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 Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2016 8:57 pm
The snow fell liltingly, mockingly about them. Delicate flecks of encroaching winter lighted on the ground, covered the decay of fall. Only shuffling footsteps crushed away the thin veil and left with it a temporary tale of their fight - scuffling lines trod down the great mountain slope and into the basin where the pair now faced one another. Umber remained closer to the edge of the clearing, where thin aspen trunks walled off access to the deeper forest. Across from him, a breathless basic senshi clutched her knees while she doubled over, and bared to him her obvious lack of physical fitness. Umber allowed no pause to place judgments, however.
„You’ve got nowhere to go,“ the senshi cited triumphantly. „I’ve fought tougher lieutenants than you.“ Her words came low, as if tentative somehow. Soon, she spoke under her breath, and her fists began to glow. Umber grew wary.
A moment passed, and then she charged him.
A blink, and she was behind her. Momentum paid her no quarter; Umber grasped the back of her head and reinforced her inertia with his own strength, sending her skull into the aspen trees with a crack. He released his grip and the senshi dropped, still in henshin, which exposed the real source of the snap. A long, splintering gouge now appeared in the tree where it threatened to split apart. If he was disappointed, he did not show it.
Something stirred the woods; the steps sounded human. Grabbing an arm, he pulled the girl just far enough from the aspen trees that he could access her chest dead-on. He crouched next to her, looked her over for signs of possum play, then thrust his hand into her starseed cavity. Some of their kind were better off dead.
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2016 9:09 pm
"H-hey," came the call, "hey --" quiet, unsure, getting louder - it was hard to place her form in the forest shadows, dressed darkly as she was, but the form of a short Corrupted Senshi came into view shortly after, an oversized grey hoodie covering her face. She shook her head, then, letting seafoam hair fall freely from its' hood, and fixed her eyes on Umber after casting a glance down at the prone girl. "She doesn't know any better, leave her alone." Chrysocolla was breathless, much the same as the basic whose starseed he now clasped, and her face was flushed and a wrist brace peeked out from one ash-colored sleeve. "Killing her isn't going to do anything, General, it's just - um - it's just going to make everyone who knew her angrier -- but you don't look like you're going to corrupt her, are you?"
The way she spoke was resigned - but there was a steadfastness to her that had not been there at their last meeting, when she had been but a Super, freshly blank and formable to the Negaverse's whims, and her upgraded fuku and aura spoke to a breadth of experience she had not had prior. "General. Please. Give her to me, and I'll take her to Negaspace, and I can call a General-King in for a corruption. Please don't hurt her."
Chrysocolla wasn't desperate, no, but she so strongly believed what she said that it seemed impossible for her to understand otherwise, taking a step towards the two bodies as snow lighted on her hair in delicate patterns.Strickenized it works fine! i'm sorry i don't know how i got a response out so fast, lmao.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:37 am
The rustling grew closer, and he recognized the burgeoning chaos signature of match to his own. Umber’s lips formed a thin line when he heard the nervous objections that soon grew into vehement protests against his actions. His fist tightened around the starseed in the girl’s chest.
His expression returned to callous neutrality when he recognized her - the once super senshi who fought against him time and again. She held power over emotions, and now ranked his equal in the Negaverse. Someone must’ve seen promise for leadership in her, though he could not personally attest to it. That was why he stood not as a General-Sovereign, however. Was it naïve to give honest consideration to one’s words when one stood abreast to him? He thought not; each and every officer or senshi of the Negaverse earned their place through rigorous trial and continued commitment.
Senshi were a troublesome lot, however. He thought of Persephone and her stories of betrayal. He thought of Ochre. He thought of Alkaid, the antithesis to the lot of them.
The time for consideration concluded, having weighed her suggestions mentally. Umber stood and pocketed the starseed. He would record it for research purposes when this senshi was no longer a bother. „That is the intent.“ He voiced his explanations in low, graveled tones that suggested a disposition to silence. „The angrier they become, the easier it is to hunt them.“ Once the body powered down, they would know her face. Information would identify any posters going up about her disappearance and track down the family. From there, they would squeeze out any other senshi of her ilk that may call her sister, daughter. Those who knew her senshi-side would rise up from their anonymity, seize their grief as a weapon, and grow careless with that ire.
On their own side was where the differences lay. They would not bolster their ranks with this senshi. No, her death and subsequent starseed acquisition created a baseline for the recruiting process - a statement that they would not simply recruit anyone into their ranks. Some may fall short of the standards, and those who did would repopulate their starseed collection.
