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Hopeite held the glittering starseed in her hand for a moment, admiring the sparkle and shine of the thing before she popped it into the little pouch at her side. She had yet to truly taste one, preferring them as a form of currency to anything else. Hence the only slightly over-full bag that she hooked to the belt around her waist. They had come in handy recently, with that young General and his lovely little beastie, though that transaction had completely depleted her stores. Even now, she had significantly less than before, and had been working overtime to build her "Bank Account", as she called the jar on her dresser, back up. The jar, besides being her main currency within her faction, also made for lovely conversation when she brought acquaintances home. What lovely gems. Where did they come from? Where did you get them? My, they must have been expensive. Hopeite's wicked smile spread insidiously across her face as she kept her silence while her friends admired the innocuous little gems.

Perhaps for a dinner party she would crush a few and pepper them over the dishes. Would that give a different flavor to the dishes? Would the guests even notice? Now that truly was a thought. She had heard whispers of officers sinking into addiction... could a civilian gain such an addiction? Could a senshi? That evil smile returned to Hopeite's face as she thought. It widened as those though turned into ideas. She began to laugh as those ideas turned into plans. The first thing she needed was a civilian... and why not start now?

Forget starseed for the time being. Now Hopeite was on the hunt for a life.

Hopeite had felt the stronger energy signal coming from quite a ways away, but even had she not, she had never been one to frighten easily. So when the Captain spoke, Hopeite only slowed her step out of courtesy, not fear, allowing her follower to catch up. She took a drag on her cigarette as she waited, taking in the appearance of the new comer. It was impossible to tel how old he was, given his mask was obstructing the majority of his face. Would Hopeite evolve into a mask as well? She hoped not... this was too nice a face to hide from the world.

"Well and why not," she asked, exhaling the smoke through her nose. "We are the bad guys, right? May as well act like it." The Captain's comment nearly sounded like a chide, had Hopeite not known better. "We are aligned with chaos aren't we? Shouldn't we be acting a little chaotic?" Honestly, she did not understand this factions militant obsession with... well... the military. Commanding officers, training guides, quotas. Shouldn't they be a suicide squad of blood thirsty demons, not a unit moving as one? Didn't guerrilla warfare work best in the battlefield?

"Why, have you come to scold me?" Hopeite scoffed lightly at the idea, turning back to her trajectory. If he did, well then fine. What was the worst he could do? Hurt her feelings? "Because if that's all you want to do then get to it and let me get on with my business."

Oh please. One agent acting like this wasn't going to eradicate a city. And it probably was only one, because everyone else seemed to have drunk whatever koolaid made them all march in time to the chant "Yes Master". No thanks. Hopeite wanted to part of that. She also wanted no part of this conversation nor did she want any part in this young man's disdain. He didn't even try to hide it. A sign of weakness, in Hopeite's book, was wearing your heart on your sleeve. Weakness or stupidity.

"I'm not asking the rest of you to act like me," Hopeite sighed, "and I don't really care what most of you do." Her voice was pleasant enough, with none of the irritation in it that bit at her stomach. Another sale-woman smile crossed her face as she glanced to her left and saw...

Nothing...

Hopeite yelped as the Captain reappeared in front of her -- a trick she made a note to learn as soon as possible. She recovered from her shock as quickly and seamlessly as possible, however, and steeled her face. This was getting boring.

"I know they're not toys," she all but groaned, rolling her eyes. "They're currency. They can be used in trade for goods and services. And once I feel financially secure, I'll stop ripping at such a fast pace. Right now I need to rebuild by stock. I made a recent... purchase... and it wiped out my cash. Hence," she motioned behind her where the body still lay, waiting to be found. "The only difference between me and anyone else is that I tend to rip in higher concentrations rather than sporadically through a long period of time."

"Oh so you've met every agent then?" Hopeite's boredom was mutating into anger and to was getting harder to keep it from her face. If there was one thing she hated it was being preached to. And here she was being preached to by a god damned hypocrite. He was no better and no worse that she was, in her eyes. The only difference was that he stuck to that stupid rule book that had been handed to her and she didn't. Why bother following rules that weren't going to be enforced? At that point, weren't they just suggestions? Someone was applying a thin veneer of purpose to something that was inherently aimless. Chaos should be reckless, messy, oily, and frightening. Assuming that he could be anything else was pointless. Why would they be called Chaos if they were not meant to be unpredictable agents of mayhem?

