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 Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 6:37 pm
It was a late night, and the air was starting to get muggy, this late in April; Chrysocolla preferred it to the cold, honestly, because whatever fabric most of her fuku was made of absorbed sweat well. It didn't exactly work so well for radiating warmth -- but, whatever, her late patrol nights in the wintertime had been ill-thought-out anyways and she'd often come out of them much more miserable than she'd began. It was good she had learned how to use concealer, had always leaned towards long sleeves -- it made it easier to hide any ill-gotten bruises and burns and scrapes.
(The skin on the back of her neck was still pebbly with scars, probably always would be; little scars, pinpoints, on the bend of her wrists from her captivity from what felt like so long ago. She tried not to think about Hyperborea, and how she'd felt like hurting the other girl was wrong. Nowadays she never felt like that at all.)
When she saw someone with dead bodies in an alleyway, no blood, no glittering energy -- the silhouette was familiar enough, hand-through-chest and the sparks of starseed between the figure's teeth, a flower hairpin - it took only a second for Chrysocolla to put it together. "Captain Sarabauite," she called out, voice soft but deceptively commanding; heels clicking on the pavement one-by-one as she proceeded closer. "I hope you drained them for energy first. Otherwise...that's really just a waste."
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:09 pm
None of them were good enough. None of them would ever be good enough.
How many bodies had she littered in her wake; a trail of the dead abandoned night after night to no avail? How many more were to be her victims until she would be satisfied?
The next one, she would tell herself, splitte dribbling from chapped lips as she looked skyward to the stars like diamonds strewn across a sheet of velvet. One of those stars will bring me peace, and soon, soon I will find it. Soon I will be myself again.
The captain's locks were a frizzled nest atop her pallid skull, and wild eyes looked on with a blank, ravenous hope to the face whose starseed may end this gnawing addiction within her for good. Please, please, please, she begged, almost cried, mostly certainly wanted to yell. Please be the one. Please be the one. Please be the—
An erratic thumping beat away in her ears as she clenched her teeth onto the dipyramidal crystal, but her intention to swallow was stymied by the gentle, but direct, voice toward her. Suddenly, the white-haired captain's lips parted, and the starseed clattered down to her knee.
"C-Chrysocolla...!" she stammered, rocketing to her feet and taking a step back. "It's not what it looks—"
Honestly, who was she kidding? Only she was to blame here; it's not as if the corpses simply pirouetted themselves from the grave and she chanced upon them.
"I-I mean, no... Only a bit, for my quota, but the rest were... The rest were just for... me."
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:44 pm
"Captain," Chrysocolla tsked as she strode closer; there was something different about her from their prior meeting, too, something hard to place. She'd been jittery then, but just from anxiety and nerves, from worry -- now the steadiness of her voice, the clench-unclench of her hands, spoke to a different reason. Something very sharp hiding under her skin, like she'd pull it off like a glove and there'd be something inhumanly crystalline underneath.
It was a silly thought. After all, Chrysocolla was just a teenage girl, for all her power. But there was an uncomfortable focus in her eyes as she summed up the situation, something clear and predatory.
She kneeled to take the starseed, vanishing it away to subspace, where it'd be good as ready for the tithing. "At least 70% of the starseeds you take should go to quota. We're still low after the invasion, remember? And not harvesting them for energy is just --" A disappointed sigh passed her lips. "Whatever. It's not good for you, anyways -- eating them, I mean. It's a waste of resources."unohime np! working on starting the anakeion one now, so you can start the onnie one last?
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:59 pm
Sarabauite swallowed thickly; the back of her throat akin to sandpaper. At the mention of her rank, she reflexively stiffened, but could feel an uncomfortable itch slither its way down her arms. She wanted to tremble, but before the company of someone who outranked her, it was hearsay and certainly worthy of reproach.
I don't want to do anymore wrong, the captain thought to herself, holding her conviction to a lofty standard. When I've already come this far.
