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 Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:28 am
Had it been hours, since the last time she'd seen someone? Had it been days? It was hard to meter out without talking to Ashanite through the wall, and she didn't want to seem too eager, too weak. They were of equal rank, which made them allies but also competitors, and she didn't want him running off to some general and spouting how desperate she'd seemed. Between that and the semi-sporadic patrols her captors seemed to make, it was safest not to speak unless she had to.
Knowing that there were others captured here explained a few things, at least. It meant that she hadn't been the one targeted, at least not explicitly, and that her relevance in the operation was apparently relatively low. No one had been specifically looking for her in here, and it was likely that no one was specifically looking for her out there. But if there were multiple people taken, then it was more likely that their absence would be noticed. She had to keep up hope. There must be a reason she was still alive.
On a lark, she tugged idly at the chains that held her hands behind her back, doing her best to ignore the stiff aches in her shoulders and the raw pain in her wrists. Her bonds held strong, clinking as the loose links slid around the water pipe they were threaded between. The chain coiled lazily around to her ankles, where they tightly held her boots. Given the time to shuffle about, she had the freedom to sit or lie down in the dust, but the door might as well have been miles away for all the good it did her.
Rattling her chains fruitlessly, she leaned back against the solid walls of her cage and closed her eyes, doing her best to focus on breathing. If she would just breathe, she wouldn't have to think of her hunger or her thirst or her slow upwelling panic.
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:49 pm
Mistral hadn't actually planned to involve herself in this nonsense. Oh, yes, let's kidnap a bunch of powerful chaos operatives who all have the ability to rip our hearts out of our chests and stick them in cages. That won't end badly. She wanted information, true, but dirtying her hands torturing people who probably didn't know anything new seemed like a waste of energy - and she was already operating on limited capacity. (Wasn't she always?) But... there was one person among the captives who was of special interest to her. Mistral had very little invested in seeing people purified. Let the diplomats preach balance. Let the warriors beat the other side into submission. She was a scientist, R&D. She didn't fight unless she had no other choice. And, she knew, there were those on the other side who were likeminded. Those who didn't deserve to be tied up and beaten. "Hello, Captain Zircon," said Mistral, lowering her bag from her shoulder. They'd tied her up, like an animal... but it was for the captors' safety. Fingers on a Negaverser were a very dangerous thing... And the sooner she cracked transcendence, the sooner she'd be permanently safe. "Are you thirsty?" she asked, reaching into her bag. "I brought you some water. And a business proposition, if you're keen."
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:30 pm
Zircon's attention snapped up as the door swung inwards. She knew that hair and that face and that symbol, and her expression waned, curling her legs inwards. Fear wasn't the emotion to well up in her chest, but rather embarrassment, dark and mucky and reeling. Of all the people to find her in this dusty cell, why did it have to be her? How was she going to maintain a sense of authority when her hands were tied?
"Mistral," her voice wavered, watching with wary eyes as the Mercury knight rummaged about in a bag. Were there instruments of torture in there? Something to break her shackles? In another lifetime, a false future, the two of them had been close, but in the same timeline Mistral had stabbed her in the back and watched her bleed out, so it was hard to know what to expect.
"Only a little," Zircon lied, biting her lip to keep from licking it. "It'll have to be a brief business proposition, I have plans later and I'll be all tied up."
Solitary confinement had given Zircon a sense of humor drier than her faux-wonder. She'd spent hours waiting for the opportunity to use that, and it showed in the cheeky way she narrowed her eyes, even though her voice shook with every word.
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 8:37 pm
Mistral laughed - it was a good joke, and she was certain Zircon was proud of it. She'd at least give her the pleasure of getting a reaction. "That's a good one," she said. "I'm sorry about your present predicament, by the way. I didn't have anything to do with it." She cracked the bottle of water open and held it out to Zircon's mouth. "You and I have a lot in common," she continued, tilting the bottle so that Zircon could drink from it. "I can respect a brilliant mind when I see one. That portal you built in the aborted timeline was pure brilliance. I have access to one of the greatest laboratories ever built - the labyrinth at Mistral - and, at present, no one to share it with." She smiled slightly, doing her best to sell the proposition with her body language, assure the captain of her good will. "I think we could do great things together." Biting her lip, she added, "Of course, there's one small catch. I'm offering a job to Zoji La, not Zircon. But that's an easy enough fix. And it would get you out of here."
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 4:06 pm
The Knights weren't responsible? An interesting theory, if it were in fact true, considering everyone she'd spoken to thus far had, in fact, been a Knight of some variety.
"I wouldn't have assumed you personally--too poorly organized," she shrugged, leaning forward to catch a sip of water. It was pointless to pretend she didn't know some version of Mistral, and Zircon was too tired and drained to keep up pretenses. "But I assumed it was some sort of Order operation, making a mockery of our efforts last year. Do you know who planned all this? How many they took?"
Something in Zircon nodded, but her eyes hardened at the mention of the abandoned wonder. "Then it's not really me you're looking to offer a job, then." She tried to square her shoulders, only to wince in pain from the stiffness of her binds. "Let's be honest here. I'm not Zoji La. I'll never be that person. And the 'easy fix' you're proposing kills half of me, bare minimum. Whatever survives...well, you're the cleanup crew for that, right?"
