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 Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2022 11:41 pm
It had taken Ashanite some time and thought, to settle for certain on the method to be used on Monoceros. He was familair with youmaglia, had read what information there was on them back to front. They were designed to bring a wayward soldier in line, to correct any treasonous thinking, and given Monoceros's....situation, correcting treasonous thinking seemed the best course of action.
Certainly better than letting him escape, weakened, back to the White Moon. Better than letting some fool Princess put illusions in his head.
He had never administered one himself before, but the procedure seemed simple enough. And the creature itself was polite and pliant, curled in the palm of his hand and waiting. It would be the work of a moment to get it implanted.
Ashanite summoned Monoceros to his office with but a thought, and once he was there, regarded him with concern.
"Monoceros. Please, sit," he said, gesturing at the chair on the other side of his desk. "Arsenolite came to me with a...troubling story, and I would like to hear your side, if you don't mind."
The door to the office was locked. They would not be interrupted, and Monoceros would not be leaving. If he tried, that would be all the evidence Ashanite needed.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 12:31 am
Monoceros really didn't want to be here. He'd had a bad feeling the second he'd dropped Arsenolite off at his home about what would happen, and here it was. Consequences. For just trying to be a good ******** person. s**t. He inhaled shakily, sighing as he sat and looking up to Ashanite with dull eyes. "I know what it's like to be suddenly cut off from your home. Everything you ever knew," he said quietly. "I just... I wanted her to be able to go home. Arsenolite attacked her, tried to kill her. I just... saw myself in her, y'know? She's... Hell, at least she can go home, y'know? I don't want..." He struggled to speak more, throat clamming up, tongue swelling, but it was probably all in his imagination. Just emotion that was making him unable to do anything but sit there and stew in it and cry a little and oh, yeah, no, yeah, he was crying a bit more than a little. He sucked in a sharp breath, rubbing at his eyes. "Then she tried to kill him back while I was on the ground, and I got her to stop. She actually listened. I took Arsenolite home. And I just..." Sighing, he pressed his hands hard into his eyes, watching the colorful starbursts behind his eyelids and barely registering the pressure-pain he was giving himself. "I looked at her and I saw myself, wanting to have my family back. Whoever they were. Wanting to be able to go to a home you've always known, even if I couldn't remember it, and being unable to make that happen. But it could happen for her, y'know? Nobody deserves this pain." He dropped his hands and blinked until the darkness and colorful starbursts fully faded, coughing a bit to clear his throat and sighing. "I just didn't want anybody to get hurt," he said quietly, "I wanted it all to stop. Have a conversation. Maybe help, instead of... all that actually happened."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 3:49 am
Arsenolite, Ashanite determined very quickly, was right to be concerned. The way Monoceros was talking had his lips turning down into a frown. So much sympathy for an enemy--one that had attempted to kill a fellow officer, even--was not to be tolerated.
"It sounds to me," Ashanite said, "As if your sympathy for her arises more form your distress about your own situation. And I'm sorry for that." He stood up, moved around the desk, regarded Monoceros with gentle sympathy. Faked, mostly, but a little bit of it was in fact real. "It's noble, to not want anyone to get hurt. But you said she tried to kill Arsenolite. That means that she's a very dangerous enemy. And unfortunately, the nature of this conflict is that sometimes, people will get hurt."
He reached out, with the hand holding the youmaglia, and gently brushed the backs of his fingers across Monoceros's cheeks.
"If I said I had something that could help you," he said, "relieve some of these...painful thoughts...would you want that?"
Regardless of his answer, the youmaglia was ready.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 2:38 pm
Monoceros contemplated what Ashanite was saying. he.. was probably right. The alien Senshi was an enemy, after all, and... he really shouldn't be putting his own ******** up feelings before anybody else. God, his mind was so loud in its utter and desolate silence. He didn't have anything but his own despair to drown in, nothing to pull him up from the darkness inside. He had so much nothing, it was suffocating. Empty. Even with Faustite having helped a little bit, at the time it had been great, but now... now he couldn't even remember what it was, why it had helped. He still didn't want anyone to die, of that he was certain. At least he still had some kind of conviction. Not much, but enough. Ashanite's fingers felt nice on his cheeks and his eyes slipped shut involuntarily as he leaned into it. "...Yeah," he said quietly, but not unsurely. He needed help. Whatever this medicine or drug or spell was, he wanted it. "Thanks, General."
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 7:40 pm
Ashanite smiled, when Monoceros relented. It was always good to hear someone make the right choice for themself.
"Very good," he said. "I think this will improve things for you greatly."
He moved his hand. Tucked some of Monoceros's tumble of hair behind his ear.
Let the youmaglia wriggle out from where it had hidden itself under his glove,and into Monoceros. Let the touch linger, to cover up its escape--if all was as he'd understood, the Senshi wouldn't feel a thing, and anything he did feel would be scrambled up by the little beastie's influence.
"And next time you find that Senshi....bring her to me, won't you? I think it's very sad that she's so alone. We sohuld give her a better home, don't you agree?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:15 pm
Monoceros didn't quite know what happened, other than Ashanite speaking and his hand... feeling so nice in his hair... He felt a bit like he'd just experienced a time glitch of some kind, but the thought barely formed before it was quashed. He hummed softly, nodding, opening his eyes to smile sweetly up at Ashanite. "Yeah. She might be happier with us. And she is really pretty," he said, a bit wistfully, with a giggle. "Just like you. Thanks, General. I already feel better!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:24 pm
Ashanite nodded. "There we go. Already off to a better start." He stepped away from Monoceros, unlocking and opening the door to his office.
"I'm glad we got to have this little chat. I'm expecting good things from you, Monoceros. Don't disappoint me."
He expected that Monoceros would not. It was simply not an option.
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