Welcome to Gaia! ::

This might have been shaping up to be the strangest day of her life.

Or the strangest couple of days. She wasn't sure at this point; how did time passage work in space in comparison to Earth? How long had Whisler kept her on Polaris? How long had he actually not kept her, simply using her as a shield and then apologizing on top of apologizing, offering her food, suggesting that they make more trips to space, suggesting that perhaps he would see hers someday, telling her about the horrible nature of one of their generals, letting her have an anxiety attack on a bed that apparently used to belong to a brothel, leaving her there, not taking any advantage of how vulnerable she arguably was and would have continued to be in those moments--

She was returned to Earth, as promised, unharmed and with an entire picnic of food.

An entire picnic. She'd be fed for days.

Her first thought was getting back home, wobbly and off-balance; her second thought was putting the ice cream in the freezer so it didn't melt any further from being on top of her pie, her third thought was perhaps getting a bit of rest so maybe she didn't feel so wobbly--

Her fourth thought, blaring, was the way Faustite had summoned her away from a fight from Phaethon to attack Whisler who then stole her away to another planet or star - it was enough to make her chest tight all over again, and she couldn't help the shakes or the bitter sobs that came after it.

It wasn't immediate that she reported in, but she did.

Knew that being distant wouldn't serve her any good.

She came with two freshly brewed cups of tea - one for herself, and one for Faustite - stepping carefully through the Negaverse as if something was about to come bite her. Straightened her back as she turned down the hall that would be his office, and then immediately jumped when she saw the state of it --

Her first thought was an unbidden What did Albite do?

She shook it out of her mind, continued her careful steps, and stopped in front of the former ... door.

"General?" she called, uneasily.

Nembus' eyes widened when he told her to hold on a moment.

Alright.

She hadn't expected to be told to wait, of all things, but she stood patiently, tea still in hands, as she heard the noises on the other side of the door. Was he -- was he setting it more on fire? She might have winced at the faint sound of a kick-

Faustite returned to the door and she offered a quiet, "Thank you," before scuttled by him, just as nervous as she always seemed. And yet, perhaps no worse than usual. Perhaps the faintest touch more confused. Might have been a sign of what Faustite had picked up on; she probably would have been fine to write a Database entry at right that moment, but to be honest, the legitimate concern warmed her infinitely more than being told to get to work on the Database would have ever done. She had been worried he wouldn't be concerned. Was worried that she would have just been written off as a Negaverse loss, or that they collected someone else from that disaster at the park as a replacement--

"Better than I would have expected," she offered, quietly, holding out the extra teacup to him as if it was some kind of peace offering. "Whisler teleported me to his wonder on Polaris. I guess that makes sense. The only way the White Moon can teleport, right?"

Right. He knew that. She knew that. Why did she say that?

"He just kinda. Threw me on a bed." Paused. Added, quickly, "then made me food."

That very much hadn't been what she was expecting.

Nembus' shoulders relaxed with some relief when Faustite took the cup, her expression softening into something almost affectionate and sisterly when she realized that his reaction was an emotional one. Cleared his throat and she hid that expression behind a sip of her own cup, closing her eyes as she attempted to let the blend calm her.

When Faustite moved further into the burnt room, she followed.

Don't know. It was a fair point. An absence of observation didn't mean that the circumstances didn't exist. She nodded, relieved that he hadn't innately seen her question as silly or unnecessary. Perhaps he didn't know that. Perhaps she didn't know that. She'd have to find out. The implication from Sedna had been that the senshi lost their teleportation abilities, at least, but she had never asked any of the knights and now had confirmation they could at least transport themselves to space.

"Fair enough," she murmured, offering a, "Maybe I should ask," afterward, because she was apparently non-threatening.

Which was a relief, in a lot of ways.

Didn't want to fight them.

She would have apologized for making Faustite panic, but it was only a minute taste of the panic she felt when she realized her back had hit a mattress. A minute taste of what came afterward in her mind, what left her fingers tapping lightly on the cup until she was able to bring her panicking mind back into the present. Nothing had happened. Whisler had been almost obscenely nice considering the circumstances. Faustite was right in his assumption that it didn't quite add up. She couldn't even make sense of it.

Was he entreating you to join them?

Yes. No. Maybe? Should she even say yes? It didn't feel like she was being forced at any point, but the suggestion was so prevalent, almost in the way it had been when anyone else of Order found out--

"Ah, yes. Mentioned the concept of me purifying. Maybe we could go to my own planet someday. Wanted to bring me back to his wonder under better circumstances. Seemed very apologetic." She drummed her fingers on the cup. "Mostly just talked. He seems to have a vendetta against Ashanite. Apparently, he duped some members of Order into thinking he was force corrupted? And Whisler was one of them?"