„We cannot take everyone.“ Umber stepped away from the body without offering it a modicum of cover. The forest fauna would dispose of much of her corpse. „Starseeds are more useful than meat shields.“
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:44 am
"You can't just kill someone because they're annoying," Chrysocolla frowned, clearly upset but keeping it under control. "Just because someone told her the wrong thing, and they found her first, you're -- you're going to use a girl's dead body as bait? That's ******** up." She wasn't in school, so she reckoned she could speak however she wanted, and it seemed topical at this junction. "She's just a kid...!"
Her fists clenched, and she stepped closer again - but only to the body and not Umber, apparently reluctant to use her magic, the telltale glow not emanating from her hands. "...nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it? What if she had the blood of another officer on her hands -- would you consider her worth it? What's the cutoff for 'these people aren't worth anything' to you? They're still people, even if they believe the wrong things." Her shoulders tensed, and she shivered, cold in the brisk air. "Can I at least see her starseed...? I don't get a chance to look at a lot of Senshi starseeds - I usually just talk to them. It's easier."
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:16 pm
Umber watched her and waited for her to finish. He noted the comment about killing annoying people, and wondered only briefly where she came up with that idea. Chrysocolla seemed intent on defending the senshi, citing that the girl couldn’t help her awakening as a White Moon senshi, as if Umber was interested in theoreticals. But theoreticals only proved viable in the realm of debate - in life, he dealt with actualities. The girl was actually a White Moon senshi, actually intent on fighting him, actually devoted to killing him for the sake of the faction she served. Theoreticals proved a paltry barrier to these facts.
’You’re going to use a girl’s dead body as bait?’
„Yes,“ he answered simply. He found no qualm with the act; any age qualified as bait in a war of tactics and brutality. Had she not learned this from any commanding officers? „If the enemy uses child soldiers, I will do the same.“
Umber continued walking, allowing Chrysocolla to circle around to the body if she so wanted. The general approached the bottom of the great slope, and estimated his chances of simply walking up. With the recent rain and the droves of leaves, he expected he would need the help of the aspens to simply walk beyond it. She continued to talk, however, and diverted his attention back to the scene. Perhaps she wouldn’t let it drop with a few words in opposition to her statements. Umber remained with his back to her for a time, however, his gaze still focused on the sloping hill that led back toward Destiny City.
Her points held credence for those who put faith in morals. Umber knew nothing of traditional morals and social mores, nor did he care to. Morals often took a backseat to common sense. He sighed slowly through his nose. „You remember when the White Moon breached our Cathedral.“ He stated the question as fact. „They killed many of our soldiers. They dusted many youma. They stole from us a great number of starseeds. This war has changed since those ideals became popular.“
He turned then, and faced her. Arms hung at his sides, as if waiting for command. „Our enemy was tactically sly enough to break into our inner sanctum. Our officers were weak enough to get killed by enemies who do not wield effective weapons, and questionable magic. We failed to mobilize effectively. They succeeded in group strike efforts.These I learned from the facts. We lost a lot of soldiers, and not all of them were good. We lost the count of starseeds we kept. Both of these things need reparation. Filling the ranks with headstrong rabble and keeping only the dullest civilian starseeds does not make for an effective recovery.
„It wouldn’t matter to me if she killed an officer. So many have already been proven weak. If you want to look at senshi starseeds, then start taking them, or look at your own.“ Umber finished, enunciating his refusal to honor her request.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:48 pm
"That's ******** up," Chrysocolla quietly offered again, kneeling down over the fallen senshi and brushing the girl's hair out of her face. For a second, she contemplated attacking Umber -- but what use would that be? What good would that do? Even with her training, hand-to-hand combat was an unpleasant idea at present due to her healing wrist, and the General was taller, older, and stronger than she was -- ( a boot between her shoulderblades and a hand in her chest, images of her old life in flickers when they came at all nowadays, and fear fear fear) -- all she would manage was hurting herself.
For all her misguided desire to do good, she was not so foolish to believe it'd succeed.
"We're supposed to be better than them," she whispered, holding a lifeless hand inbetween hers with sympathy in her lowered gaze - sympathy the senshi would never see, would never know. "If you do this, they're right. We're the good people -- we can't do this. We can't. We're not just murderers, General - I don't know about you, but I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to do the right thing. And if that involves murder, I guess I'm just a really terrible asset to the Negaverse, huh?" Her voice broke on those last few words, and she took a deep breath, shoulders shaking.
"I'm - sorry. I don't know what you saw in me, when you had me corrupted, but -- I don't want to hurt people, and I won't, no matter what I'm ordered to do. I want to help them find the right path -- and that's with us."
