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 Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:10 pm
Eros ran down an alley, her floppy boots with their kitten heels loud against the concrete. Behind her, something moved just out of sight and it raised the fine hairs at the back of her neck. Around a corner and down another alley, she was almost certain she had lost her pursuer when the sounds behind her faded. But luck was not on her side tonight as a figure reared up in front of her, forcing her to skid to a halt with arms thrown up defensively. A cackling laugh was her only warning before a hefty, thick-fingered hand smashed into her and sent her stumbling back. Arms aching, Eros shook them out as she got the space to get a good look at the monster that had been chasing her as it lumbered towards her. It stood far taller than she was, and nearly as round as a ball. Everything about it was round really, though it had a semblance of a human form. It was like a child's toy, made huge... a round head and body with stumpy, cartoonishly thick limbs... and it's smile was like a cartoon too, if the type that would terrify children. "Hungry!" It said clearly, in a voice that sounded to small and childish for the monstrous form. "Oh, go eat s**t." Eros snapped back at it. The human seeming ones, especially the ones that talked, were always the worst... a hundred times creepier than any misshapen animal construct. Launching herself forward, the super senshi hit the monster square in its leering mouth, sending it stumbling as it had done to her. Fighting was never her strong suit, but in the time she'd been a senshi, it had become clear that NOT fighting somethings simply wasn't an option. She knew if she didn't hit this monster, it was not going to stop coming for her, and at that point, it was it or her, and Eros knew who she wanted to keep alive. It took a few blows to reduce the youma to dust, leaving the short worman leaning tirely against the concrete wall as she struggled to catch her breath. She really needed to get some self defense lessons... and maybe stop smoking. It was hard to say which she was more likely to do, though. Her hand absently patted her hip, but there was no bag there with cigs and, more importantly, joints. Stupid henshin bullshit... she so often forgot that everything disappeared when she powered up. She needed to start leaving her bag off when she did it, so she could put it on after. Tiny skirts and filmy bows didn't make for good pockets.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 10:14 am
It seemed to be a fairly active night. Warmer weather, or perhaps the filling of the moon, was inspiring an abundance of youma, and where their were youma, there were senshi and knights to fend them off. General Xenotime was in a rare moment of indecision. There were auras all around hr, flicking in and out of internal radar, and she was stuck on which, if any, to check up on. At least until she felt one lingering on one place for more than a few moments. A smaller, chaotic aura had been with it, but that flickered out of existence. Humming to herself, the general got to her feet, brushed her hands along th backs of her thighs, and then vanished. When she appeared again, it was on the edge of the roof over looking the alley the senshi was standing in. A glance down showed bright hair and a bright fuku. No potential spheres jumped immediately to mind, so really, she could have been the senshi of anything. Leaning against the wall, she seemed a little winded. "Hello sweetheart." If she hadn't already been aware of the general's presence, she would be now. The woman waited until she could meet the senshi's eyes before dropping down to the sidewalk below. "Been fighting youma, like a good little soldier of light?" She chuckled as she scuffed the toe of her boot through a bit of lingering dust. It would be gone by morning, or sooner, scattered by the wind. "How dutiful." Still smiling, she started forward.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 4:47 pm
The power signature came out of seemingly no where, and despite her second stage hinting the senshi might know what she was doing... Eros really didn't. The aura was an annoyance in the back of her mind that didn't really register until a voice came from above and a body dropped down to her level. Her upgrade was probably more of a fluke than a reward for actual growth, and that could become a bit of a problem now, because when she actually paid attention she could sense someone a good deal stronger than she was. And that was before factoring in any type of fighting ability, of which Eros has zilch. The super senshi pushed herself up and away from the wall, though she tried to keep the motion relaxed and nonthreatening. "Ah, hey!" She said as she spread her hands, showing them empty. An ingratiating smile plastered across her face and she tilted her head a little as she lifted and dropped her shoulders. "It wanted to eat me, so I just got it first, you know? I'm sorry if it belonged to you, but I suspect you don't go for such trashy beasts. Your youma is probably big and fierce, huh?" Talking her way out of this would have been ideal, but as soon as the General (that rank was called a general, right?) moved towards her, Eros began backing away and looking for an easy exit. She had no intention of seeing who was the stronger here, because there was no way it was her.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 5:34 pm
