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 Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:14 am
When Lysithea had cried herself out, she sat up and wiped her eyes, sniffling and blowing her nose to try and clear it. Finally, taking a deep breath, the corrupt stood and brushed off her fuku before slipping out of her own office and going to her brothers.
She didn’t knock, just opened the door, and when she saw that he wasn’t there, Lysithea felt her heart breaking just that much more.
Sitting on the edge of his desk, she prepared to wait, trying now to go over just what she wanted to say? Should she chastise him? Tell him that attacking without provocation wasn’t…didn’t feel right? They should give the White Moon a chance to save themselves. It was only fair…but.
But maybe her brother had given that senshi…Malus a chance to save himself in the past and he hadn’t done it…but.
That didn’t excuse his blatant overreaction to the situation. Clearly he didn’t care a fig for her own feelings in the matter…and if that senshi had died in such a terrible way…god. Lysithea wouldn’t have known what to do. The very idea of watching someone be burned alive was all together sickening and made her want to go back to her own office and hide for the rest of the century.
The soft red glow of Faustite’s youma made her look up, wiping her eyes again.
Truth be told…she didn’t like youma…and they didn’t like her, but…
“Where is he?” Lysithea truly wasn’t expecting an answer, was honestly expecting to just be ignored, or attacked, but when the cloud of small creatures seemed to beckon her to follow, she wiped her eyes once more and did.
As they walked…somewhere, she idly wondered if they were going to take her to the Rift and just what she would do if such was the case…it wasn’t…an ideal thought, but she hoped that she would be able to take some care of herself at least.
She wasn’t useless after all.
Thankfully, Headache didn’t seem to be taking her to the Rift at all, but instead stopped in front of a door in the barracks.
Huh. Lysithea had no idea that her brother had a room here…but. She supposed it made some sense.
This time she didn’t just enter, she knocked first, lightly and then pushed the door open. “Faustite?”
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:06 pm
The room was sparse — were it not for its one occupant, it looked like a halfassed attempt to move out. The small, square space was bare, with no windows, a fine layer of dust on the floor, and only a handful of crystalline protrusions to spread their eerie, violet luminosity through the room. In the corner farthest from the door heaped a pile of trash: empty wrappers, tossed away papers, old files, and a surfeit of burnt, rumpled objects that weren't recognizable anymore.
The only other object in the room was a long sheet of metal, warped by heat. On top of it, back facing the door, was the burning youth that Lysithea was after.
He'd shed his boots and the top layers of his uniform, which exposed the thin ribs to which his wrought cage was bolted. The fire murmured low in his sleep, no more than a candle sighing its thin line of smoke toward the ceiling. He hadn't stirred at first.
Headache entered unbidden, passing over Lysithea's shoulder as a swarm of fireflies. It gathered near the sleeping General's face and formed into a floodlight, then flashed a terrible brightness at him, such that Faustite flinched and bemoaned the state of his eyes upon waking. He pressed his hands to his face and groaned as he wormed away from the awful youma he called his own.
Headache, satisfied, reformed into the image of Faustite as a Captain. The stolen face wore a smug ******** —" Faustite sat up slowly, legs folding underneath himself. Tears fell freely from his assaulted eyes. "******** you. What do you want."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:22 pm
Lysithea wanted to hiss something at the youma, to issue a command that she knew wouldn’t be followed…or just to shut the door on it so that there would be no audience when she spoke with her brother…though, when the fireflies took the form of a person she couldn’t help but stare…and when her brother spoke so harshly, she stiffened.
“Seriously? I wanted to talk with you, obviously. You weren’t in your office and your youma here led me to where you were.”
Her voice sounded sharp even to her own ears…but if this was how he was going to treat her after acting like an absolute a** not an hour ago…well. She didn’t need to stand here and take it. Yeah, they were family, and yeah…maybe not everything was always going to go perfectly but…
If he was going to be an a** to her too.
Her already sore eyes began to burn and the corrupt turned to leave the room. “You know what. Forget it. Just come find me when you want to not be a jackass to me and to random people who think they’re your friends. It’s really bad form to say you have no friends and then try to flame broil someone who claims that they are. I know I wouldn’t want to be your friend if that's how you treated me. Not that you’re being much better right now.”
