanding him for the course of action he chose to take, some giddy for the thought of coming out on top through all this, others still pertaining to how this may alter the course of fate, and some beyond that which pertained to whether he would survive the night. All had their place, but as he recognized it, now was less a time for consideration of his social standing and future. Instead, he needed to focus on the argument he would make and the evidence supplied. He needed to remember Cinnabar, her youmafied exterior, and how best to appeal to her. He needed to remember Amphitrite, her wiles, and how she might find interest in what he had to say. He had to think of power plays and mind games. He had to think of torture. He had to think of corruption.
They wouldn't risk it, he assured himself as he waited for the breeze to blow over. Somewhere, a fog horn sounded its piercing call through the night.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:38 am
To say Amphitrite was worse for wear after her captivity would be a gross understatement. Though a week was nothing compared to five, she felt as though it'd gone on so much longer, and to know that Poppy had been - there was a part of her when she received the letter that seriously considered flat-out ignoring it. But in a way, that seemed to be admitting defeat to the order just as much as submitting to them in the bowels of the prison.
It may well be a trap. Even if it was Scholomance - no, especially it being Scholomance, for who even knew how many layers of deception may or may not be - or how plainly honest to his own gains. She'd yet to figure which he was, and perhaps that's what made his message so intriguing.
She could have approached silently. Instead, she made it a point to walk with her heels clacking noisily on the ground beneath her, her head held high and everything polished to the best of her ability to try and obscure just how frayed she was beneath.
"Darling, " she called by way of greeting, her fingers firmly secured around her communication gem. The corrupt did not intend to use it unless she found need to, but better safe than sorry - keep it in sight, a reminder that there was an army to support her. "Just bear in mind, handsome. If this is another ploy to take me, I'll be most displeased with you." She smiled. It was tight. She was still bearing visible signs of abuse at the hands of the order; her wrists for all their bruising were obscured by gloves, but it could be seen around her ankles. "So who else are we expecting for our little menage à trois, hm?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:59 pm
Cinnabar appeared from nothingness, feet planted firmly on the earth near the river. Around her, the night was still and the wind chill as it ruffled the fur around her collar, sweeping in off the river.
Silent, she opened her senses wide, red-black eyes narrowed, and reached as far as she could. Only two small 'lights' came to her, one dark and cool, like chilled wine. One overly sweet and too warm, like the worst of the deserts she disliked eating.
A knight and a corrupted senshi, from her experience, which matched what had been written in the letter that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. It had startled her when it popped into being, embarrassingly so, and it was lucky she'd been alone at the time. No one had seen her jump. Having landed well away from the meeting point, Cinnabar took her time surveying the surrounding area, opened herself as much as she was able in order to catch any hint of what could be an ambush.
It had taken a moment, but she'd remembered the knight in question from a meeting not so long ago. He'd seemed open to her offer to join them, but had ended up refusing, and as expected, she had attempted to put him down. Getting a request to meet him, because he had supposedly important information, had seemed like a rather obvious attempt at taking her down... so obvious it had perversely been worth checking out. Did he really think she was so trusting or stupid?
At least the lack of any other people, that she could see or sense, suggested he hadn't lied in his letter... but you never knew. That could change.
Turning, her hand stuffed deep into her pockets, Cinnabar paced closer to the signatures she'd sensed, her boots clunking softly against the concrete. Another surprise came in ahead of familiar teal hair and the general felt her eyebrows climb up her forehead as she quickened her pace.
"Amphitrite. What a surprise." Despite her words for the corrupt, her gaze found the knight and held there, trying to glean what she could from a man who covered half of his face. "Are you recovered?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:31 pm
Amphitrite was the first to show, which idd not surprise him terribly; Scholomance could not deny that his letters offered hasty missteps in arrangements. An open location like the promenade, he hoped, would ease suspicion. There were no greatly nearby buildings to hide within for the case of ambushes, though they were the topic of conversation for the night.
"Amphitrite," he greeted in response. She looked battered, still - the parts of her that showed. Her spirit remained defiant and brave, and her humor remained. She was not broken, even if any bones suffered during her tenure in hold. He smiled behind the mask. "Give her a few minutes to show. I hear she gets shy sometimes." Gloved hands folded over his waist as he leaned against one of the large rocks. He felt somewhat naked without the cane, but summoning it now may give false impressions.
