|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 4:09 pm
Destiny City was not very quiet, even late at night.
It was a place that always seemed to move and bubble and vibrate, even when it was past the hours that people should actually be awake, lights flashing here, sound reverberating there. Celsus had long since grown used to the hum and flicker of the city during his outings and his patrols, even if they were different than the rain soaked sounds of England.
He'd never done particularly well in dead silence, anyway, which was why he'd been spending so much time away from his lot.
Celsus was not in the park, which was his favorite haunt, but instead in the middle of downtown, moving about with a sort of aimlessness to him. He wasn't quite sure where he was going - actually, he hadn't really known where he was going when he'd started - but there was something a little bit...bold feeling about patrolling on his own.
It had been a long time. Celsus rarely went out on his own anymore, especially since Emrys had awakened. Now, however, he was quietly making his way down the lesser occupied roads, careful to keep a watchful eye on all that was happening.
He thought he felt a Chaos aura near.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:32 am
He'd gone out with the intention of easing the anxiety that welled up within him and threatened to burst.
In the end it hadn't helped, but it hadn't made things worse either. It was the simple fact that despite himself, Aluminite could not focus on anything but the echoes of pleading from that night. He couldn't believe that he'd done it - that he'd taken someone's life and forced another to eat it. Sure, he knew that television and tv shows depicted people carving out hearts and feeding them to people but -
What he'd done had not been nearly as gruesome, yet just as horrifying.
A woman was dead, a man scarred, and himself haunted all because of the choices he'd made. Aluminite could have said no, could have refused and he hadn't. Maybe he was a monster, just like Labyrinthite and his merry men. He was a coward too, unwilling to deal with the aftermath of his actions himself and instead having forced them upon someone else.
Prissy hadn't deserved needing to clean up his messes and yet - he'd made her do it anyway.
How pathetic.
So, instead of diving into the beating pulse of the downtown night life, Captain Aluminite had seated himself atop a roof of a popular club. His long legs dangled over the edge and his elbows dug into his knees while his hands cradled his face and green eyes swept over the throngs of drunk, sober, and almost drunk people passed across the street below.
Vaguely, he was aware of the order pulse when it flare but he didn't move.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 12:15 pm
The power signature that Celsus could feel was definitely Chaos; he could almost taste it as it grew nearer, his heart pumping a little faster in his chest. Celsus hadn't really been involved in a great deal of Chaos dealings since Rhys' purification. But the aura was also quieter than his own; lacking in strength, which meant perhaps a Captain, or someone of lower rank.
Celsus followed it until he found it, up atop a roof that he was able to climb up to easily, hands gripping the metal ladder. Once or twice he cursed the Negaverse's ability to teleport places, wishing he could do the same, but eventually he made it to the top, cape blowing gently behind him.
A figure sat at the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the side, hooded and dark. Celsus' head tilted a little to the side as he watched, his own outfit gleaming and bright, the exact opposite of everything that was right in front of him.
Still - he didn't attack. That wasn't how he worked, after all.
"Good evening," said Celsus lightly instead, taking a small step closer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:46 am
It wasn't hard to deduce that the order aura was getting closer, smothering his senses as it stretched in every direction around him. He wondered where exactly it's owner was; were they below him, behind him, or just in the vicinity? The light voice answered his question and Aluminite sighed in response.
He had a moment to consider what the man, knight from what he'd gathered from the glance out of the corner of his eye, might do before he spoke.
"Not really interested in company, thanks." His tone was dry and unwelcoming but there was no threat in his voice. He didn't bother to look up fully, afraid of what colors he may see on the man's uniform. Instead he focused on the crowd below, the subtle beat of a bass reverberating through the building loud enough to be felt through the roof. His hands had fallen into his lap, where he took one forefinger and rolled it between the one of his other hand and thumb.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2016 7:21 pm
If he was the old Celsus, he might have walked away, left the young man to himself. As it was, with everything that had happened to him, Celsus paused only a moment before continuing forward. He stepped across the rooftop, the glittering golden coins jingling faintly as he moved, until he was right beside the other.