And here was another righteous b*****d lying to himself about what he was. Trying to claim that he was somehow better than her when the same darkness that crept through her veins crept through his. There was a shadow laying across both of their hearts, squeezing it tight until it only beat of that shadow's accord. There was something bigger, nastier, more malignant than them pulling the strings, and she was the only one it seemed who saw it.

Well then. Let the lessons begin.

"A life is a life, is it not," she hissed, stepping closer to invade the Captain's personal space. "Assigning worth to it... doesn't that make you just as bad as I am? A man lying in a prison is garbage to you, never mind he's there because he murdered the man who hurt his child. The woman in holding can be thrown away. Forget that she's whoring herself to feed her mother." Lives were meant to be used. It's just a matter of who they were used by. by the people who lived them, the people who pulled the strings, or people like Hopeite. "Jails or alleyways, they are all the same. Nameless people leading lives we will never know... at least I know what I am."

She leaned in closer, leaving such precious little room between them now as she spoke. "I am a monster. And I am free in that understanding. If what is right is so important to you, then why don't you defect? Order sounds more like a tune you can dance to anyway."

Inch forward Hopeite did. The bite of the blade into the soft flesh of her throat only made her smile more. What could he do to her? He had already established that he was not a killer... he didn't have what it took to take her life. He was a child with daddy's switchblade and he was bluffing. Hopeite intended to call him on that bluff.

"You won't kill me," she purred. "You're too soft." Hopeite took another step forward, hissing at the sharp sting of the cut. "You talk a big game, but that's all it is. Talk. But if you feel that my death is necessary, then by all means." Hopeite stretched her arms out, pushed her chest forward to allow easier access to her sternum and what lay beneath, in that subspace between dimensions. "Do you think that if I wanted to matter, I would have made yself known? I know how to network, son. I know how to play by the rules, manipulate the game. That's all this is after all. Take away the powers, the weapons, the war. It's politics. Who has the most ducks in their little ponds... I know that game. I've been playing it all my life. And I dare say that I'm damn good at it if I want to be." But in disguise, while chaos gripped her head and twisted her spirit, she didn't want to be. For her purposes, staying below the radar worked best. If the powers that be didn't see her doing what she was doing, then there would be no punishment. There were no rules for people like her, people who skittered under the radar. Or at least, no enforcement of whatever rules there were.

He pulled away, and Hopeite breathed deeply from her cigarette as she considered him for a long moment, hip cocked to the extreme side.

"I'll make you a deal kiddo," she finally sighed, putting on her cigarette on the heel of her boot and flicking the butt away. "You leave me the hell alone to do whatever I want, and I won't get in the way of your little side project. Whatever it is that's going to be so indespensible to the negaverse." There was mockery in her voice that she didn't bother to hide. "Better or worse, I don't really care. My only goal is chaos. Complete and total disarray. 100% anarchy. It in the name, isn't it? And I will pull every single starseed that I see fit to pull until I accomplish that." She slid sly eyes back over to Arseno and purred, "even yours little soldier boy. Who knows. Maybe one day, powered down into a civilian you might find yourself on the wrong end of my arm." Her face fell into a light pout. "Then who would work so dilegently for master?"

The strike sent Hopeite flying to the side, her center of balance not nearly solid enough to maintain itself with her hip cocked to the side as it was. She caught herself on the ground, hands scraping painfully on the rocks embedded in the earth. Darkness swelled from Hopeite's lungs and bubbled from her lips in a twisted laugh as she lay beneath Arseno. She looked up at him, rubbing her tender cheek as she did so. That was going to swell and leave a rather alarming bruise in the next few days. It wasn't like mugging was really all that uncommon. She'd mutter something panicked about some highschooler in a too-short skirt and a white leotard and people would stop asking questions.

"I knew you didn't have it in you boy," she purred, pushing herself to her feet and smoothing her uniform down. She spat out a healthy amount of blood and part of a molar. A starseed wouldn't heal that, that was for sure. Damn it she'd need a crown or some s**t at this rate... did the negaverse offer dental? If they were so [i[organized the least they could do was offer some kind of insurance plan.

"It's too bad, really. Might have made the night a little more interesting for the both of us." Or she could just do it herself. She smiled sweetly at him, batting her eyelashes as she did so. He would have had to have been blind or stupid not to think she was up to something, but hiding her mischief wasn't really her intention. Her intention was distraction. With a swift motion she sent the heel of her boot crashing into the inside of one of Arseno's knees, grinning all the while.