And surely, the general's auric spike caught his attention. Like a pinprick it was, for the intensity of how he noticed it. He wondered if some had auric sensitivities, and if he was one of them. Scholomance peered into the darkness for the signs of her, and only caught the bright red of her uniform as she was nearly upon them. Somewhere, a streetlight winked out. Darkness prevailed over the general before she crossed into the next. As she strode to a halt, she looked more focused on Amphitrite than he. It was no offense, as the Negaverse cared for their own, but Scholomance found it surprising. Has she not checked in with Amphitrite to know her progress? Interesting. I wonder how that works.
"Cinnabar." He did not relish the repeat of her name, and found that he vastly preferred her when he was no more than a civilian. That aside -- "I apologize I couldn't arrange better circumstances for this, but time is of the essence. I did manage to pick an open area to hopefully assuage your fears of getting backstabbed." Part of him wanted to offer assurance that he had no intention to do anything of the sort tonight.
"I don't want to waste your time, so I'll get to the point. I have information that affects the state of the Negaverse, and I have demands that need meeting if you want that information. I can supply you with some proof before I give you what I have, so that you will be satisfied that you're not making a hollow deal. My terms are straightforward - I want complete immunity from Negaverse attacks. Your soldiers will know not to assault me or consider me an enemy - I am simply a neutral party that will not be touched. Secondarily, I want the ability to request active aid from the Negaverse in certain instances. My wonder is a weaponized research facility, and I have no standing faction ties. The information I discover can be sold, and I believe the Negaverse has the tools to help me further my research at an appreciable rate. Assisting me may result in a discounted sale.
"Now, what do you think?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:01 pm
She was learning by now through their encounters when to recognize the crinkling of eyes and the slight shift of fabric as a smile beneath that mask. Amphitrite still had to say she preferred him without it, though. Not that the garish smile put her off, but it was much easier to read him without it... and the added benefit of a handsome face tucked away underneath was a nice juicy little bonus.
They did not have to wait long, and although she did not exactly fear Scholomance of all people, she did feel a tiny surge of relief to feel someone stronger appear. Again, not that she was incapable, but she'd rather have an asset than a liability right now. It was as simple as that. Even more when she realized just which general it was, a fond smile briefly illuminating her shadowed face. "General Cinnabar. Surprise indeed. - you say that as though they did anything to merit needing time to recover, " she teased idly, as though it were less than what it was.
Better to give off that impression than any degree of fracturing, really.
Her attention was on Scholomance, then, her arms crossed lightly over her chest, nodding as he alluded to getting to the meat of the situation, whatever it might be. And get right to it he did, laying out all kinds of demands from immunity to more than that, asking their aid. Now the facet of rendering him neutral was a bit of one thing, and given their last encounter before the prison, she could imagine swaying him with time - but as for the rest -
The corrupt glanced at Cinnabar, trying to gauge her reaction. "General, I hope you don't mind my asking, but - Scholomance, I think you'd need to define 'certain instances' darling. Battle? Research? Bedside manner?" The slightest upturn of lips followed that. "These terms are steep, and a potential discount isn't much incentive."
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 2:12 pm
Amphitrite had a playful retort for her, which was heartening. At least she was well enough to make light of her situation, and she was here, rather than hiding at home. She wouldn't have blamed her if she had, but it was good to see her up and out. Red eyes flicked to her briefly and then back to the knight, settling into an unblinking stare.
He greeted her by name and a slow smile spread over her face, displaying more tooth than cheer. Whatever he had to say, he thought it worth the risk of calling her. It made her curious... and tipped the balance towards letting him speak, versus taking advantage of the opening to take him down. At the least, it wouldn't hurt anything to hear him out.
His demands, as he laid them out, were straightforward and logical. They betrayed cowardice in their form though, to her mind. He wanted to hover in the gray zone between the two factions, belonging to neither, but not against them. Her thoughts on that, and the impossibility of it, she kept to herself. There wasn't anything to be gained telling him how foolish she found the idea.