What a skittish little thing. Xenotime's head tipped, birdlike, to one side as the senshi brought her hands up to show herself unarmed, harmless, which in and of itself was just comical. Senshi didn't wield weapons. Silly girl. What was even more humorous, though, was the notion of the general being in possession of a personal youma. Not to the senshi, of course, how would she knew any better? But to Xenotime? It was quite funny, and the general only barely managed to suppress an amused chuckle. "Oh no, not mine." Her nose wrinkled as she shook her head, but she hadn't stopped her forward pursuit, nor even adjusted her speed. Not even as the senshi began to retreat backwards down the alley. "I don't have a youma," she'd correct benignly. She'd considered it, once upon a time, but ever since Bischofite...well, the appeal had dimmed significantly. However useful they may be, Xenotime had never crossed paths with a beasty that had made her question her choice in not claiming one for herself. Maybe someday, but she was in no hurry. Her heels were making soft clacks on the sidewalk with every slow step she advanced, hips swaying, and after a moment or so one bare hand would extend to the side, the tips of her fingers trailing along the brick wall. There was nothing hurried about her movements, nothing rigid or outwardly threatening. And yet, there wasn't a thing about the general that could have been confused as harmless, not as she followed the senshi. Cool, silver eyes tracked every tiny movement, like a hawk watching a mouse in a field, and she smiled. "I hope you don't think you'll be able to run away." Even her voice was smooth, promising. "You might as well just stop now and make it easier on yourself. It doesn't have to end in death." Now she chuckled, free hand lifting to push her head back along her shoulders. "You could join us, instead. I think you'd look pretty in black." Features pinched in amusement. "Well, more black.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 6:49 pm
There was no way being approached while she was obviously backing away could be read as anything but aggressive. Eros knew the signs in people who wanted to hurt her, beaten into her from a young age, and everything about this General said she was being toyed with. Which was fine, in some situations. Like in bed. Eros had no problem being someone's toy in bed. Being a toy in a dark alley at night was the set up to a slasher movie. "Yeah, I do admit I look really good all in black, but that's really not a road I'm looking to go down just at the moment. I like things the way they are, to be truthful with you... and really, you don't gain anything with me on your team, trust me. I have zero fighting ability and zero desire TO fight, so I'm really just all around useless to you, corrupted." Eros spread her arms, the pose edging on cute and harmless as she sidled backwards. "Plus, I have this thing worked out with one of your Captains, Quartz? I probably should have led with that, because maybe you've even heard about it? Where I give him information and then I don't get hasseled. Not that you're hasseling me, but I just want to make sure you're just, you know, aware of the situation." How far to the end of the alley? She couldn't remember off hand and wasn't even sure she wasn't going to back into something along the way. One more chance, just to see if bringing up a name got her anything, and then she was getting the hell out of Doge.
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Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2016 7:10 am
None of Eros' protests seemed to be landing. The geberal' space didn't slow, nor did the predatory smile fade at all. She continues that slow, patient pursuit, confident that she could counter any sudden move to escape on the senshi' part. "You'd be able to teleport away from a threat, if you were on the proper side." She chuckled softly, one hand lifting to brush long hair away from her face. "And here's the thing about us. We're not all fighters. Well, I am, but there are plenty of agents and senshi that serve our cause I'm other ways." Quartz? Wasn't that Schörl's captain? She wondered how valid the claim was. If she really was an informant, or if they simply had some other deal worked out that allowed a mutually beneficial relationship between them. After all, the captain's disdain for the Negaverse was no secret. The general weighed her options. If she was an informant, than there was no reason a corruption had to change things significantly. Wasn't Ashanite playing the sympathy card with his former contacts, slowly leading them astray and gathering intel. She could simply take a page from the former knight's book. Present herself has bait. It seemed a perfectly logical idea. Wicked little smile growing, the general vanished, teleporting behind the poor senshi so she could wrap a hand around the back of s thin neck, and aim to slam her right into the wall beside them, hard. "Don't you want to be safe?" A kick at her feet, if she hadn't simply fallen on her own after the impact, and Xenotime dropped a pinning knee into the small of Eros' back. "Part of something larger than yourself?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 12:25 pm
