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It was General Xenotime that appeared first with the eternal corrupt on her heels. He'd made initial contact to request the meeting, but this was matter of importance for the both of them ,and now that the purple haired fighter had returned home she was eager to lend her time and energy to finding answers about the missing Blackwell brother. She might not have had a lifetime of memories and familial bonding with Umber, but he was still her's. Had shared her home and her bed for over a year. He was aloof, had always been, but she still cared greatly for him.

"General Schörl, it's been a while," she greeted smoothly, maybe even warmly. Their contact was fairly limited, but Xenotime respected the other woman a great deal. She was efficient and effective, and they shared an intense, mutual dislike for a certain General-Sovereign. Though in her absence the younger woman had no clue what Schörl had been up to, and if she'd rejoined Spec ops, or turned er attention elsewhere.

Questions for another day.

She side stepped as she approached to allow Ochre to move up beside her. she might have been his superior, but he was leading this investigation.

“ A two for one, how fortuitous, “ the pipe moved to the side of the green General’s mouth, cane flourished out with an open gesture before clicking into a casual stance. The Eternal’s wallowing, though, on the very cusp on report grit teeth into the stem of the pipe. She waited, listened, waited for him to reveal his purposes. “So shall the word be, that goeth forth out of the mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. ”

“ I will do this thing, but your hands are not so cleanly washed of blood. No, not as a brother. I need all the information you have so far. I will not needlessly retread what has already been ferreted out. Tell me about your upbringing, the state of your relationship last you saw him, the times and dates of last contact, last known address ...such as he ever kept. Have the technical aspects been investigated- cell phone GPS markers, or tracing bank or credit card usage if he used any? And any inforrmation from prior interviews you’ve made with previous contacts or subordinates of his?” Though there was monumental doubt on that last bit. Prior interview of any sort meant prior communications, with mouth or hand. These things this wet blanket seemed unlikely to have in embroider or weave.

"The like from yourself, General Xenotime. "

"Um…" Ochre turned toward Xenotime and spoke out the side of his mouth. "Is that English? Cuz uh… I dunno what she's asking." But Xenotime seemed to, since she started with an answer on hand, and Ochre decided to go with the gist of what Xenotime presented.

His general gave the last time she heard from Umber and a general description of how she knows Umber to act. Okay, that was easy enough to copy.

But first… "Um, if I could make a request? Plain english would be really great going forward, cuz I mean, I didn't go to college and learn all the other ways people spoke english, like back in the day, and uh, it's really hard to understand? Stuff like 'I need all the information you have so far' is easy to get, and that's perfect, but… Yeah. Anyway."

He chewed his lip a moment, watched how the dim haze of crystal cast over the desk. Watched how the pipe-hand cast kind of a foreboding shadow over wood. "Upbringing, when I last saw him. Uh… Technical stuff. Okay. So. We grew up sort of by the edge of Destiny City where a bunch of hippies live past the southern woodsy area. So it was all live-off-the-land stuff, not a lot of technology, sorta like Amish but they mixed and matched their religion from whatever used to be local deities here back in the day? Umber got along fine with it but I thought it was pretty dumb. Fitting people into specific roles for life doesn't always work, you know?"

What else was there? Oh, right, last contact. "The last time I heard from him was like… Over a year ago. March-ish? He said he was starting a new project. I remember he called me, cuz I thought it was weird. He almost never uses the communicators.

"And technical stuff. He lives super off the grid, so no bank account and I think he always left his cell phone at his old roommate's place. Ashanite is his Nega name. But I know he had a cell phone… Sometimes he'd spend months at a time camped out in the woods and he'd, like, do his Nega stuff from there? But he wasn't really accessible as a civilian.

"I spoke to a couple of people about him. Um, Chrysocolla, Ashanite, Faustite and Haüyne. With the help of Sylvite, of course. She was really great and helped me prepare some reports on it too. I can get you a copy of those? I think they've got everything in them that you might need. They're pretty much transcripts."

The question Ochre had directed to her as a quiet aside should have given the petite general reason to worry when the eternal mentioned a request. Should have, but didn't. Not until the words were spilling like a burst water pipe from his sweet mouth to fill the room to the cave like ceiling and drown them all. Stunned, eyes widdening, she had time enough for her fingers to tense against his back, but little less. Shiiiiit.

A wary eye lifted to her peer, watching and waiting for the other boot to fall as Ochre finished listing off pertinent information regarding Umber and the search for him up to this point.

Then pale brows we're waggling at her and xeontime grimaced, bracing herself but with no mind as to what would follow.

And she had reason to worry.

The twang made her wince, and her thin chest rose and fell in what was likely an audible sigh, at least to the man standing beside her. Xenotime waited, at a loss as to how to respond. If it's been directed to another officer, or perhaps even just on another occasion it'd have been comical, but here and now it just spelled trouble from all sides.

"I can assure you General, no disrespect was meant from my officer. You have a very cultured tounge, and speak witha level of sophistication and class we're just not accustomed to." It was apologetic, but not overly so. Firm and precise and level. Dividing the blame into herself as well. "In the hopes of finding our lost general we seek only to be sure we're understabding precisely what is needed from us for you to offer your generous assistance in this matter."

Diplomacy with not her finest point, but she trired

First one, then the other, challenging that clarity of what was required was all that was sought. Xenotime included herself in her proposed ‘we’. ‘Cultured’ or not, the second should have been plain enough, regardless of levity. Switching argot pole to pole, twice I speak, and still face fools. Is this a fairy tale? Is saying it three times what is necessary for it to be done?

Smile died and Schörl puffed, then blew a smoke ring from her pipe. Calm and decorum were the key to expediency. “As soon as you can, bring me a copy of your report. Add to it a printed map with the locations of Umber’s dwelling camps circled on it. If I need clarification, be available to your communication pen. If I have questions, be available to your communicator pen. This is a year on, my fresh eyes and feet will be enough. So serve Xenotime as she sees fit and as usual. “

God and the Devil willing, I will not need to call on this lot in this matter until the denouement. What is lost in following asinine reports and waffling will be made up for in not needing to babysit and cajole. Credo ut intellegam. “If you have the report copy with you now?”


With luck, Xenotime would have had that foresight. Ochre seemed to lack anything of the sort. “It leaves the map, with markings and directions written in margin, which you can bring to my studio. “

Ochre's head slowly sank downward through the course of their conversation. As Schörl and Xenotime spoke around him, Ochre studied the floor. He found that, if he stared long enough, he became quite acquainted with the patterns in the dust motes and the swirling leftovers from dutiful feet. The one nearest his boot looked kind of like a minotaur.

All the while, he listened to Schörl make clear the rest of her expectations and Xenotime meeting them. He realized, then, that he'd spent years in the Negaverse and never really learned how to speak to other officers. Xenotime sounded perfectly formal, and Schörl kinda (really) rude and commanding. Xenotime even started to sound like a subordinate to Schörl, but maybe that's what they were supposed to do in a situation like this. He was giving up the investigation to her, after all. Wouldn't that put her in charge?

In any case, it sounded like Xenotime covered everything that the other general wanted. Ochre caught himself fiddling with the ends of his sleeves again and forcibly held his hands behind his back. He didn't mind standing there and being a floor decoration until they were dismissed.

Soon, he hoped. Really soon.