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 Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 6:54 pm
When Jadarite approached Faustite's office, she was more relaxed than she'd been standing in front of Lepidolite's door a few minutes before. Part of it was physiological. The shock of the Chaos entering her system had flooded Jada's body with endorphins. While her chest still ached slightly, the rest of her body had gained a pleasant buzz of warmth and strength. Perhaps the upgrade itself also had something to do with that. Either way, Jadarite felt lighter. There was also a social aspect to it. Captains weren't expected to be quite so small and obedient as Lieutenants. Of course, she still owed some respect to this General that she'd been told to find, but Jada still found herself smiling. She knocked on this door three times, as well. "General Faustite? Captain Jadarite." She had to pause at the way that title sounded when she said it, her smile widening. "I've been reassigned to you."
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2021 6:45 am
Faustite hadn't been working so much as he'd been divining what to do with his bottles of squid ink. He'd been noting down various options, quite carefully, on parchment paper before Jadarite knocked. Once he heard her voice, he stared holes into the door, and his hand came to rest on the desk. He waited for her to announce her intentions before entering.
There it was. Reassignment. As if he didn't already have a ******** cavalcade of —
The smell of char hit him. "******** <********>," he hissed as he dropped the pen, gathered up the now-burning papers, and chucked the lot into his metal wastebasket. They continued to burn there, coiling up their little mockery of smoke toward the ceiling where it fanned out gently. His attention left the door, went to the burning waste bin, then back at the door, then decided she was going to get a very matter-of-fact view into his life as a perpetually burning entity. And if she didn't like it, she could ask for a different General.
As he got up, he hadn't spared a thought for how his mail must've been late again, for he wasn't informed of this reassignment, either. That was just a given at this point.
So he went to the door, trash fire be damned, and opened it to take a look at this officer. Petite thing, looked like an office worker, probably belonged in Infiltration or something with a uniform like that. He stood aside in intimation of her entry.
Everything in his office was made of metal, dented, and inexplicably covered in char marks — the desk with its glass surface, the two backed chairs facing the desk, the stool on the other side, the pair of bookshelves behind that arrangement, the writing desk in the corner. Then there were peculiar festivities that seemed dangerously flammable strewn about — wreaths, a tree, some wrapped gifts, colorful lights in the corners. Two wisps stared out from their homes in the bookshelves.
He was still annoyed, but he had to not be. It wasn't Jadarite's fault that she was reassigned to him without his prior notice.
"Take a seat. Lieutenants skipped out on interoffice mail today; hadn't been notified. We'l examine your file as we go."
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Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 9:03 am
The sound of muffled curses coming through the door got an eyebrow raise out of Jadarite. When the door opened and she saw that the man inside had a small antique stove where his stomach should be, actively burning, that eyebrow edged higher still, although Jada at least had the good sense not to gape. As she gave him a second look-over, she realized that man was probably a generous descriptor. This one looked young. He looked as young as some of the youngest recruits that she'd seen in this castle, which made her wonder what exactly he'd done to end up a General. Curious. Perhaps she could learn some trick for moving through the ranks from him. It was clear that Jada was in a better mood than usual. She smiled as she walked into the mostly heatproof room and took a seat, and she even said, "Oh, don't blame the Lieutenants. This all happened five minutes ago. I'm the messenger." She glanced towards the smoking papers in his trash as she settled primly into a bent metal chair. "It seems word of mouth is the best way to contact you, so, I'm here."
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Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2021 10:53 am
Watching her watching him, he wanted to say, yes, it's real. But, it was normal to stare at the parts of him that weren't human. Youmafied officers weren't common, after all, and there were none like him.
Interesting that whoever promoted her favors telling their Captains before their Generals. Doubted it was Axinite; he was usually courteous enough to try to give Faustite a forewarning that often got lost in the mail. And given all his prior subordinates, he had to let go of this anger — had to accept that he would simply be the last to know when he was getting a new recruit.
Silently he swept back around his dented desk and sat on his metal stool. Scooting up to the desk, he pulled his split cape aside, wetted his fingers, and deftly pulled a new sheet of paper from a stack in an open desk drawer. It was otherwise pristine, but for a couple browned marks where he held it just moments ago.
The pen he took up prior was tossed after the nib was removed, and replaced with a new pen. Captain Jadarite was her name, so he sounded it out at the top in shorthand.
"Correct, Jadarite. Until someone heatproofs a tablet, I won't be using one.
"Better to know who you're working for and what to expect. So. Been Intelligence for a few years, ran a few missions. Previously served under General Schörl, and before her, General Umber. Strengths are in tactics and recon, specialize in youma. Spent some years in the Rift, so if you have any interest in a personal youma, I will assist you.
"Team includes Albite and Nembus, Supers; Lilith, Alkmene, and Mizuki, Basics; Celadonite, Lieutenant. As part of the team, you will be coordinating with everyone." Perhaps her first goal will be to find out what happened to Nembus. "Prefer my Captains and Supers guide a subordinate; I'll find one for you." That, too, was noted in shorthand.