The sudden disappearance took her by surprise and then Eros felt a hand on her neck. An irresistible force threw her forward and she yelped, before the sound was cut off by the impact of body against wall. Stars exploded in her head as she bounced off the brick and the small senshi reeled, her arms thrown out to fend off further attacks. Her feet swept out from under her and she landed hard on her stomach, pinned there by sudden weight on her back. Pain rippled through her head, making it throb with her heartbeat. Like fear beating a mallet inside her chest. "No, I don't!" She squirmed and tried to twist out from under the general. "I just... want to be left alone! ********... I don't care about your ******** war or your ******** vendettas... Get off me!" So much for that deal she'd made. ******** figured. You could never trust someone to keep their word. In the end you only had yourself to depend on, but damn it... she could have really used some of that 'protection' today. "I don't want the s**t you're pushing, and trust me, I'd be s**t as an officer. Please! Just let me go!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:10 am
Every soldier in the Negaverse had work that was unreliable -- aside from General Operations, where they basically just met their energy quotas and called it a day -- but Quartz often felt that his work was particularly catch-as-catch-can. The art of gathering intelligence was a nuanced one, and depended heavily on what intelligence there was to be gathered during any given week. Quartz, reluctantly, met his energy quotas, but bringing in new tidbits of knowledge was a much less certain thing. Often he relied on what All-One could sniff out by expanding its net across the city; but if his small handful of informants turned up nothing, and All-One couldn't record any news of interest, it usually meant Quartz had to prove his usefulness in more tiresome ways -- namely, the neverending project of organizing and improving the Negaverse's files. For a time, Quartz had hoped there was light at the end of that particular tunnel, actually . . . but then, with the attack on the Rift, extensive damage had caused a need for a great deal of work to be redone. Tonight, Quartz was hopeful that he could spare himself another weekend of poring over the confused notes of green and overenthusiastic lieutenants, cleaning up files; he'd come out with All-One to do another surveillance net over the city. To hear what he could hear. So far the youma hadn't pointed him toward anything in particular, so he'd been having it discreetly observe a random squire's patrol route. It was something to take a preliminary note of, at least. He'd been tracing the route on a map, Sharpie cap clasped between his teeth, when one of All-One's insect bodies fluttered from his left ear to his right and called for his attention. " Captain," it said in someone's curling, amused voice. Quartz looked up from his map. All-One floated in the air. " Plus, I have this thing worked out with one of your Captains, Quartz? I probably should have led with that, because maybe you've even heard about it? Where I give him information and then I don't get hassled. Not that you're hassling me, but I just want to make sure you're just, you know, aware of the situation." Quartz's eyes sharpened immediately. Eros. What was going on? " Don't you want to be safe? Part of something larger than yourself?" He frowned. That wasn't a voice he recognized. "Who's speaking?" he asked curtly. Perhaps All-One knew better than Quartz did. The youma was old, after all. All-One laughed uproariously and said, "I don't know," at the same time. "A general," it added. Quartz might've hoped for a lieutenant. Someone he could pull rank on. This was more dangerous. " Please! Just let me ********," Quartz hissed. "Where are they?"
All-One circled through the air once, perhaps communicating with itself in some way Quartz didn't understand, then landed with careful precision at a spot on the map.
Quartz had walked the city's grid with his own lieutenant a number of times, memorizing its landmarks. It was necessary for precise teleportation: the time it took to run from the nearest landmark you knew to a particular place could mean the difference between life and death. He didn't want to have to rely on just what things he'd managed to recall from staggering around the city drunk.
Fortunately, this turned out to be a part of the city he knew by more than just every third intersection. It was familiar. He stuffed the map into his loose tunic, conjured up a picture of the nearby buildings in his mind, and teleported.
* * *
Quartz was fairly certain he recognized the general in question from various meetings, and from Schörl's little post-exile salon. Xenotime, he thought -- distinctive in his mind less for her face and more for her unusual, hooded uniform. Formerly Special Operations, like Schörl. This was dangerous.
He had little time to act. Xenotime had Eros pinned -- she could reach in and pull the younger girl's starseed at any moment, from that vantage. Whatever his desire to avoid contact, Quartz had to separate them immediately. He could figure the rest out from there.
He peeled forward, summoning his spear to hand, then reversed his grip and used the blunt end of it to shove Xenotime bodily off of Eros.
Quartz had to be careful here. If he aggravated the general too much before he could explain himself, he was likely to end up dead. There were one or two generals, softer ones in the less violent divisions, where Quartz thought his own muscle and training might just barely close a rank differential if it ever came down to it. Xenotime was not one of those people, not by a long shot. This was not a fight he could win.