And the thought that demands like that would need the approval of someone even higher than she was stayed tucked safely back, for the moment. There were many Generals in the Negaverse that she had no ability to command. There would be no way to guarantee him true safety without the agreement of a General-Sovereign... but if he didn't know that already, she wasn't sure she wanted to inform him about it just yet.
When Amphitrite looked to her, Cin spare her a glance before she reached out to touch her arm with a think fingered hand.
"Your terms are steep, but not unreasonable if the information is valuable. They will, of course, have caveats. The same will be expected from you towards our agents. Assaulting any member of the Negaverse, supporting one of our enemies, or otherwise impeding our movements will render the deal null. If you wish to be neutral, it must be truly neutral." She cocked her hair to the side, studying him intently. "Active aide, however, will need more than a one time grant of information. There is no benefit to us spending resources on someone who isn't giving some sort of measurable return. If you can continue to feed us information, then we could continue offering aide on call."
Dropping her hand away from the corrupt beside her to claim space in her pocket again, she shifted, easing weight from one hip to the other.
"Now. What proof to do you have that your information is valuable enough for a deal like this?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 5:50 am
"I'm not interested in assaulting anyone of the Negaverse or the White Moon. Battle assistance won't be necessary." He eyed the way they interacted with each other, as Amphitrite brushed away her wounds as nothing. You are bold to deny your condition in front of someone who was acutely aware of it. Attempting to refute her claims to Cinnabar only ended counterproductively.
"To answer you less vaguely, Amphitrite, my requests will fall under 'bedside manner' or 'research tasks'. If I find that I am in unsafe territory, I may ask a Negaverse agent to teleport me to a location that I need to reach. I might contact some of yours about topics I'm currently researching - starseeds, for example, or instantaneous travel, or the differences between Negaverse senshi magic and White Moon magic, or Dark Mirror magic. I might also ask that a Negaverse agent obtain a starseed for me to study, or to command a youma for me. Think of it like establishing an open deal with an independent contractor. The purpose of this deal is to establish this open dialogue, and any request I make of the Negaverse will come with a separate price, to be agreed upon at the time of the request. In this way, there's no expectation of continued help from or for either party."
He looked to Cinnabar, then, and studied her peculiarly enticing eyes. Much to his chagrin currently, objectifying her came far too easily. "Of course. I don't have an interest in participating in this war. The first group to subjugate the opposing party can have Earth to themselves. I don't have a preference for which party that is. Please note that I cannot be called on for any Negaverse operations unless there's a standing deal that requires it as payment."
Scholomance stepped forward, offering one bony finger brandished in the venerable gesture of hold on. "I think you might find that my magic is of more worth than information. The Negaverse is a militant organization in opposition of, from what I can tell, a guerrilla force. They can seldom perform tactical strikes that will adversely affect a militant organization in an appreciable way. I can share what I know when needed, but often your enemy lacks the finesse to conjure legitimate threats. But, all that is beside the point." He dismissed the thought with a flick of the wrist.
If you want to know about my magic, I can tell you afterward. For now, i think it's time for a demonstration of what I have for you today." Reaching into a coat pocket, Scholomance procured one of the clarion empty vessels bestowed by Caedus. He pinched the crystal between thumb and forefinger, holding it out for both Cinnabar and Amphitrite to inspect. "Don't touch it," he warned before the pair could lay hands on the smooth gem. "It shouldn't be touched with bare hands. I'm not certain how it would affect either of you.
"This is a crystal that can drain energy by contact with skin. I'm sure you will both recognize that it isn't created by the Negaverse - nor would it need to be. You're all perfectly capable of draining energy without the assistance of third party devices. The White Moon, however, is not." With the crystal tucked into the palm of one hand, Scholoance worked off the glove of his free hand and wrapped it about the gem. Afterward, he offered it to either officer with an interest of closer inspection. "The information I have to offer covers these crystals and their use This isn't something the Negaverse has had to face before, I would say." Falling silent, he waited.
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2016 8:20 pm
The terms he listed were not unreasonable. In another situation, between different people, they could have been perfectly agreeable. Cinnabar was not someone prone to negotiating, however.
He should have called for Schörl, she thought faintly. The blonde would have listened more intently, worked it into a bigger scheme.
