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 Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:51 pm
When he was Eion, wrapped in towels and in no particular hurry to get dressed, when he was standing in the center of Ren's disgusting levels of opulence, it was easy to consider the Rift mission a passing figment. Looking at collected antiques, feeling the decadent, plush carpet beneath his bare feet, it was easy to say those dozen agents hadn't died. That the Rift didn't even exist. Because in a space as domestic as this, such ideas seemed preposterous.
Like Eion wasn't a skin stretched over fire and metal. When he glanced at a passing mirror, he felt, however fleetingly, that he was Eion. Like it was a name instead of code, like the background written up for him by a beleaguered Lieutenant in the Infiltration branch was true, like he had all the time in his life to spend with a boy. This boy.
Eion only knew his name was Laurence Gideon Wilhelm III (what a mouthful, just like the boy) because he dug Ren's wallet out of his pants once. He knew his age, place of residence, his powered name, and that he was loaded to the ******** ears with stacks of cash. He knew Taenite had domain over fire tornadoes, or something. He knew that Taenite couldn't control them terribly well. But did he know anything else? Did he know who Ren was, what he did for a living? How he came into all this money, if he hadn't built this disgusting fortune himself? Did he know Ren's foibles, his morals, his passions? Where he'd been, what he'd done?
No. But he wanted to know.
Usually, the house was an excellent starting point. Gander for photos to learn about family, look for signs of work life like a stethoscope by the fridge or maybe a briefcase or a work phone, snoop for birthday cards or New Years well-wishes left up for some idea of connections.
Or he could just ask Ren. Do it the ******** human way instead of creeping around for deductions like he was a ******** Intelligence General.
He was feeling a little closer to human, anyway. As he unwrapped the towel from his damp hair, he spoke down the hall. "Hey, why are you so ******** loaded?" Even his damn towels felt like they were worth more than his life's savings.
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Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 12:31 pm
For all of Eion’s snooping, he wouldn’t find much in terms of personalization. Ren had a company come in and design the place. He picked out what he liked, of course, but they put where everything went. His kitchen was stocked for the person that came in to make meals every couple days. No dust existed thanks to the people he had come in to clean at least twice a week. Photos of individuals were in his house, but they were always accompanied by news articles of accolades and accomplishments.
Ren was picking at the food that had been left in the refrigerator just earlier that day, trying to decide if he wanted to pull out the full plate to share, or to let Eion pick what he wanted. There were various fruits in a basket on the counter, and in the fridge it was stocked with cheeses and meats and drinks. And the premade meal that consisted of some kind of chicken parmesan. He ended up pulling the whole thing out and threw it in the microwave, because that was all he bothered to teach himself how to cook.
“Hard work and dedication,” he answered Eion’s call from down the hall.
He hadn’t bothered putting on a shirt, and his lounge pants could have afforded to be pulled up a little higher onto his hips but he didn’t really care. His prematurely white hair was still damp and fell over his shoulders, which he pushed back as he reached into the refrigerator again to pull out some drinks. Nothing fancy (surprisingly), just some soda. He didn’t know if Eion cared for it, but if he didn’t then he could have his pick of anything else.
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Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 6:03 pm
"Bullshitting me," Eion observed with a roll of his eyes. His house looked like a Flickr emporium, or like a home and garden designer was working on their portfolio and asked to borrow his place. Clean as it was, he wasn't sure he could learn much of anything beyond Ren's many newspaper articles. He basically hung a curriculum vitae on his walls, hold every ounce of humility. Backed it with his insistence on hard work and dedication.
Small wonder the b*****d didn't apply himself so liberally to the Negaverse. Well — Eion reminded himself to revise his expectations. Taenite was the lowest rank in the system, and Eion didn't often cavort around with the most expendable of the rank and file.
Not that Taenite was as expendable as his peers.
Eion turned, padded toward the kitchen. Listened to the way his bare feet slapped against tile; a strange sound for how seldom he removed his boots anymore. Taenite's house was large enough that it took a second to find the kitchen, and by then, he'd removed the towel from his hair and tucked it under an arm. Ran into Ren soon enough (not quite dressed, as Eion's attention roamed all that skin). Took the proffered bottle, gave it a glance, took a sip.
The carbonation caught him by surprise, though he couldn't guess why. Brows furrowed at the burn of it, but he said nothing. Not to the praise or detriment of the soda, anyway.
"Hard work and dedication doing what?" Because it wasn't benefitting the Negaverse, as far as he could tell.
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Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:29 am
Ren picked out some soda for himself to open and sip at, before crossing his arms and leaning against the counter top. “Enough hard work and dedication for Axinite to recruit me,” Ren snorted softly in amusement. But then rolled his eyes because Eion was the sort to be nosey. But that was fine, because it was Ren’s job to be nosey about things too. To an extent.
