Welcome to Gaia! ::

Even as a captain, seldom did Faustite receive calls from other generals. That he was summoned to another's office was both fortuitous and suspicious — what prompted their circumventing Schörl, and what was on offer?

His questions would find their answers on presentation. Down the crystal-spattered hall, up the grand staircase, around the cavernous meeting rooms he walked, ever mindful of the sounds of accompanying footsteps. This eve, the Citadel felt silent; few stirred but distantly, and sounded just as reticent as him to encounter another. He placed his judgments in the twitch of fingers and offered his silence to the walls.

When he found the proper dust-stricken number for this general's office, what he hadn't expected was finding someone he knew — even if 'knew' was such a loose term with this senshi. Here she was swathed even further in her silks and nights, her outfit all the brighter for the constellations painted across legs and folded arms. Her hair, he found, was neatly unnoticeable through her outfit's ornate design, and promised to drag imperiously through any venture. At her back were now the most prominent signs of her rank. When did she earn them? What did she do to catch the eye of one of their Sovereigns? Questions better left for greater familiarity, he supposed.

"General. Eternal." Each received their salute before he took his seat, both wary of the choices available and disinterested in the logistics of seating himself. He turned one backed chair about backward and sat in it, legs flanking the chair back with pipes free of interference.

As the lowest rank in the room, he had no right to speak first. What silence surrounded them would remain until Adamantine or the unknown general broke it. When that would be, he didn't know. Were they expecting more?

Once everyone had gathered, The general gestured to the chairs around. His gaze landed on Amphi first, then moved to Faustite, then to Ada before relaxing on the Mauvian who moved to sit in his lap. Various information was splayed out. Nega agents. Senshi and knights.

At first Adamantine couldn't put together why the information was displayed until she saw the face of Aluminite. For a brief moment, she feared she was being called in to report on Laby but the general tapped some of the screens.

"We have had a turnover of agents." He started almost conversationally, stroking the mauvian in his lap who took to cleaning their paw. "High rank officers, low rank officers....youma and half youma agents...." His face turned a bit into a sneer, "Senshi." He flipped through agent after agent before settling on Aluminites information.

Adamantine's focus heightened and her hands gripped tightly in the sash at her waist. She had heard that there was ways to 'purify' for agents and senshi alike. The divine being that was Cosmos granting redemption....Princes and princess that could shed Metallia's chaos and replace it with the sickeningly pure and sweet aura of order.

She was not of the group that was corrupted from white moon, her awakening had been steeped in chaos, from the queens hand to Laby's hand to hers. Even now, as she stared at the former wolf of her pack, she felt anger bubbling under her skin.

"You all have experience in some form or other of dealing with someone who has..." The general let the words mull, "swapped sides."

Amphitrite kept herself composed, although a pang of disapproval sank into her stomach at the way he said senshi. Perhaps things hadn't progressed quite as much as she had hoped after all. A pity. She really did need to disregard this twisted sense of optimism some part of her still seemed to harbor.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, she rather liked this half-youma captain. Handy to keep that in mind for later. "Funny, " she remarked lightly, less concerned now with interrupting the general. Her smile was sickeningly sweet.

"Your assumption proves correct, general - I have known more than a few defectors. Of them all, one of them has been a senshi. One. And frankly, he was pathetic enough that I hardly see why we wasted the resources on him to begin with. So perhaps, keeping in mind who you've called to attention, " she winked at him, although there was no playful intent behind it, "if you want us to effectively carry out your little vendetta, sir, perhaps it would do you good to keep your biases in check. It does nothing for us to treat progressive agents like scum for questioning them. They're out of fashion and you know it."

She kept her tone quite easy and pleasant throughout; she held loyalty to Chase, but she did not belong to him. The closest she'd ever really had to a true commanding officer was Laurelite herself, a fact she took pride in. "Now then, sir, about those orders."

While the others could leave of their own accord, his rank mandated that he stay until a formal dismissal. Resultant from that was his being the last excused, the last to catch up to the rest. The weakest, certainly, of the lot. The least human. As he walked out, he was recipient of Adamantine's attention and thanks.

Spitting the word 'people' only offended those that respected the general's opinion — and even then, only those who considered themselves persons. Adamantine's words belied the general's effect on her while her composure declared its paltriness. If they needn't report back, she would likely forget his offenses in minutes. The youma captain nodded to her in response.

The cat in her arms was as much an indicator that the general wanted them together. But why? Unless the general knew ex-Aluminite's exact location, they would need to first find him. And with auras projected as far and as proudly as they were, a mile's distance between each of them formed a better net in which to catch this deserter than strolling as a group.

"Best that we split up," he suggested to the pair. "Form a sweep. Our intelligence is poor; we should assume the worst — that we face a knight, not a squire." They had radios for better contact, funded by the energy of those around them. Upgrades left tablets in their hands, instant access to the Database with which to check Aluminite's face to the faces of the vacant knights they met that night, if any. The aura rippling off his comrades felt thick and lurid, vibrant in a way iniquitous and familiar, promising with all the potency of power, and for that, they would find their hunting based on the draw of that seduction unless they both paired with the cat.

"What do you think?" He lacked the hierarchy standing to choose alongside them; final decision was ever deferred to higher ranks.