"Sorry to disappoint you, mate," said Celsus lightly, coming to a stop, the cape waving about his ankles in the faint gusts of wind. "But I'm rather fond of company, you see, especially from those I don't know particularly well. And you don't look very familiar."
It was hard to see in the dim light up here on the rooftop, but Celsus carefully sat down anyway, leaving a respectable amount of distance between the two of them. Jangling merrily, he swept his cape into his lap and set the whip he'd been carrying across his knees, a hand resting atop it.
"What's your name?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:55 am
Although his body was turned away and most of his face shaded by the hood he'd kept drawn up, Aluminite was watching the knight from the corner of his eye. Occasionally the strip of bright green obscured his vision but for the most part he was able to follow the man's movements. In the end, he sighed heavily as the knight took a seat and refused to leave.
Typical.
"Are you always in the habit of forcing yourself on strangers?" He asked dryly, tone more hostile and aggressive than it normally would be. Unfortunately for his unwanted companion, the captain was tightly wound and incredibly stressed. He was not made for good company this night. "Even if you did know me, I got a new coat. Makes things very indistinguishable."
When he laughed after it was bitter and angry.
"Why do you care?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 5:54 pm
"Yes," said Celsus, as if this was a completely conversational thing to have been asked. "I find it's a better way to make friends if you simply keep trying instead of giving up on the first go. Or maybe that was frowned upon, I can't remember."
He drew one leg up to his chest, absently draping an arm over his knee. A part of him knew he should probably just walk away now, instead of pestering whoever this angry, Chaos infused soul was; but this was not like that other general, the one who had almost run Celsus through. The aura was quieter, less powerful.
Shoulders rose and fell in a slight shrug, Celsus idly twisting the medallions around his neck.
"I care about a lot of things, especially the Negaverse, contrary to popular beliefs of others in my position," he said, keeping his tone of voice light. "I find those in the Negaverse to be more in need of friendships than people suspect."
Celsus half turned, raising an eyebrow.
"Are you in need of a friend?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:27 am
Figures he'd get the knight with an accent who didn't know how to quit. Normally, Aluminite would have been more receptive but tonight - tonight he was jittery and unsettled in a bad way.
It was hard to get the sound of Lara's pleading voice out of his head or the cold way Chase had reacted in the aftermath. He'd spit at the queen's feet. Shaking his head the captain smoothed his hands over his pants, wiping his palms on the black fabric and then dragged his nails along the tops of his thigh.
"I didn't ask you what you cared about but why and no. I don't want or need a friend. Thanks." He remembered the last conversation with order, a pushy senshi who tried to assert that what he knew was more than what Aluminite knew.
No one got it if they weren't knee deep in chaos.
"If I wanted a 'friend' I would have found one already." He gestured to the mob of people below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:02 pm
Celsus hummed out a sound that was mostly a thought, a breeze sifting through the air, the coins on his uniform jangling faintly as they shifted along with it. He wasn't looking at the Captain, but out at the city around them, listening to the sounds of people and cars and buildings and life go about their business.
It was probably best just to walk away, he knew, and yet -
And yet he couldn't, not yet.
"All right then," said Celsus, after a moment. "If you don't need a friend...then how about just someone to listen to you?"
It was stretching, he knew, but Celsus slanted a gaze sideways at the young man again, his head resting against his hand, elbow on his raised knee. The cape fell behind him in long, sweeping folds, the low wall not high enough to keep it from pooling on the rooftop below.
"I'm a pretty good listener, if you just want to vent."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:56 pm
For a brief moment, Aluminite thought that Celsus might leave. That he'd decide that the captain was a waste of energy and his time would be better spent elsewhere. Instead, he got the man trying a new tactic. Sighing heavily, he shifted so that he could actually look at knight.
Aluminite felt like his stomach had just dropped.
Of. ********. Course.
Chronos, he was sure based on the general color composition. Surely Cosmos and her merry band of universe guides was playing a cruel joke on him.
He couldn't get a <******** break.