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:37 pm
Someone else was —
"Wait. Didn't know you were there. Thought it was just the youma." He blinked away the stinging sensation enough that he could turn and squint after her as she began to leave.
"Lys —" Though, he wondered if it mattered that he called after her. She left him once, might as well leave him twice. It got easier each time, he imagined.
He could get up to stop her, but what was the point? She already spoke her mind. Already told him how little she thought of him. And if she wanted to storm off, leave him to this cell of a room while she rejoined people like Waru, or Haru, or Hina, what could he say to that? Could he say anything?
Should he say anything?
Faustite shifted, then lay back against the metal sheet he called a bed. His youma hadn't moved, hadn't cared. Still wore the face of a better version of himself, when he was still under a General who could teach him to be a functional, contributing member of the Negaverse. He flipped it off halfheartedly, then covered his face in a tangle of yearling limbs.
So his sister hated him now. Wasn't that inevitable.
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:47 pm
Lysithea hesitated when he spoke again and chewed her lip before giving an inaudible sigh and turning to walk silently back into the room. She stared at the figure that the Youma was wearing and after a moment of deliberation, she punched the smug face and hissed the words she wanted since it had pushed past her into the room. “Get lost. Your assistance is no longer needed. I wish to speak to my brother alone.”
Hesitating, Lysithea sat herself on the edge of the piece of metal that Faustite was laying on and reached out to smooth back his hair, sighing once again and wiping her eyes with her free hand.
“I’m here, Faustite. I’m not leaving. I didn’t realize you were talking to it. I thought you were talking to me.”
…She was so easily swayed by this stupid brother of hers. Seeing him in any kind of distress…was worse than anything she could imagine.
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:59 pm
When she punched the image of the Captain, it dissolved into a league of fireflies. A handful fell dead, crumpled under the fist, and soon turned to dust at her feet. The remainder whorled violently as they cobbled together another form to curtail her —
"Go away," its General commanded. He waved it off halfheartedly, then his arm fell against the sheet metal. An obnoxious buzzing followed Headache as it fled back out the door.
He sighed into his tangle of arms. "Stop assuming the worst about me."
That she came back at all was unexpected, but this would not be a pleasant conversation. Albite wasn't here to lighten the mood, or translate his harsh, austere phrasing into something agreeable, something inoffensive. With only him, and only her, and only the great gaps of knowledge about each other while they tried to work together a falsehood, Faustite felt even more taxed.
"It called itself my friend, but that's how they get to you. If you feel alone, they peddle themselves to you. Look for what you're missing. Promise to supply it. Made that mistake once."
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:08 pm
Did he want to fight? Was this just…how he dealt with emotions? ******** that. Lysithea felt herself growing angry again, but she forced the feeling down and took hold of the general’s head, lifting it and putting it firmly in her lap. “It’s complicated, when you seem to assume the worst about others. What do you mean you made that mistake? What happened?”
There was interest in her voice, and a little confusion, but.
Her fingers continued playing in his hair and massaged lightly at his scalp. “You listened to their lies? Did you get hurt?” He couldn't have gotten too badly hurt but…
“...Isn’t one who’s friendly towards you…doesn’t that just make it easier to get him to join us? Wouldn’t that be best? If he considers himself an ally…and…he sure seemed like he…” She forced the thoughts away, locking them where she couldn't find them. They were lies.
“He seems desperate enough that it wouldn’t take long to tip him to our way of thinking…but I don’t…think we can do it if he’s dead…”
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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:20 pm
"You'll burn yourself," he cautioned when she touched him. He sat up out of her hands, though the simple touch was pleasant. It was dangerous, too, if he got used to that. Better that he didn't get too comfortable. Better that he didn't hurt her by wanting some measure of closeness.
He rubbed the sleep and misery off his face, then dragged the heels of his hands down the front of his pants. Black streaks were left behind, but he was unbothered. Didn't look at the stains, didn't look at her, or the cracked doorway where Headache had exited. His attention focused on a fixed midpoint on the floor, unseeing, as he rooted for better answers.
He braced his hands behind him and leaned against them, half-turned from Lysithea. "Got close to them to see you.