She pursed her lips.

"I guess the White Moon's perception of forced corruption might be a bit flawed..."

Why was Faustite staring? Had she said something wrong?

Piecing together when he started to stare at her as he started to search around for something in his very burnt desk - seriously, what had Albite done in here? - made her realize that perhaps her misstep had more to do with commenting that she might just ask the White Moon anything. She might need to be more careful how she worded that. Her fingers tapped slightly faster against her cup for just a moment, but she brought it back in with a stabilizing breath.

Seemed like he gave up on whatever he was looking for and started drawing in the ash. Ah. Perhaps she should have brought along a notebook, too--

"Mm. It seems Ashanite was able to make Whisler believe to some degree he might have remembered him. In forced corruptions, you remember nothing." Nembus couldn't help a vague, airy laugh. "I should know."

And it was usually intentional.

"Drew it out. Sounded like Whisler was going to join us for a time. But he's transcended, so he can't, and then Ashanite stabbed him. Kinda," she took a sip of her drink, "put a damper on all of that."

Talking to answer his first question gave her time to formulate a response to his second. Knew whatever she said to him would have to be a lie or at least not a full truth. Knew she'd have to do a good job of selling it, but perhaps that would be assisted by how uneasy she already seemed all the time anyway. She made sure the answer to his question didn't take terribly long, and she replied with a quiet, "Do you mean going to his wonder on better circumstances, or purifying? Potentially on the first, no on the second."

She was lying, but her gaze and tone didn't seem all that different from usual.

"Getting him to take me back to his wonder when I'm not so afraid of him might be good for information gathering purposes." If Whisler was already a known commodity to the Negaverse, perhaps there wasn't harm in adding a few more details to keep Faustite distracted. "He's already told me he's a former Negaverse officer, for instance."

Nembus had met enough other conscripted senshi to make the assumption that it was a generalized fact. Cybele stated that she had no memories. Sedna, who was Stillwaterite, who was Sedna again before that, had no memories. Amazone, who had started as Order, had no memories. It seemed to be a consistent story.

Perhaps it was part of the problem when they conscripted officers. Perhaps it was part of the reason why people like her debated leaving.

Not that she'd let Faustite know that.

We'll find a way to break transcendence. The statement both excited her and alarmed her for reasons she was unable to quite explain. Excited her, perhaps, because it meant that those people would no longer be eternally held away from Metallia. Terrified her, because if Chaos could break that, what couldn't they break? Perhaps she should just stop thinking about it. Perhaps she should just stay put. Be complacent. Give in to the thing Sedna told her never to do, give in to the thing Cybele had begged against, give in to Chaos and the thoughts in her mind and the team she had and the occasional thrills and-

Her thoughts spun but she buried it as hard as she could behind another sip of her tea.

Take some time off.

Oh.

Uh, she could do that, sure. Not reporting was quite possibly one of the easiest things she could do.

Except she still had to poke around and meet other generals. Alright. Guessed it wasn't a total vacation.

"Alright. Take time off, figure out who else is currently the uppers here, see what they do. Got it." Hopefully that just included generals and eternals. She had very little interest in ever seeing any of the general-sovereigns. Would rather eat her own shoe than see any of them. Would rather set herself on fire with Faustite's grate than see them.

Getting their attention on her was the last thing she wanted.

"Is there anything else you need me to do? I presume you'll need me to officially file Whisler's name in the database."

Oh.

The concept of time off that was ordered was almost so bizarre she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. No powering up at all, she supposed. No worries about quota-keeping. No worries about reporting in. No worries about following up with people or seeing what anyone was doing or checking in on potential underlings or anything. Just. Nothing.

Didn't even want a report on Whisler before she was done.

Nembus just stared at Faustite for a moment with her mouth ajar before she picked her jaw back up and obediently said, "Right. Wednesday. Next Wednesday. Okay. I can do that." It had been a long time since someone seemed to care so specifically about her mental health that wasn't a member of the other side. She wasn't sure what to do with it. Left her mind a bit jumbled in ways she couldn't exactly describe.

Perhaps just as jumbled as he was.

"Of course. Know you like tea, right?" It showed she was observant, if anything, as she got herself to her feet. "Thought you'd like it." The smile she offered was faint at the edges, a bit stronger once she realized she was giving an odd, soft, faint smile. "And you've been nice to me, so..."

Anyway.

Right, he dismissed her.

"I'll see you next Wednesday, General."

And she scurried off, her cup of tea in hand.