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 Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:29 pm
Arsenolite was struggling. Monoceros was so... just.... so much to deal with. He hadn't expected—well, look, he'd expected the total memory loss, but it pained him to see how utterly lost his former little brother was. How Monoceros just went along with things, following directions without joking around or smiling or anything that indicated that this person was anything other than a shadow of his former self. Of course he wouldn't ever be his former self again, but it was almost like there wasn't any sort of self left in his head at all. It scared him. So he went to Lionel, knowing that he also had a forcibly corrupted Senshi in his care. He would know what to do, maybe, be the best person for Arsenolite to confide in. He asked Lionel over the communicators to come meet him in his office, so he could have a chat, and then waited.
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:35 pm
Called to his office. Called to Arsenolite's office, because Arsenolite had an office, because Arsenolite was a Captain now--had lapped Lionel in the Negaverse with ease and eagerness. (Apparently, he had a good eye for recruits. Or for bastards who would take well to the Negaverse.)
(What, he wondered, did that say about him.)
But the call was placed, and Lionel was not going to show his doubts. He was absolutely not going to let Arsenolite know that his resolve was shaken. He was going to be, as far as Arsenolite knew, exactly as gung-ho for the Negaverse as he'd been on the day he got Ashanite involved in this whole stupid mess.
So he swaggered into his friend's office, taking in the place--small, but still an office.
"Huh, pretty nice digs. Negaverse is treating you well."
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:48 pm
Arsenolite smiled warmly, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. "Hey, Lionel. Yeah! Isn't it great? The Queen herself is who promoted me," he said proudly, puffing out his chest. "Don't worry about niceties or anything though, we're still buds, yeah?" He grinned widely for a moment before sighing, leaning his elbow on his desk and chin in hand. "...How are you doing?" he asked quietly, "With, uh. Y'know. Having Guinevere around? I, uh... Well, I planned on bringing my brother into things, yeah? Turns out... He was already an awakened Senshi. For the White Moon." He paused for a moment, rubbing his hands over his face. "Ashanite called for Axinite, and we got him corrupted... He's... just... he's not my brother anymore. And... Total memory loss. He's... so vacant, behind the eyes. Like there's nothing there. How do you deal with it? Get them to become a person again? I know he's not my brother anymore, but I miss him."
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:11 am
"Yeah, yeah," Lionel tried to cover up his nerves with interest, and also a little distraction, taking in Arsenolite's office. "Promoted by the Queen? Must've felt nice. She seemed...imposing as all hell, at that after-party."
After-party. What a way to describe what had happened, where they had all been, after that awful, miserable battle. God, Lionel was never going to forget how much of a terrible person he'd felt like, after everything that happened with Guinevere there.
It was an effort, then, not to face-crack in horror at what Arsenolite was asking him. He shoved it down, put on a mask of casuanless, and shrugged.
"It's probably different for me, because I didn't really know her before? And, uh. Truth be told, Guinevere has....kinda taken to this like a fish to water? She seems. Pretty happy, and not all that concerned about the 'no memories' thing."
And yet he couldn't shake the image of her hand slipping into that poor alien's back. Of her casually snapping his neck.
"So I guess it's...kind of different, person to person, which makes a lot of sense."
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:20 am
Arsenolite swallowed, trying not to be too disappointed. It was good, of course, that Guinevere took to the Negaverse so easily. That was what they all wanted, wasn't it? It just... He wished he had someone he could talk to about this, then. But he doubted anybody else had gone through the exact same thing he had. "Yeah, it does," he said with a sigh, resting his chin in his hand again and staring down at the patterns in the wooden desk. "I just... don't know what to do, man. Every once in a while I think I see glimmers of who he used to be, or at least some kind of person in there, but... He just silently goes along with everything, and..." He sighed again, shaking his head looking Lionel in the eye. "Maybe we could all hang out together, or something? See if Monoceros will perk up somehow?" he asked hopefully.
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:29 am
Lionel let himself go, a little, because it was obvious Arsenolite was genuinely upset about this, and it'd be a d**k move to keep playing casual and distant, so at least he could let himself look a little bit closer to how ******** up he felt on the inside.
"I wish I had better advice," he said. "I kinda wish it hadn't been so easy with Guinevere, if we're completely honest. It's a little scary, y'know? Like a switch flipped and she just...went off."
Was that too much? Too close to admitting his doubts? Well it was already out there.
"But sure, we can all hang out. Gwen's chatty, she'll talk your brother's ear off whether he wants to respond or not." And Lionel supposed that'd be a hell of a sight to see, anyway, Gwen chatting at some blank-faced Corrupt who had apparently been so shattered by the process that there was nothing left there. In a dark, surreal sort of way, at least.
Especially the part where it kind of felt like setting up a playdate. 'Let my newly corrupted toddler meet yours, see if they get along! Maybe they'll be besties.' Ugh.
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Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2021 12:19 pm
Arsenolite smiled a bit. He was so, so grateful for Lionel's support, even if he didn't have the perfect advice. Arsenolite doubted anybody would, in the first place, but coming from Lionel, it just felt... nice. They were friends for a reason, after all. "Yeah, that's kinda how it went with Monoceros too. Except instead of 'went off' in the 'gone nuts' sense, he just... turned off. Like a shutdown computer," he said with a sad chuckle. "And hey, at least someone'll talk to him besides me and maybe Ashanite. Thanks, Lionel." He paused a bit, then to dispel the heavy atmosphere, he grinned teasingly. "How does it feel to be outdone by the guy you recruited?" he jibed, gesturing vaguely to the office with a laugh, "This is still so weird! I can't think of you as an underling. We're just... you and me. Y'know?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 3:18 pm
Lionel nodded. How strange, to see two polar opposite reactions to corruption. It was, he guessed, a positive that Guinevere hadn't gone in the direction of complete shutdown or robotic obedience, or anything like that--but the pretty pink, frilly, feral thing was also its own kind of terrifying.
"You're welcome. What else are friends for, right?" He asked. "And, hey, I'm glad to see you're taking to the Negaverse well. Not getting promoted is my own fault, anyway, spent too long being a lazy a*****e." He laughed, like it was funny, though it sort of wasn't, truth be told.
All of this made him sick, but he had to pretend otherwise.
"But good to know it's not gonna get in the way of anything. Be kind of weird otherwise, to be honest." Lionel paused, briefly. "Hey, was there anything else you needed? We could head out and patrol together, maybe, better to do that kind of thing in pairs." Why he was essentially volunteering himself to be surveilled harder was beyond Lionel, but he sure was doing it.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:32 am
He snorted at Lionel's self-deprecating joke, shaking his head. "Well, I won't be getting on your a** about it. If you're happy where you are, there's no reason to push you forward," he said with a shrug. "I know you're a good guy." He inhaled slowly, glancing around his office again. "Yeah, let's patrol," he decided, standing up, "I don't need to be sitting in here hoping and moping. We've got an action plan, now it's time to just put it in the works when we can. Let's go."
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