Yet, she couldn't hide the slight panic in her face to see the starseed subsume far from the reaches of her lips. She'd fought so hard to obtain it, and yet it was taken from her with so little force. Anger roiled uncomfortably in her belly, but she clenched it down and kept it there.
You are better than this, Sarabauite, You are—
"I-I know that, Chrysocollla, I just... I...can't"—won't—"stop. There's something wrong with me, I can feel it, but... They're there, they're fodder, aren't they? And there is so many senshi and pages, one or two won't... It doesn't harm anyone; not Metallia, or me... I promise that."
Daekie yep, i'll be getting to the start with onnie tonight. <3 thanks for starting the one with anakeion!
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 8:04 am
"There's nothing wrong with you," Chrysocolla said gently; chiding, guiding. "But you're very clever, very talented...and we need as much as we can to stock back up after the invasion, okay? Do you want to talk?" She swallowed reflexively, gazing up at Sarabauite for only a second before her eyes flickered back to the bodies on the ground.
"...First off, um. Just killing them on the street is...useless. If you want to do anything good with them, hide the bodies -- or if they're combat-capable, call in a General-Sovereign. It's how I joined." It was an annoyance, nothing more -- but if she'd always been a Corrupt, she might never have known Amphitrite the way she did, never have known Kerberos (traitor, traitor Kerberos, with flowers in his hair and in terrible, terrible white). Would have had to worry about a family reaching for her, stopping her. Sometimes the worry of who-she'd-been still consumed her entirely, knowing that girl had died scared, in pain -- but that girl had been wrong. It didn't matter.
"Second...if you know you're absolutely killing them, drain them of energy first. If you need to, keep one hand on their starseed the entire time. The energy harvest of an entire living young adult, and then pulling their starseed at the end...that's enough to make quota, honestly, if they're in good health. And --"
Chrysocolla swallowed. Wetted her lips.
"It is going to hurt you. You've seen Cinnabar."
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 11:09 am
She wanted to dash away the nice things said, obviously put off by the compliments. I'm not worthy of such things, she told herself.
Nevertheless, Sarabauite nodded her head vigorously at the mention of wanting to talk, though she didn't appear to have much to say, just excuses to give. Chrysocolla's guidance was taken in stride, things she'd known and should've done, and her shoulders seem to hang from a thread when the senshi was through.
But that's so much effort, she wanted to complain. To hide them? To corrupt them? To drain them of energy? I just want—she swallowed thickly—starseeds, like the one you took away.
"Y-yes, Chrysocolla," she said meekly, though the senshi's words seemed to go in one ear and dribble out of the other. Sarabauite's mind was still held captive by thoughts that her starseed was gone—far away—and never to be seen again. She was so weak, nearing death it felt like, and how it dawned on her that life could only be obtained from another life.
Her attention snapped back from the dark, receding waters of dream come the mention of General Cinnabar. She didn't know the other personally, but knew of her stance—a half-youma, someone whose humanity and weapon were exchanged for the skills of a monster.
"It might've hurt, but she still lived," Sarabauite tried to argue weakly. "And I need these to live! To continue to be useful to Metallia, I need... I need starseeds. I need them."
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 11:47 am
Chrysocolla huffed (like a child, because she was a child, had been a child); "You don't get it. That's not the point, Captain. The point is that General Cinnabar has no hope of living a human life ever again." Her eyes were flinty; she paced a circle around Sarabauite, one hand lingering over the hole in her own chest. "If she ever wants to be anyone else than General Cinnabar, wants to do anything remotely everyday without the everpresent threat of the White Moon barging in, she has to count her seconds because she gave that up. Me, you -- we can be someone else," she laughed, like it was funny, "I can drop all this and do my schoolwork because I'm -- I'm dutiful -- I can pretend she's a real person, too, that this isn't all my life will ever be."
A deep breath in, a deep breath out. Her fingers clenched on her skin, drawing white lines across her sternum, at odd angles to her cracks.