He put himself in the space between where Eros lay and where Xenotime had landed, bringing his spear up to bear again. He held it in reverse, the blunt end once again directed at Xenotime and the sharp, dangerous spearhead near his own shoulder -- making this as clear of a defensive ward as he could manage.
"General," he said hastily, all in one breath: "This is a protected informant. Forgive me."
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Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:56 am
"That is unfortunate," the general purred, chuckling lightly ran fingers along the small girls neck, brushing bright hair off her shoulder so she could see that unhappy profile. "Like it or not, you're a part of all this. You can try to be neutral, but it won't work unless you have the strength to insure it." There would always be someone, or something, out to get the senshi. If not the general herself, another agent, or a youma. "It'd be better if you stood with us, rather than against us." Could she corrupt the senshi on her own? Probably not. Such a shame. The temptation was there, though--the want to try--just as it'd been there when she'd had the Saturn page in her grasp. And just like before, she'd be interrupted by one of her own. The flash of an aura, and seconds later the blunt impact of something thin against her stomach with enough force to throw her backwards down the alley. She hit the ground once, tucked, rolled once, and came up on knees, one hand dragging against the concrete. This time around her attacker was a little less surprising, but still, her expression was a mingling of anger and shock. "Ballsy, captain." Regardless of why, attacking a fellow officer, a general, was a very risky move. "Do you really want to be doing this?" She'd give him a out, one chance to think it over, before she'd consider him a hostile target. Rising to her feet, she flicked a bit of gravel off her thigh before the full weight of her gaze settled on him. He dwarfed her in size, half a foot taller and likely twice her weight, but that only meant so much as civilians, and next to nothing powered up. Did he not understand who he was facing? Or did something else make him brave?
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 2:38 pm
Pinned she might be, threatened by someone two or three times her own strength with magical powers to boot, but <********> it was hot to feel her fingers against her neck and in her hair. Wrong time and place for that, dumbass. SO NOT THE TIME."Please..." She gasped out, frozen in place for fear the wrong move could threaten her safety. Then, suddenly, the weight was gone and Eros rolled, shoving herself up into a sitting position to see a well-muscled and half bare back between her and her attacker. A bare back, and tight a**, that she knew quite well, actually, and the senshi slumped at the surge of relief. Quartz had appeared like some sort of dark guardian angel out of literal thin air, and now he was going to explain things to the general to get her off the hook. Hopefully. It was a calculated risk, but Eros remained carefully sitting where she was, rather than get up and run away now that she was free. Running implied distrust... like she had something to hide, or no right to be there. She had to help make the General understand that she was on her side, as much as she could be while remaining white moon. A friend, not an enemy. Though, who really knew if it was going to make a difference or not. This s**t was so confusing and hard... which was a big ******** reason why she avoided being part of it as much as possible.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 11:23 am
Quartz tensed, seeing that Xenotime wasn't backing down. That was the trouble with some officers -- they didn't always listen to reason. Their pride got in the way. Xenotime, it seemed, might have more in common with Cinnabar's fiery dramatics than with Schörl's consistent sangfroid. Not really what Quartz would've preferred. He liked thoughtful soldiers better than petulant ones. Petulant ones were too likely to slit his throat. He needed his throat intact. It was what he used to drink wine. "I don't want to be doing this at all, General," he answered, trying to keep his own voice slow and calm. He was in the habit of maintaining his cool in order to deescalate tense situations -- but usually those situations were with knights and sailor soldiers. He didn't usually have to talk other Negaverse agents down from ledges. "I'd rather not die today. But Sailor Eros is a confidential informant under the protection of the Intelligence division -- and I can't secure reliable information for the Negaverse unless the people I'm working with have reason to believe that protection is real. I mean you no disrespect and no harm. Please stand down, General." Eros was blessedly still behind him. He didn't need her running -- any show of haste could force Xenotime's temper or her hand, make her reluctant to reach a peace. Quartz was fairly certain his own division leader would support his decision to protect his work, new though Axinite was, but he still didn't relish the possibility of being taken to task for insubordination, which was likely if Xenotime insisted on fighting. Schörl wouldn't like that he hadn't been able to solve things more peaceably.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:36 pm
Violent brute though she may be at times, Xenotime was not without the mind for reasoning and logic, and even angered, she wasn't deaf to what the captain was saying. Not merely a pretty face, this one. It didn't mean her posture relaxed any, or that she'd desummon her weapons, but she at least didn't charge back in thoughtless retaliation. It did help, though, the acknowledgement of her strength, and acceptance that she could, and would kill him if given an adequate excuse to do so. The general appreciated those that knew their place, her place, and weren't blind to how she'd clawed her way into it, despite a relatively dainty size and unimposing figure. It earned him a small handful of brownie points. She wasn't immune to flattery, and that acknowledgement smacked close enough to have the corners of dark lips ticking up. The news that this senshi was an informant was met with a thoughtful glance, silver eyes flicking back behind the captain to the girl behind him. As if appraising her. "Is that so?" Had she read that the last time she'd been pursuing the Information database? The general was having difficulty recalling. "What sort of valuable information has come from our pretty little friend here, that we couldn't have found elsewhere." In other words, prove her worth.