"What's with you order types always forcing a conversation? Do you think I'm just going to give secrets away?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:56 pm
Celsus caught the man's eye and smiled pleasantly at him, though it was clear from the expression on the other's face that he was less than pleased. He waited, quietly, without saying a word, until the other spoke, and then he tilted his head curiously, blinking slowly in the dim light.
"I don't want nor expect secrets," said Celsus truthfully. "You just seem like you need to talk to someone."
One of his shoulders rose and fell in a faint shrug.
"I thought maybe you wouldn't mind talking to me, since we're both here, and I'm not one just for attacking straight off the bat. Besides, I'd rather not attack, if at all preferable, I'm more of a talking person as it is if I can help it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 1:37 pm
Maybe it was just a bad day, maybe it was just a result of too many things being piled on his shoulders that had the normal docile, receptive man snapping. Whatever it was, Aluminite certainly didn't feel like himself.
(But, then again...he couldn't remember the last time he had.)
"I don't really know what gave you the impression that I wanted to talk." Aluminite was certain that his body language screamed leave me alone. Maybe he should have stayed home after all.
Despite the way it felt claustrophobic. Too small with no room or air to breath. Even now, he felt like the open space was closing in around him and robbing him of air.
In an attempt to calm himself, he looked away and chose to focus on the light below and the pulse of bodies. "You can talk, but I don't promise a response."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:44 pm
Celsus shrugged again, coins clinking merrily against one another. "You didn't. I merely assumed, since you were sitting here all alone, that you might prefer some company. Of course, that's based on a faulty assumption, so I can understand if I'm intruding."
His fingers toyed with the Chronos sigil around his neck, Celsus humming in thought, the sharp points of the medallion pressing against his fingertips.
"All right," he said, slightly surprised but pleased by the allowance. He considered for a moment what to say, letting the sounds of below reach him, ebbing and flowing like the tide. Small, tinny honks from cars every now and then, casual yells of greeting, bursts of laughter.
"My name is Celsus," he said, after a few minutes of this. "I'm a Knight of Chronos, and I've been one for many years now. I don't often patrol this way, but I thought it would be a nice change of pace. I prefer talking rather than violence, if at all possible."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:10 am
"You know what they say about assumptions," he quipped dryly. Below them, he watched a bouncer shove a man who'd had too much back, the prickles of a confrontation blossoming. Aluminite had to look away, he was tired of violence. His head tipped back, green eyes choosing to look at the ink blotted sky above them, his hood falling off and pooling around his shoulders.
He couldn't see any stars, the lights of the city polluting the sky until it was a dusty charcoal instead of a true black, but the moon was out and bright.
It hurt his eyes, but at least it was peaceful.
The sound of Celsus' bells hurt his ears, felt too loud despite the thrum of music below or the way the building shook with the bass. "I knew you were, Chronos that is." He said quietly, eyes closing as he tried to calm the fidgety feeling creeping up and down his spine, spreading through the rest of his limbs.
Aluminite didn't offer his name, or anything else, but he did heave a sigh as he adjusted, drawing his legs back from over the side of the building until they were crossed beneath him and his long arms looped around the knees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:26 pm
"That they're spelled funny?" Celsus asked jovially, quirking a grin at the Captain. He hadn't yet been attacked, which was a good sign, he thought; the other had been brusque, dismissive, and apparently angry, but he hadn't tried to shove Celsus off of the rooftop.
He hoped it wouldn't come to that. It was a very long way down.
Celsus turned his head, eyebrows raised.
"Ah, so if you knew I was Chronos, then that means you must have seen someone like me, or maybe someone told you about the sigil," he added thoughtfully, indicating the pointed circle with one hand. "There aren't many of us around anymore."
There was a faint, sad note to his voice, barely noticeable, but there nonetheless. The Captain's silence didn't seem to bother him, fingers curling over gold.
"I was made a knight when I was twenty, so that's about five years ago now," he said. "I didn't know much at all back then. I don't pretend to know a great deal more now," he added, tapping the fingers of his free hand against his leg. "But I feel I know at least a small amount more, which is better than nothing."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