"You don't need them to live. I've never eaten one." And Chrysocolla looked tired in perpetuity, but that was just her way, that was just her eternal status. "But you're not listening to me, so --"
One step forward, and her hand glittered and pushed through Sarabauite's chest like it was sand or mud or clay, something movable. Fingers clicked around the starseed - no pulses of chaos, not yet, but she held firm still.
"If I treated your starseed the same way you treat theirs -- I could take yours out and eat it, right now, and nobody would question it." Chrysocolla smiled, innocently. She might have been talking about the weather for all the gravitas in her tone. "I could say I found you dead, already, and it was too late for your starseed. I could say nothing at all, and nobody would know until someone started wondering why Captain Sarabauite wasn't turning in anything towards quota, and there would be nothing left of you except - some - husk -" one singular pulse of chaos through her pointer finger, localized, the very tip of the Captain's starseed - "some dead body rotting away in an alleyway. It'd be rude of me, right?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:40 pm
Sarabauite lost her will against her anger, and it rose to the surface of her skin like innumerable beetles digging up from bone to her epidermis. The white-haired agent wrapped arms about herself to contain it, eyes focused intently on her buckling knees as Chrysocolla rounded her.
"You... You don't... Don't act like you k-know of me," Sarabauite spat as steadily as she could to no avail. "I don't have anything beyond... this. My existence is defined by... by the glory of Metallia. It was through her I discovered myself. Jinxi is nothing, she hasn't been anything to anyone."
Unlike the senshi, Sarabauite's fury was barely maintained through her ragged breaths. She tried to again rationalize things, but her mind kept turning back to Chrysocolla taking away the starseed that was rightfully hers. If she just had consumed it, she wouldn't be this unchained thing throwing a tantrum like a child. She'd be able to choose her words carefully and respectfully as a soldier of Chaos should.
Her anger ceased only when that stray hand invaded her interior; a scream only choked back by the hoarseness of her throat. She stumbled back toward the wall of the alley, one hand scraping against the chipped brick surface while the other clamped about Chrysocolla's wrist. Yet her touch contained no strength; it was akin to a bit of twine wrapped around the joint.
Initially, Sarabauite wanted to challenge the senshi, as if such a petty urgency benefited her. Do it, end it now. You'll be doing me a favor, ending it now, and finally giving some purpose to this useless existence. Do it, and eat my crystal as I've done to so many others. It's only fair. The only notion that stopped this was the desperation of that hand clinging to the senshi's threat. When that pinch of Chaos invaded her core, she lost strength in her legs, and only remained standing by her hands barely supporting her.
"Stop," she cried weakly, eyes widening to the whites as tears rivered down her cheeks to the dip of her chin. "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, I'm be good, I'll listen, so please... Stop!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 8:23 pm
"You don't get to lecture me," Chrysocolla said as she leaned in, eyes fever-bright with barely-buried fury. "At least Jinxi is a real person, isn't she, she has real history and real papers? Poppy shouldn't exist." One more ping of chaos. "Someone's parents are still wondering where she are, because she disappeared when she was barely fifteen years old, and they never had a body to bury. You have the possibility of a real life, and you're wasting it."
She pulled her hand free of Sarabauite's chest as she put the other on the Captain's shoulder, pushing her down to sitting, eyes glinting in the twilight. At the angle she leaned at, glaring down with what was still the politest smile she knew, her starseed caught the light.
"If I killed you," she repeated her point, "right now nobody would care, would they? You can change that, and I can't -" her mouth was in rigor, trying to widen her smile, it looked painful - "Stop eating them, because if you do Jinxi is going to ******** die, and there will be no body to bury. Do you understand me.
Captain."
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:05 pm
That second pulse of Chaos, for that instance, made Sarabauite want to give up her everything just for it to stop. It wasn't like the pain of General Aurostibite awakening her; yes, it still hurt, but it was a welcomed pain. A small trial to be endured for a second chance at being someone. Metallia gave her courage that day, but this? Chrysocolla was only giving her pain. Pain, pain, pain.