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Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:27 pm
s**t... she wants proof? It was honestly kind of hard to come up with much. Eros avoided doing stuff that involved being a senshi, for this very reason as it turned out, so the information she had actually been able to actively pass along had been... thin on the ground. You couldn't exactly report on what you didn't do... and her random meet ups with other Order people and the mirror senshi wasn't exactly ground breaking intel. Quartz probably could have gotten it as well on his own, though there was inherently more risk for him where Order was concerned. Eros covered her mental scrabbling about with a slow shift from her a** to her knees, taking on a pose that was subtle with submission and supplication. You are the one with the power, being on her knees said. I am at your mercy and dependent on your good graces. And she'd always been told she looked pretty on her knees. "I was there when Order attacked your home base, or whatever. The place through the portal Caedus made. I stayed behind when the others went through, and when I got to see when whatever it was took us all to the Moon. When I could get away without people wondering, I told All One about it." She said finally. "I didn't fight and I had a front row seat to it all. If you have any more questions about it, I can do my best to answer them. And I have access to places you people don't, like my homeworld and the castle on the Moon. I can take you there, if you want, though admittedly my homeworld is kind of a dump." Ugh. Hopefully it sounded less pathetic to the General than it did to her. Hopefully Quartz had better proof to dredge up to satisfy her.
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:22 pm
Quartz was relieved to see that Eros was reacting as well as she was. Straightforward answers, deferential kneeling -- all things that served to make it clear she understood that this was not a lark, but a very serious and dangerous situation. He needed her at her best behavior . . . and Xenotime at her most calm. "Since the attack on our stronghold and the casualties sustained there," he said with slight vagueness -- it was better never to say outright that Apatite was dead, even if the only senshi present was ostensibly working for them, "Axinite has been eager for any information we can get about the nature of the attack, and the creature, Caedus, who perpetrated it. According to Eros, only five or six people stayed behind to observe its movements after the attack began -- and there's a great deal of distrust for this Caedus within their ranks. It's information we can use -- and it would be hard to come by with a different resource." Quartz dropped to one knee, deferential to a superior officer -- though he still kept his spear in hand. Deferential, but not foolish. He couldn't assume Xenotime had made up her mind yet. Eros, fully kneeling and even smaller than he was, remained safely close within his shadow.
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2016 12:30 pm
Honestly, it wasn't a whole lot of useful information, and it all sounded fairly vague and lacking in concrete details. The general looked skeptical as she crossed her arms across her chest and let that silver gaze slide from Eros to Quartz, and then back again. Lips pursed, features thoughtful, as if she were weighing the slight woman's worth. She was a thin, tiny thing, but was she lighter than a feather in the scales? That still remained to be seen. At the very least, she didn't look prone to attack anymore, the tension having eased from the general's shoulders. That didn't mean the danger had passed, but for the moment she was more interested in listening to what the pair of them had to say. "I don't suppose you know anything about the abductions of agents and corrupts from a few months back?" Who had been involved, who had been in charge, how they'd managed to hide them for so long. Things Xenotime was desperate to know. "Or could find out." It was an out. A reprieve, however temporary. Yes, the general was curious about the events that had led to the attack on the rift, but this was important as well. If the white moon had done it once, what was to stop them from doing it again? If Eros was going to play CI, she would be put to use for more than just information on Caedus and the infiltration of their stronghold. "You can get up, Quartz," she said, not even glancing his way. "And lose the weapon, it's no longer needed." Just to be fair, she let her own disappear as well, bare arms falling loosely at her sides as she strode forward, as if she meant to walk around the captain to reach the senshi again.
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