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 4:16 pm
I don’t know what I saw in you either.
„Right and wrong are human constructs.“ He started toward her then, where she sat next to the soon-to-be-deceased senshi. Her fuku had not yet faded. „The senshi play to these constructs because that is how they can keep their soldiers motivated. A soldier sated on ideals will fight to the death. A soldier sated on money and promise of victory will fight until the tables turn. ‚They have what we need‘. ‚They seek to destroy us‘. ‚Their existence stands for evil‘. These are all motivations to fight. These are the enemy’s chosen phrases.“
Umber drew to a stop behind her, the leaves and fallen twigs crunching underfoot like brittle bones. The overcast sky prevented any shadow from falling upon her, or the corpse. „You hold equal rank to me. I shouldn’t have to tell you what to do.“ He reached downward to seize her wrist and pull her upright, away from the fallen.
His jaw bulged with clenched muscles when she confessed her rejection of orders to murder. She reminded him too much of Slate with this talk - and he found little inclination within himself to go chasing this conversation twice. „It doesn’t matter to me if you can corrupt them willingly. Better to force it on their better fighters and fracture more memories. People like you are meant to bring solidarity within our ranks. We bring in the recruits, you make them feel welcome and able to fight for our cause. But the moment you bite the hand that feeds you these fresh officers, you become worthless. You become a traitor. I don’t have patience for traitors.“ Ochre.
„You have one chance, Chrysocolla. Pull an enemy’s starseed. I want to see it for myself.“ Prove that you’re stronger than my brother, than Persephone. If even you cannot muster yourself to meet the Negaverse’s demands, then I won’t waste my time on corrupted senshi any longer.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:01 pm
As soon as Umber reached for her hand, Chrysocolla's form blurred and vanished; she had teleported back towards the edge of the clearing, holding her arms close to her chest, eyes wide. (They were of equal rank. She didn't need to be scared. Why was she so scared?)
"I only rip starseeds if they're old enough to know what they're doing is wrong...and that's only adults. In case you haven't noticed, General, we're both human! We live by human constructs! I serve the Negaverse, but I'm not going -- I'm not going to just start brutalizing my opponents or treating them like animals!" Her face was pinked with barely-constrained rage, and it hardly made her look any older -- only her stance, the restraint she seemed to be exercising, showed a progression from the scared girl she'd once been. "What are you going to do - take me to the mall and wait for me to murder someone right in front of everyone? I don't have to listen to you...!"Strickenized lol oh chryso you are just digging yourself Deeper
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:22 pm
Umber waited, having picked up her relocation seconds afterward. She launched into a tirade then, and let her emotions augment her words. It was then that Umber stopped listening - she expressed her refusal well enough in tone alone. She still sounded much like the child she was when they first met in the rooftops. The Negaverse afforded her no further maturity with chaos and training. Was it a failure on a personal level, or a failure of their training programs?
„You don’t have to listen to me.“ Umber cast his gaze over his shoulder at her. „But your choices still have consequences.“ Umber mentally noted the need to speak with a superior about Chrysocolla’s behavior. She allowed her emotions to cloud her better judgment far too often, and too much of her old self as a White Moon senshi remained under that darkened exterior. She needed fixing - new training, new assignments, new efforts to reorient her better within the aims of the Negaverse. These adamant refusals to pull starseeds when required might mean the life of a lieutenant later. It might mean she would slip back into her old habits as a White Moon senshi and start aiding the enemy.
Lastly, she may become another Persephone, escaped to another faction where she thought she had a home. A waste, surely, of their upper eschelons of leadership.
Umber stepped over the body unceremoniously. He approached the slop that he intended to climb initially, and a flicker of movement left him crowning it. He continued to walk away from her, even if she chose to object to his loaded words. What she thought, fought, pleaded for now was irrelevant. He was still a part of SpecOps, and his job still held true.
Chrysocolla needed surveillance for her own protection.daekie final verdict: umber is unimpressed
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2016 6:54 pm
Chrysocolla didn't call after Umber's retreating back -- she knew well enough that it was pointless. When the words were already out of her mouth, she could no more call them back than she could return the fallen Senshi's starseed. She'd said her piece, and if Umber was going to have a problem with that -
Well. He would call it in, and she would deal with it when it happened. She was no less effective for her morals, in her opinion, and he was no more effective for having less - he was only more of a monster than she was. All she wanted to do was help people - and it wasn't like the Negaverse was any less suited to that than the White Moon and their foolish crusades, was it?
...was it?Strickenized to be fair, what is there to be impressed about with chrysocolla. wrap, will contact you when plot is approved officially :3
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