Buckling to the ground beneath, what light remained only caught the glint of her glasses, as the strength within her had waned where even an expression of fright couldn't be made. Her body and core felt hollow, and that disgusting, bestial hunger only drove her with one thought, Fill yourself with what you know. If not today, tomorrow, or the next. She won't be there when you take your next starseed.
She won't know.
So just tell her what she wants to hear.
Sarabauite hung her head, not even worthy of looking the senshi in the face. She'd turned from a soldier to scum, and even the worst of it wasn't getting through. "No, no one would care," she said flatly. "And I can change that. I can. It... It will just take time. A long time. But I understand. I do.
I... do."
Daekie plz let chrys be the one to kick her a** when she half youmafies. plz. emotion_kirakira
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Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 5:13 pm
"Stop being stupid," Chrysocolla said, like it was that easy; like she was scolding Sarabauite about a bad grade, or coming home late, or any number of trivial civilian problems instead of about eating a human soul. Maybe it was that easy, to her. After all -- she'd never done it herself.
"I'll be checking up on your quota next week, alright? Do you need anything? Water, energy bars, anything like that..."unohime ABSOLUTELY, she is so tired of these people going half-youma on her, why is her life like this
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Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:16 pm
"I-I, yes, Chrysocolla," she said, nodding her head vigorously. Her nods slowed when she was asked if she needed anything. There was only one thing, but it was gone, and her appetite was sort of lost with the confrontation. Only tonight would she go without another.
"No, there isn't... anything I need. T-thank you..." Her voice trailed off, listless. Where had her energy gone? Wasn't she lively and fighting but a few moments ago? But before either of them were to part ways, Sarabauite grabbed the hem of Chrysocolla's fuku like a child pulling at her mother's skirt.
"I-I mean it, thank you," she said, pursing her lips. "I needed that."
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Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2017 7:29 pm
"Take care of yourself," Chrysocolla smiled, or attempted to; it came off exactly as awkward as she was at present time, which was quite a lot. She patted at Sarabauite's hands, pulling away with the physicality of someone uncomfortable with the closeness, with the motions of someone who - now that the brief adrenaline was over - would really rather be anywhere but here.
"...don't worry about it, alright? I have school during the day, but -- call my Crystal Communicator if you ever want to talk, or anything."unohime reasonably this could have been a wrap but lol i want to use it towards my may crown token so /ARTIFICIALLY EXTENDS RP UNTIL MAY 1ST
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Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 8:10 am
Honestly, can I? Sarabauite thought. Taking care of herself felt like an impossibility; she needed someone to lean on. The very thought she might be leaning on the guidance of Chrysocolla too much never occurred to her.
Instead, she forced a small, bedraggled smile of her own, though one could tell it was forced. "I, right... I'll be sure to do that!" she said, her voice hitching a little. Struggling to her feet, she added, "I'll call you if I, if I fall off the deep end. I'll be sure of it. So, I... I should go. Yea. T-thank you again."
Daekie held off on reply just for your CT, haha.  feel free to end it on your post, otherwise, mine is an okay finish!
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Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 9:05 am
"It's no problem, really," Chrysocolla replied, a little more forcefully; her cheeks were pink, like accepting the thanks (even if it wasn't real, not that she could tell) was difficult. After all this time, compliments still felt fake when they were aimed at her, like they were trying to smooth over the jagged mess that was her everything.
She wouldn't question it. She had to believe in Sarabauite. She didn't have the time, or the strength of mind at the minute, to second-guess.
"I'll be around," she smiled meekly, and started off in the other direction, hands clasped behind her. She had a quota to fulfill for the night -- and if Sarabauite wasn't going to fill her own, she'd just have to double the energy she brought in. Honestly, born Officers were such a problem sometimes.
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