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While she was becoming more accustomed to the castle, the offices and even the laboratory, Tourmaline could not say in honesty that she was overly fond of the Rift itself. It was a wasteland of creatures and whirling Chaos. It contained the things of nightmares that one warned small children or fledgling officers about. Abandon all hope ye who enter. Beware. Stay out.

There were no restrictions placed on her now when it came to wandering the Rift. There was no one to tell her to stay away, no one to insist that they were protecting her by keeping her away from danger. She could come and go as she pleased, if she pleased. She could spend hours, even days, if she wanted to.

She didn't.

She wasn't certain she ever would; didn't want to lose herself to the madness to the point where it seemed like a good idea. Not alone, at least.

Tourmaline paused outside of the lab, composing herself before knocking on the door. While she didn't have to knock she did so as a courtesy this evening, not wanting to catch Uvarovite unaware were he in the middle of something with one of his subjects. He shouldn't be, of course. He'd agreed to accompany her into the Rift. He should be expecting her.

Shuffling the anxiousness down she stepped back, waiting patiently for permission to enter.

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Although she'd opened the door when he'd given her permission to enter she'd lingered in the doorway, leaning against the stone arch as she observed. Uvarovite had taken a great interest in the denizens of the Rift and he spent a considerable amount of time in the area she tended to refer to as the Underground when conversing idly with other members of their team.

Team. It was a strange word to linger on in afterthought. In her time as a Lieutenant, on up until some point during her Captaincy team was not the word she used when speaking about those she served alongside. It wasn't Team, it was Pack.

The Pack had splintered off, as a pack in the wild might for one reason or another. There were those who still followed the call of the Alpha and then there were those who had followed other calls-- that was neither here nor there. Her mind was roaming as it often did when she was this close to the Rift; another reason to not wander too close to it.

"Are you ready for our stroll?"

"Because it's time." The words were said simply, as if they made all of the sense in the world without context.They might have to Uvarovite. He seemed to understand everything about her, through time and now small amount of effort.

That didn't mean she didn't owe him an explanation.

"I am a General of the Negaverse. I can't just avoid the Rift because it makes me uneasy." I can't avoid the monsters in it out of the fear of becoming one. She couldn't continue to guide her brood if she wasn't able to face the things that went bump.

"I thought you might introduce me to some of your friends and maybe one of these times I'll come away with a new friend of my own."

"I brought a few orbs." She didn't tend to keep starseeds on her often, not unless she was going out for the night topside. Aue would tsk at her if he knew that. It was a lack of preparedness for whatever situation might arise, but starseeds were precious. They were also a temptation, whispering softly from whatever pocket she stored them in. She could lose herself to them just as easily as she could to the bottom of a bottle if she so chose to do so.

She didn't. General Tourmaline was better than the things that tempted her, no matter how much of a jolt came from something as simple as a taste.

"Most, from what I've learned from you as well as Moonstone and Titan, tend to form a bond with their own youma over regular trips to the Rift. I don't make trips to the rift regularly enough to have formed a working bond with any of them... I doubt it will happen in one trip. How long did it take you to take on a liking to me?" She teased softly as she paused beside him, brushing her fingers lightly along the arm of his coat.

"You wouldn't like me as much as you do if I kept it easy." A soft smirk curved her lips as she stepped back, giving Uvarovite the room to lead the way out of the lab. If there was anyone that she would follow down into the Rift willingly it was him. Despite the difference in their power levels, her ability to defend herself and fight hard, she knew that he would protect her.

"So this time we don't wander too far. You show me a few of the places that are safe to linger and then we go home and grab some dinner?" It would set a time limit on things if they made plans for after; less of a chance for either of them to get too lost in the dark.

Tourmaline did just that, drawing her communication device out of her coat pocket in order to open the tablet. She set a timer for an hour with the assumption that they could make adjustments and stay later if anything interesting popped up, or they could leave earlier if she decided she'd had enough sooner rather than later. The most beautiful thing about consent was that it could always be revoked.

"I don't think I ever actually asked why you chose Pet over any of the other youma down here-- what drew the two of you together, Captain?"

"Is there a reason why you haven't given it another name?" Something she'd never thought to ask,but could now as they walked together if only because they were coming to the front of her mind. Wasgo, Skeiðbrimir.... Names granted by their Negaverse partners. She assumed that if the great beast was at all bothered by the way Uvarovite called it then it would not come, yet she asked just the same.

"What do you hope to find when you're down here wandering on your own? What draws you here?"

Once again Uvarovite prove to have the stronger will between them. He looked into the Rift and saw untapped power waiting to be harnessed while she saw a potential threat to her sanity and those she held dear. There were those who walked into the Rift to train and become stronger, emerging with a youma partner by their side... And then there were those who walked into the Rift only to be consumed.

With fortune she would be the former. She would hold strong to the belief that those who loved her would never let her become the latter.

They wandered through the crystals and chaos together until the alarm chimed. By then they'd charmed a few feral youma and she'd paused to toss a treat to Pet before reaching out to take Uvarovite by the hand. "Time for dinner, Sugar... We can pick up where we left off here next time. I'll put in an order for delivery while you get cleaned up."

Tourmaline did not wait for confirmation, taking Uvarovite by the hand to lead him back the way they'd come. Once they were back through the Hall of Shadows, safely somewhere that she could access the magic to do so, she teleported the two of them topside without further warning-- not to his house, but nearby. They could power down and walk the rest of the way home and enjoy a quiet evening away from the darkness, soaking up each other's light.

[Fin]