Finally, he pulled something from his pocket, producing the proof he had said he had. Cin's eyes narrowed as she studied it, opening her senses to search for any tell-tale prickle of Chaos energy. Nothing came from it though... the only chaos she felt came from the corrupt beside her. Dark eyebrows lifted as he demonstrated it's ability to draw energy and whatever this thing was, wherever it had come from... Cin decided she didn't like it.
When he offered it out for inspection, the half-youma reached for it with a quick motion, stealing it from his grip. She willfully ignored his caution against skin contact and she frowned as she lifted the crystal before her eyes.
It looked like nothing the Negaverse had produced, at least that she had ever seen. It gave off no chaos feel, and it was only when she concentrated that she could feel it leeching energy through her skin. Frowning, she let it do so for a moment, sampling the feel of it with curiosity.
"Alright, I'll bite." She said finally, opening her fingers to let the crystal fall to rest on her palm. It's draw was gentle and slow, so she didn't rush to rid herself of it. "I want to know what you know and I'm willing to pay for it."
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 11:35 am
"Good." Scholomance smiled then, though his relief grew more evident than he intended. "It's a deal, then. I'll share what I know, and I'll write up the contract for you later. You'll receive it much the same as my letter earlier." He supposed it might look contrived, and he was uncertain if the deal would find much take among the rest of the Negaverse, but he maintained safeguards against that.
"That crystal is a very new invention that came to the White Moon. As you're aware, the ability to store pure energy is a very powerful one. Effectively, you can build a battery as big as you want - to power anything you have the ability to design. It doesn't sound like much initially, but I'll get to that. Recently these crystals were distributed at a covert meeting, and attending members were tasked with gathering energy using these crystals. Naturally this implies another covert meeting to return the crystals, though I don't know when or where it would be called. Safety measures against this exact scenario, I think. Apologies for my lack of knowledge there.
"The particulars are still being worked out, but the White Moon are working on a mass transport device. The aim is very simple - they plan to ambush the Negaverse en masse. This won't be a typical ambush, however; there's actual planning going into this, and there were at least two royals present at the gathering where I obtained this crystal. I didn't see them retrieve any of their own, but I imagine they're every bit as committed to this cause as the rest of them. There were also a great deal of eternals, and a mix of super and basic senshi as well as knights who ally with their ideals. This looks to be a highly concerted tactical effort against the Negaverse.
"What you do with this information is up to you. If your leaders choose to go on a preemptive offensive and crush the White Moon before they can finish their machinations, that's their decision. It is, however, one I recommend. I don't know anything about the exact location of the strike, which poses a problem at current. I imagine I won't learn of it until they finish configuring their mass transport.
"Do either of you have any further questions of me? I apologize if this information comes off sparse, but I'll answer with anything else I know." Hands folded together once more and rested against his stomach. He did not demand for the crystal to be returned.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 11:04 am
He made no demand for the crystal and Cinnabar made no motion go give it back to him, rolling it across her palm to the curious sensation of being drained. It didn't hurt and she was confident enough in her reserves that what little took hardly mattered.
"So you know these crystals need to be taken back, but not when or where.You know there will be an attack, but you don't know when or where that will be either." Cin said as her eyes left the crystal and found the hazel gaze of the man across from her. She tilted her head, her eyebrows rising, but she kept the skepticism out of her voice in an effort not to immediately alienate their new information source.
"That's not very much information, Scholomance. Can you at least put names or faces to the ones who were at the meeting? Who were the leaders? Who was supporting them?" She pinched the crystal between forefinger and thumb, her dark claws retracted, and held it up. "Can you tell me where they got this? Are there others, wherever this came from?"
He seemed unaware that the Negaverse could enchant items to drain energy the way this crystal was doing it, but he was right when he said there was no sense of chaos to it. She felt confident in saying it wasn't something Negaverse made, but then, what was it? How had they gotten ahold of it? Why suddenly a plan to strike at them with it? And why a mass transport device? Where were they trying to go?
It was too many questions. Scholomance had hardly answered any of it, only called up more of them. She wasn't even sure what to do with the information. Go to Laurelite with the same lack of information, about a supposed attack that could come at any time and anywhere? No. She needed more information first.
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