"That's how I met that one. Why he thinks we're friends." He was sure Schörl would share a few criticisms for that twist of the truth, but he was too beleaguered to imagine what they were.
She was gone, anyway. Gone like all the rest.
"Not good at recruitment. But you can try, if that's what you want to do. Rest of the team would like that." Especially since Albite was on that bend about how forced corruption was wrong, and they had to pull people over the kindly way, show off all the ways the Negaverse took better care of its officers.
He waited a beat, then added, "You meant it, didn't you? When you called me a jackass."
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:34 am
When he moved, when he told her that she would burn herself, it felt like something inside of her withered and simply ceased to be, and Lysithea could do nothing more than utter a soft, “Ah.”
Something had truly shattered between them, and she didn’t understand it. Honestly, she felt so utterly and absolutely lonely it hurt.
She was quiet for a long moment and gave a noncommittal hum at his explanation of Malus and shook her head when asked if she meant it. “I thought you were telling me to ******** off. I was angry, that’s all.”
Right? That was all…right?
Well. The only truth of everything was that nothing was all right. “I’m not really feeling so good, Faustite…I might head home and sleep for a while.” The weight of expectations was too heavy to hold up so often, and this was no exception
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:29 pm
Faustite watched her hawkishly, body still, muscles held quiet in their tension. He recognized when he ******** up, but lacked the experience and familiarity to fix it. He navigated any social waters by leaving a minefield of hurts in his wake, though it was seldom purposeful. He hadn't Albite's skill with talking to others, or Alkmene's ability to flirt away the dour and the sour.
"No." Growing more tired by the second, he shifted to face her more fully. He folded his legs across one another, hands on the ankles. For the moment, he didn't care how his grate's bolts pulled on his hips or how his ribs felt sore when he leaned forward.
"You came here for a reason. Thought it important enough to go to my room to speak to me. Want to hear you out, just don't want you hurt in the process."
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:36 pm
“I just wanted to figure out what happened, that’s all. But we just have different ideas so…it really doesn’t matter…I didn’t mean to barge in on your…ah.” Lysithea looked around the drab, lifeless room and sighed. “...your hideout. But your youma decided to show me where you were.” She couldn't meet his eyes any longer, staring down at her hands before she got up, rubbing her aching head.
“I’ll come by with some cookies and tea for you later, if you want me to…but um…if we go out to patrol together again…just…” She shrugged. “...I don’t want to watch anyone die, okay. It…the idea makes me want to just stop existing so please…don’t try to murder anyone while I’m there? Especially one who seems…nice?”
A liar, but one that was trying to be kind about it.
“...or maybe we just should…not patrol together…after all, I don’t…need a General. I’m strong enough to be on my own. And I’m…not stupid…I can figure things out.”
Lysithea could make her own team. And…they would bring more in. And not just…murder out of cold blood.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:52 pm
His youma wasn't even around for him to glower at, not that he had much fire left in him for anger anymore. Whether she expected to or not, Lysithea defined a distinct lack in him by tiptoeing around it. Circumscribing his failings in the role of a human in a neat circle, defined most obviously by the way she shut down after he couldn't let her touch him.
He could imagine just what She would say to him: Family is for people.
Do you see mommy youma and daddy youma? Brother youma and sister youma?
Does Broomite think it can be a brother?
Why would someone like Lysithea want for a brother like him? He must've picked too many lies this go-around. Couldn't hold onto someone by his own merit; he should've asked Albite if he wanted a sister that he could cherish, someone to braid his dreads and clean his filthy ******** apartment. Could've asked Hina if she had room for a third in that three-bedroom of hers. If Nembus were around —
Faustite murmured as he turned away from her. "Whatever you need." He lay back down on his side, back to Lysithea, and covered his eyes from the piercing violet glow of the everbright crystals.
He bit his tongue, kept it still. As what is myself, forgive me — I am a violent, faulty thing.
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Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:03 pm
Lysithea stared at him and swallowed hard, forcing down a half dozen retorts, forcing herself not to touch him. After a long, deafening silence, she stood up and made her way to the door without another word.
She very nearly said something as she stood in the door, but only sighed and let it close behind her, teleporting herself home once again, utterly heedless of the danger, and honestly. Not giving a damn.
Let the White Moon come. What did it even matter?
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