Zircon watched Mistral carefully, looking for signs of deceit under that genial smile. "Is that why you're really here? To clean up what the other's won't?" Truth be told, she was terrified to face the possibility of death, of feeling this woman's blade a second time, but being too afraid to ask would make it no less real if it turned out to be true. For all the nights she agonized over this fate, it would be worse to not know, to be so blind-sighted as she'd been once before.
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Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2016 10:23 pm
Mistral regarded Zircon evenly. "I know that you're not so naive as to think that Order is a single united front," she said. "The Negaverse has known from the start that we're not coordinating with each other and used it to their advantage." Was she not supposed to say that? Honestly, Mistral had no investment in whether this operation was a success or not. If it backfired and left its executors down and out, it would serve them right. "I don't know who precisely planned this," she said. "I'm curious as to how they're preventing you all from teleporting away, but besides that, kidnapping seems like a waste of time. I don't expect most of the people here to know the first thing about the Negaverse's inner workings, and torture is a fool's errand. We're supposed to be above that." Facing off against Zircon was a unique pleasure. Mistral rarely felt that she was in the company of a true equal, but Zircon was uniquely talented. Perhaps she wouldn't say yes now, but she was determined that one day, they would be united in their brilliance. "You are, though," she said, lowering the water bottle. The empty plastic crackled in her hand. "I've seen enough people purify to know that your mind will be intact. I don't blame you for being protective of your memories - I'm likewise protective of mine - but you and Zoji La are one and the same, and you would still be you." "And," she added, smiling, "I stand by my assertion that we could do amazing things together. You're the only person I've made this offer to - who I would even consider making this offer to."
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 10:30 am
"Whatever it is," Zircon mused, her eyes glancing upwards, "It's like...a fog, on all of my senses, I can't reach for my weapon, for Negaspace, I can't feel any of our or your signatures. It's honestly the worst part about this whole thing." She scrunched her lips in disapproval, then leveled her gaze back to Mistral. There was an eagerness to the Mercury knight's gaze that was unsettling, and it called to mind a different place and a different time, where she stood next to strange equipment and the air was crisp and cold. She blinked and the image was gone, but still she felt the cold, coiled darkly in her gut. Was she really trying to share information with this woman, to collaborate? Why was it so easy, so natural to do so?
This was a dangerous game. She had to end it.
"I know what it means, to turn against Chaos and run to Order. You trade away years of your life, things that you wouldn't think mattered until you're looking up at the sky and know you're supposed to love this but you can't remember why." Zircon leaned against the back wall of her cell and shook her head, frowning. "Zoji La was a sad, drifting creature with no memories and no home, fighting against a force that could not be defeated."
For all that Order and Chaos alike touted the story of Zoji La, it was not one that Zircon would have chosen to live for herself. "You're not allowed to lecture me about these false visions and not talk about how they end," she said gently, her expression softened. "Zoji La gets everything you offer her and she chooses the Negaverse anyway. It won't work."
Was that disappointment in her voice? No. Surely not.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 12:04 pm
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Mistral. She could feel Zircon's blood on her hands, as though that aborted future was happening in real time. "You said yourself that they're false visions. The world is already on a different path - so why fear something that doesn't have to happen? That Zoj La lacked support. That Zoji La lost her purpose. But that Zoji La was a quantum hallucination. " She pursed her lips - Zircon was offering a lot more pushback than she'd anticipated. In a purely logical world, her offer was simple! It was an obvious choice! Purify and work on all the cutting-edge science you could ever dream of, refuse to purify, and continue to waste away in a dank jail cell until the end of time. "I didn't think you were a coward," she said. "A defeatist. Someone so afraid of failure that they won't even try." She leaned in close. She lowered her voice. "I thought you were a scientist," said Mistral.
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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 6:13 pm
Zircon's jaw dropped, and she scoffed at the indignity. "How dare--that's--"
She leaned forward, as if she might have been able to get in Mistral's face. However, the chains rattled and pulled tight, causing Zircon to cry out in alarm and pain.
"I am a scientist," Zircon hissed, her cheeks going red. "I just know better than to try the same experiment and expect different results!"
The captain huffed, then glanced away, biting her lip. It was unbecoming of her as a captain to let Mistral get under her skin like this. She had to be more resilient, she couldn't let them know she was breaking.
"My answer is no," she said lowly, refusing to meet the woman's eyes.
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Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2016 10:36 pm
Mistral watched Zircon struggle, impassive. "Since you're a scientist, then," she said, "You should recognize that the experimental conditions have changed, rendering the earlier results null and void. Your sample size is bad. Your methods are flawed." This was becoming petty, she thought - best to end it and leave the door open. "My offer will stand until such a time when you decide to take it," said Mistral, smiling, businesslike, at the retrained captain. "I look forward to hearing from you, Zircon." With a nod, she turned to go.
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:58 pm
When Mistral turned to leave, Zircon's eyes lifted, her throat tight from the number of replies struggling against each other to find her lips.
You won't hear from me.
I won't ever fall for this.
You'll have a better chance of killing me again.
I will always be me.
Zircon knew when she'd been goaded, though, her mind addled from days without sunlight or rest or real food and water and shelter. It was better to let the squire go, to keep her mouth shut and be proved no greater a fool than she'd already shown. There would be another time for this, when she was well rested and strong. But still, the thoughts came, long after the woman's blue silhouette disappeared from sight.
My offer still stands, too, you know.
We could do great things, the right way.
...
Don't go.
Don't leave me here.
Please.
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