"Any questions before we look at your profile?" He asked with his attention on her.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 2:15 pm
He couldn't use the tablet at all? Jadarite had no external reaction to that, other than a curt nod, but she couldn't help but wonder about the effectiveness of the talking cats that half the Generals seemed to keep around. She knew that they were meant to keep the technology working when they weren't wrangling senshi, but if they couldn't manage something as simple as a heatproof communicator, then what were they actually good for? At least it seemed like he had enough subordinates that he would be able to have someone else message her if he needed to get information out. She sat tall despite the bumpiness of the chair metal, her ankles crossed primly but her hands folded on Faustite's desk as it it was, in fact, hers. Other than a brief glance down at his completely unintelligible handwriting, she kept her gaze locked on his face, barely even blinking. Then he started listing off names, and Jadarite's eyes widened. "Nembus?" She wouldn't have called herself close to the other girl, but she still recognized the name. "She was on my old team," Jadarite explained, her expression shifting back to her usual business smile. "I haven't seen her in years. I didn't know she'd ended up here." She hadn't thought the girl would even think to seek out a new General.
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Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 1:58 pm
Faustite nodded once. "Inherited from Marcasite, who was ostensibly reassigned." Didn't know if Jadarite would or could add onto that morsel, but Faustite was always interested in the goings-on of other Generals. Better to know what each of them are doing, better to see which ones could do their jobs appropriately.
Faustite had never met Marcasite. Couldn't put a face to the name. Yet here he was, again, receiving one of her subordinates. He hoped that this one was less flaky.
Briefly, Faustite opened a desk drawer and peered into it. Shutting it gently, he held his hand out to the side, palm supine. "Haven't seen her in six weeks, myself." He beckoned to the air, waited —
but nothing answered his pull. Brows furrowed. His hand returned to his desk as he stared at the vacant space where she should've been.
He consulted the declassified information after the planned entrapment and capture of a dozen enemy recruits. There were no reported casualties in the Negaverse domain, and few had purified — General Titanite, which was why he needed his desk's glass top replaced a second time; a Negaverse senshi unmet by him, and that Eternal who was brother to Umber. The lattermost was killed by Jet (and he was salty about that, too). No one reported Nembus purifying. No one reported her being killed. No one reported her being promoted, either.
And Axinite would've told him if she was promoted afterward, he was sure. She would've told him. Should've. Whatever.
He cut words across a separate page in regular writing, where is Nembus? There would be time to address that later.
"Tell me about yourself, Jadarite. Your start in the Negaverse, your old team, old projects, why you were promoted — anything you can." Flame eyes then raised to her, waiting.
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Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2021 4:40 pm
Jadarite glanced to the empty space where he was pointing, but did not react when nothing showed up. Nembus, like the others, had been gone for so long that it would almost be strange to watch her appear out of thin air. His inquiries were easier to wrap her head around. Jadarite was no stranger to talking about herself, and anyway, she'd been preparing a small spiel over the last few days while she'd been working on requesting reassignment. "I'm Emilia Asher," she began, "24. Alias is Captain Jadarite, of course. I also go by Em.Azing in online circles. I applied to work in journalism at Argent Industries after I graduated from college. Jade-" Her tone was casual, especially as she paused to clarify, "That is, Marcasite, informed me during the application process that the company was part of a larger organization that I'd be expected to assist as part of the job. It turned out to be the Negaverse. I was recruited after I was hired." The only shift in her posture was the slightest tilt of her head. Her eyes never left his. "I've been Inflitration from the beginning. Much of my work has been done as Emilia. I wrote articles at first, but I've been shifting more and more to video content, recently. We always tried to drop particularly interesting content when otherwise it was going to be," she pursed her lips, "unflattering stories about the city's 'gang issues' circulating online. This was both with Argent Industries and now that I'm moving to more independent projects." The proud smile stayed on her lips. "Early on, I joined the Witzend Mission, where with the team I successfully eliminated a group of senshi in England. I stopped being assigned to missions, though, as Marcasite became less,"Available." She could tell that Faustite was curious, but as far as Jadarite was concerned, what happened to Marcasite was Marcasite's business. "My upgrade was today, and came back to my track record as well as the fact that I was able to take out a senshi on my own last week." That was the spiel, and Jada sat rubbing one thumb across the knuckle of the other as she waited for him to take it in.
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:10 am
While she spoke, his attention darted between her and the page he wrote on. He was careful to keep his hand off the page entirely, and he held his pen toward the top, which necessitated only the finest movements. It slashed and marked in tandem with her words, and Faustite kept silent. When she finished, Faustite spent a couple seconds finishing out the transcription before he allowed himself to speak.
"Doubtless you had ample guidance in Infiltration." Nembus was trained enough that she could've been self-guiding had she been self-motivated, too, and this one sounded self-motivated enough to be self-guiding. Likely they hadn't reassigned her to him for further training in Infiltration, he figured; either they wanted her to pick up more generalized skills and abilities, or they wanted someone to advocate for her. The skills and abilities were better provided by his team as a whole, so she must've been given to him for advocacy.
