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 Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:34 pm
In her dark office in Negaspace, Zircon paced, click thud click thud click thud like the pounding of her heart. It was not a space she often used, except for a desk to organize her paperwork and a quiet room to collect her thoughts before an impending meeting with the sovereigns. She found that a general’s aura drew attention in ways she hadn’t anticipated or wanted, and if she lingered at her seat long enough, some upstart lieutenant or captain would find their way to her office and ask her mindless questions about the war or why the quota was so high or what happened to her leg. Her leg, at least, was a cautionary tale--everything else could easily be found in the primer, and she was starting to feel like a broken record instead of a broken officer.
But if her aura drew attention, she wondered what other agents would think of the tiny mote of order coming from her room, whelmed by the yawning sea of chaos around it. On her desk lay a box, larger than her torso, covered by a heavy handmade quilt and nonetheless shaking as whatever contents inside tossed and turned, spitting and hissing. For a moment, Zircon ran her hands over her face, considered her options. If she kept him somewhere safe, moved somewhere remote, and cut off all civilian contact with her chaos associates, he might not be found out, at least not for a little while. He wouldn’t have to be a soldier to the White Moon or the Negaverse, he could just...keep living. Wouldn’t that be enough?
But Zircon didn’t have the time to rush him away, and she couldn’t simply force him to stay with her parents, where the beacon of his awakened starseed would attract all the wrong sorts of attention. She rubbed her eyes and seethed--why was it like this, when she’d put so much working keeping the two lobes of her life separate? First Trey, and now this? It was too much to think about, far too much when she was supposed to be boarding a plane in a few hours time, thinking about eradicating the senshi presence elsewhere and not this.
...What if she took him now, and just...left? Exiled, a criminal and a traitor, a promise breaker. But she wouldn’t have to draft him, and he could still be hers--but the thought slipped away. She had a team and a career and a life to consider. He only had her. Of the two, he would have to be the one to bend. In the back of her mind, Zircon knew what must be done, but her brain kept running in circles, hoping that in biding her time she would think of something better than consigning him to a life of war. So she paced and she tore pieces of fur from her jacket sleeves and fretted until no better solution came, and then finally she summoned her tablet pen, tabbing through her contacts for a particular name.
“General-King Zinkenite,” she called, trying to make her voice quiver less than her hands, “Pardon me, but I require your immediate assistance. It’s urgent, sir.”
Behind her, the box quivered then stilled, until the only sound in the room was tiny shuddered gasps. “Suri?” Came a voice, low and uncertain. “I want to go home. It feels bad here. Suri, I don’t want to be here, I’m scared.”
Zircon turned away, covering her mouth with her hands.
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:37 pm
“Zircon?” “He hesitated hearing the other voice. Frowning slightly and trying to process what he was hearing. Had she brought, a senshi to the rift? He couldn’t imagine why else they could complain of it feeling anything more than cold. “Is everything alright?” He asked carefully. “Do you need me to meet you somewhere?”
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Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:00 pm
In spite of being the one to call him, Zircon winced all the same when she heard his voice come through the tablet pen. "Sir. There's been a...complication. I'd prefer to show you than talk about it over official channels. Could you join me in my office? I'll send you coordinates." With a fidget and a hiss, she opened the pen to its full tablet size, then tapped against the screen, sending him her location and room number in the halls where generals took office. Were it another sovereign, she would have worried to offend by implying that they didn't know their own kingdom, but Zircon rarely feared Zink and had other worries to concern herself with.
"Suri," the box squeaked, and part of the quilt fluttered as the thing inside pushed at it, trying to paw free. Zircon's eyes stung, but she squared her shoulders and held clenched hands behind her back. Too late to set him free, too late for apologies. She coughed, and put on her sternest tone.
"In a moment, we will be joined by General-King Zinkenite," she said to the box, her tone dull and her eyes distant. "You will refer to him as General-King or 'sir'. You will not back-talk, sass, claw or bite. As long as you stay still, he will cure you, and then we can go home."
The box quivered, but did not respond.
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Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 9:47 am
There was a blank over the line, a space of no words, only silence before he responded. “I’ll be there.” He replied and let the communication drop as soon as he’d received the coordinates. It was easier this way, and he didn’t feel the need to stroke his own ego by declaring his prowess. Instead, he tucked away the communicator as he was heading out the door, closing his office door behind him as he took the most brisk walk he thought could be managed without drawing excessive attention. He took a moment to pause at the door, before knocking. “Zircon.” It was all he said, she was expecting him after all, and his voice should be recognizable enough.
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:15 pm
Zircon spun on her heels and nearly stumbled when she felt the presence of his aura, hobbling for the door with an urgency that robbed her of decorum. The expression she answered the door with was sharp, even under her languid pallor, and wordlessly she motioned for the general-king to come in, only pausing afterwords to mutter. "...sir."
"I apologize for calling you on such short notice," she muttered, her back turned away so she could tend to the quilt-covered box. "But--" And she paused to laugh, but it was a bitter, joyless sound, shaking her head, "--you'll find this is a unique situation, and I didn't want to just call anyone in."
Her hands settled over the box with a softness that Zircon was not known for with her recruits, eyebrows knitted, and she smoothed out the fabric. She fought to find words, to direct them, and eventually she settled on a tired sigh, looking up to Zinkenite.
"You know, sir, I try--really hard--to keep my work from coming home with me," Zircon explained, pulling some of the quilt away. Under it was a wire crate, and a grey-brown blob that shivered in a back corner, punctuated by needle-slit eyes and little gasping breaths. Between his brows rested a star, bright and green like its frightened gaze peering up from his burrowed shape, ears back, tail fluffed. When the cat saw Zinkenite, he hissed, baring fangs.
"Maverick," Zircon snapped in kind, and the cat-puddle shrank away with a whine. When she reined in her own panicked heart rate, she looked back up to her sovereign, somewhat at a loss.
"I know I've talked about having a cat in the past," she continued, opening the bars to the cage and reaching in for the lump of cat, who was doing its best to imitate being a dead liquid. With some difficulty in being cautious, she scooped him into her arms, holding him just a little too tight. "...This is Maverick. He's--supposed to be a normal cat. I picked him out of his litter-mates when I was still in college. Cats...don't...talk."
"I'm sorry, I won't ever say another word--" Maverick whimpered, but Zircon scruffed the back of his neck with a sharp tug, and he squeaked when she lifted him up, so Zink could get a better look.
"Tell me you can fix him." Zircon's voice began to break. "Tell me I don't have to put down my cat because something happened and now he's this--White Moon creature."
Maverick's ears fell. Did his Suri, his person really think...he was just a creature? That he was going to have to be put down? He'd been wiggling in her arms, but now he fell still, looking down numbly at his paws. But he'd just wanted to tell her that he missed her, that he was happy she was home. Did that really make him so bad?
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Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:47 am
“Zircon…” He said carefully, and repeated it because she was so very agitated. “ZIRCON. It’s all right, you didn’t do –anything- wrong. They may have done this to him, but we can still help him.” He offered “Here - “ He checked that the door was shut and locked and turned back to address the cat. “Let me talk with him a little, and we shall see all right? It’s not his fault, and clearly they haven’t removed his caring for you that’s excellent.” He glanced to the cat and pulled down his mask, a gesture he hoped might come across as less intimidating. “Maverick, my name is Zinkenite, I realize I must feel very, strange to you right now, I imagine She does as well, am I right?” He hoped, since he’d never worked with a ‘cat’ before, that drawing this parallel would work. He clearly cared about the flustered Zircon, but was able to overlook how she too radiated chaos it seemed. It was an excellent start.
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