“I have a business that sorts information collected from social media,” he shrugged, not thinking it was all that impressive, but it managed to make him a good bit of money. Okay, maybe more than a good bit. It helped that he was willing to do some pretty shady things and dive through loopholes in laws and protections.
“What about you? What did you do to get yourself. All on fire, usually,” he wondered, although he’d already had an idea. He knew how half-youma officers typically became half-youma officers. He just wanted to hear it from Faustite so he could confirm his theories.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:43 am
"Is that a real thing? Thought that was —" his hands searched for the right words, "— a cover story? Just bland enough to be believable while you do your real job. Like money laundering, but with careers." He remembered being passionate about the way that data exchanged hands before, but that was so long ago; he figured that, if he met Ren while he was a human boy, he would've liked to cave in his face. Then he wondered where he picked up his violent streak — was it the youma's fault?
He halted his pace at the sound of Ren's question. Rolled his eyes to the ceiling for it. You're lucky you're cute, he thought, though his heart started to madden.
He retired the soda bottle to the counter. He wouldn't pick it up again. "Ate starseeds," he answered curtly. "If you're asking for yourself, can't happen to you. Only agents." Then he resumed his pace, albeit a margin faster.
He wondered if Taenite was going to sell that information. But who would pay for dirt on Faustite? What a ridiculous thought.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 7:45 pm
Ren just shrugged, his eyes purposefully wide and innocent. "If I'm not doing it, someone else will. I might as well have control over what I find out. Gave me the information I needed to decide to join. Was looking for a General, but I guess someone thought to tell Axinite. Unintentionally smart of them. If they hadn't killed me, I would have likely ended up in his office anyway. That's where most people go. He seems like he's the one who cares the most. Poor b*****d."
He sipped some more at his drink as he watched Eion pace. Fiery little thing that he was. And that had nothing to do with being a half-youma.
"I wasn't asking for myself. I was genuinely curious," he frowned. Eion was still getting to know him, and he was getting to know Eion, so…
"It sucks being the odd one out. But you can also use that to your advantage. I was hoping to be a regular agent. Turns out I was special. I was the weird kid with white hair growing up. Used to be brown. Kids tried making fun of me for it. Worked for a while. Tried dying my hair, but the roots come in white so it was a weekly thing, it felt like. It's not the same thing as having to deal with… all the fire you have to deal with," Ren said with a gesture to Eion's pacing form. "But you learn to let it work for you, or it'll consume you. Anyway. More advice like that will start costing you by the hour."
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Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 8:57 am
He hadn't known that Ren sought out the Negaverse, but he hadn't asked, either. He thought Ren might be right about Axinite caring the most, though he hadn't met the other Sovereigns longer than a couple minutes at a distance. Hard to say anything about them, he supposed. "Why'd you join?" Seemed a safe enough question to ask; he wasn't likely to get the same in return, if prior experiences were anything to go by.
'Genuine curiosity' caught him off guard, and Eion halted for a moment with a hand on the counter. He considered it as he stared at the kitchen wall, then returned to pacing. Genuinely curious — what was that supposed to mean?
He supposed it was sweet of Ren to offer any advice, unbidden or not. "Think I can afford it," he returned with a hint of smirk.
Still, he was right. Having brown hair that turned white was happenstance — something Ren couldn't control and did nothing to instigate. Faustite's situation was significantly different than that. Still, he thought he worked with the fire well enough. It got that white-haired b*****d s'mores once.
He supposed, too, that he would have to get Ren to regret asking him questions, if he wanted Ren to stop asking him about himself. "Wasn't always on fire. Leaked smoke until I was promoted to General, then suffered terrible stomachaches. Passed out from it a few times. Didn't find out it was fire cooking my organs until it cooked through my stomach wall and everything fell out." Usually that was gruesome enough to dissuade someone.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 6:45 pm
"Gross," was Ren's casual comment about organs falling out. As if that was the most gruesome thing he'd ever seen (it's wasn't, but he wasn't about to share what was). "Did you keep any as souvenirs? You know, put them in jars of formaldehyde? Well, I guess it's pointless to save charcoal. Maybe next time." Not that he was expecting or even hoping there would be a next time, but if Eion wanted to be like that then Ren would give it right back.
"Found some information on the Negaverse. Thought if there was a magical war going on, I wanted to be on the winning side. Had more I could offer to the Negaverse than the disaster the other side is. I don’t like having to work for other people, but compromises have to be made. I’ll reach your rank one day. Just wish I had a weapon to go along with my fire,” he said with a wink and then sipped at his drink again.
“Any chance you can, you know, figure out a way to tame the youma part of you into not being on fire all the time? Must be exhausting. I guess you’d have to figure out a way to replace your organs first. Or maybe find another youma to… double partial youma you? I don’t know how it works,” he added with a shrug, hoping that it didn’t seem like he wanted Eion to be more youma than what he already was, because he didn’t.
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