"Heard about Witzend." That mission spelled Infiltration, he was certain. "Need to know what kinds of missions you'll seek out now, and where your focus during your Captaincy will lie. Don't need to answer immediately.
"Should understand that your Captaincy will reveal your direction as an officer." Pen retired, he folded his hands together and rested his chin atop the knot of fingers. "For example, my missions leaned toward tactical strikes. As a General, I specialize in tactics. Since the bulk of your work is reporting, wouldn't surprise me if you specialized in media influence." He'd known of other propagandists from back when he would call them as much, but they'd since vanished, just like Nembus.
"Since you've neutralized a target, going to assign you to Albite for sparring. You two can work out a weekly schedule. You'll collaborate with Lilith where possible for content projects. Celadonite can help you with outfits for your videos.
"Have tea with my subordinates every other Friday. It's mandatory once a month. Expect to hear progress, grievances, whatever you have for me."
He shifted, crossed his legs under the table. "Give you a month to get settled, then I'll take you to the Rift. Need to know more about youma for your role as a Captain, whether you get one or not."stari_maga thanks for your patience!
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Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 5:49 pm
So they'd sent her to a tactician. That was what stood out the most to Jadarite as she watched Faustite awkwardly scribble out notes from the corner of her eye. Now that she'd proved herself in combat, did that mean that she was going to be expected to focus on the battlefield side of things more? That hadn't been her intention. She wanted to rise through the ranks, but she much running her twitch streams to dealing with the smell of blood. He said that she didn't have to answer his questions right away, but she did anyway, and smoothly. "Like I said, I'm breaking away from the Argent Industries label, but I still want to stay in the media umbrella. Civilian relations, all of that. I have some ideas." Her smile was sharp. "Infiltration has always felt like the perfect fit." It was true that more experience might help her carve out a farther niche for herself, and she filed away the concept that she was supposed to find more of a niche for herself and articulate what it was to her superiors. Her gaze lost some of his intensity when he started listing off names. Even she couldn't keep track of all of this, and she didn't have paper, as he did. "Can you tell me more about the others I'll be working with?" she asked.
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Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2022 5:56 am
"Interested to see where your ideas go, then," he returned, tension gathering in his shoulders. He bit his tongue for a breath. It was too early to lash out at her for being intentionally vague. If she intended to hang herself, it was on him to supply ample rope, he knew.
Faustite pushed his papers to the side with the edges of his nails. "Albite, Super Senshi of Retribution. His spells entail magical tattoo binds that keep his opponents close to him. Peer to you by rank, but newer to the Negaverse on the whole. Makes more sense when you meet him.
"He's well-meaning and earnest, charming and zealous. Astonishingly stupid. Mule-headed thing with no sense of self-preservation. Quite likes to fight. When you meet him, you'll find that he wants to respect you — makes it easier to gain his trust. Contrary to the impression he leaves, he's quite dependable. Works odd jobs at odd hours, but makes himself available at need." At least, when Faustite called him, he did. He hadn't thought to ask if his subordinates received that same favor.
"Lilith, Basic Senshi of Kelpies." His foot began bobbing under the table. "Magic feels like drowning if you touch her. Been in the Negaverse a while. Subordinate to Albite in name, but she's basically his mentor.
"She's shrewd, cooperative, and confident. Knows how to get what she wants. Dependable in unexpected ways. Suffered for not having a direction or oversight in the Negaverse for some time, but she's been correcting course. Streams games in her off hours, to a large following. Has some other side business. Good with technical work, since she's run those projects entirely on her own." Not that he knew much about the art and science of making videos, but for all the ways that Hina showed her cleverness? He was certain she could help Jada on her undeclared projects if she so chose.
"Lieutenant Celadonite is one of our newest. Headstrong, observant, reads people at a glance. Works in fashion. Still getting to know him, but he shows an indelible sarcastic streak and hasn't disappointed me yet.
"Think you'll find them helpful in their own ways."
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:20 pm
Jadarite eyed the list, making mental notes about each of the names he mentioned. Of course her attention was already on Faustite, but she perked up slightly at the mention of a streamer. "Streaming games?" she asked, pulling the offered papers farther towards herself and flipping through them with her red painted fingernails. "Interesting. That's my profession." Faustite was not Marcasite, and the focus of his team was clearly more generalized, but that didn't mean that there weren't similarities between this team and the other one she'd served on. Of course there was only so much she could find out about these people by looking at their papers. There was a reason she wasn't Information. The rest she would learn in time. For now, she glanced back up to Faustite. "No further questions, sir."
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Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 1:16 pm
"Think so. Don't know much about it," he admitted. He wasn't sure how Lilith and Alkmene decided to assign themselves to him, knowing that their work differed so greatly from his. Maybe it was in that utter lack of knowledge, on his part, that they could gain solace in their own independence. No General to micromanage them if the General didn't even know what Twitch was, or understood why people watched other people play video games.
People could make a profession out of it, though. A lucrative profession, it was. Far better than a hopeless little teenager thinking he could make money off of poetry. A slight frown formed on his face.
"Dismissed, then. Interested to see what you can do, Jadarite."
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