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 Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 6:14 pm
The arrangement with Ingrid was....complex. Foolish, maybe. If Valjean was smarter, he'd have followed Faustite's example, popped the girl's starseed, and hauled her off.
However, he had three counterpoints: one, he couldn't teleport.
Two, this was much more fun.
Three, it might net him a two-for-one.
Still, it seemed prudent to update his General on the work he was doing, and also perhaps to ask if he had any particular ideas, requests, orders, et cetera. So, he'd arrived at Faustite's office. Raised his fist. Politely knocked on the door. He could feel a General's aura inside, so he was fairly certain Faustite was in. Whether that meant he had time for Valjean...eh.
"It's Valjean," he said, by way of informing. "I have something I'd like to speak to you aobut, if you're available, Sir."
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2022 6:48 pm
If Valjean was expecting an invitation inside, he would be waiting for quite some time, for no voice echoed back to him from inside the office. Faustite was in, verifiable by his volatile aura, but he was only present bodily.
So it was Headache that answered the door, wearing the face and demeanor of Albite, while offering none of the man's bluster and verbal diarrhea. No pats on the shoulder, no welcomes inside. It stood aside for Valjean's entry, while the General in question slept quietly against his glass desk.
Faustite still had a pen in one hand, though it was bent at the midpoint from being subjected to so much heat for so long. His other arm was folded up for a makeshift pillow. The black streaks on his face suggested that he stayed up to the point of tears before he inadvertently nodded off, or told himself he'd close his eyes for but a moment. Either way, the report in front of him was ruined by the pen ink running out onto the page, pulled into a pool by capillary action.
It was only when Headache reformed into fireflies and discharged a synchronized burst in front of its master's face that Faustite drew an abrupt breath and began to rouse.
It took a couple grunts and a few eye rubs to regain some function. He was still grinding the heel of his hand into one eye when he recognized who it was that hailed him. "Valjean. What is it?"
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Posted: Tue May 17, 2022 7:15 pm
Valjean had waited, until Albite--no, that had to be Headache, because Albite would have been, based on Valjean's observations, a waterfall of overspilling words--opened the door. The sight that greeted him made him flinch, and something inside him panged with sympathy.
....He wondered if he had been the type of person to end up passed out on a desk a lot, in his previous life. Certainly he was now, but it seemed only reasonable--there was so much for him to catch up on and understand, and so little time in the day to do it, and sleep was frivolous.
He thought, for a moment, of leaving to come back another time, but Headache made the decision for him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, and then lifted his head to look at Faustite.
"I can come back another time," he said, "if you need to rest. There was a matter I wanted to discuss with you, but it--" He paused. It was urgent, of sorts, but.... "--isn't immediate, per se."
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2022 2:34 pm
"Wastes time to drop it now," he replied tersely, as he began snorting back all the wet sleep that threatened to drip out of him. Rubbing his face on the back of his sleeve, he felt a margin more human.
While he wasn't irritated, or being intentionally short with Valjean, it seemed that tempering his curt language was a skill better done when fully awake. "Speak."
Though, he realized belatedly, the view he would get if he simply sent Valjean off to visit another day.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2022 3:29 pm
Valjean shrugged, folded his arms behind his back, and spoke. Faustite wasn't beating aobut the bush; no reaosn for him to waste any time either.
"I met a Senshi. Ingrid. She stopped me from claiming a starseed, intervened very softheartedly. I told her I'd put it back if she agreed to corrupt, a deal she took." He tilted his head to the side. "At this stage, she's deferred, because she wants time to try and convince her sister to corrupt as well. I'd like to get any advice you have on handling the situation, and to keep you looped in--I intend to bring them both in, by whatever means are necessary."
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 5:15 am
Faustite was silent for a time, in part because he did not want to give Valjean a halfassed answer, and in part because he did not want Valjean to balk at his cruelty, and wanted to express his advice more empathetically. There was very little left of the original Valjean, however, and he did not know whether this one valued empathy or not.
He supposed, as his sense finally returned from the realm of sleep, that it did not matter to Valjean how they acquired this girl or her sister, as long as they did. 'By whatever means necessary' was a phrase for which he'd grown quite fond. Faustite had simply gotten too used to the feeling sorts, like Albite, so he must've begun making assumptions when half asleep.
"People are piteous, whimsical things," he muttered under his breath.
"Remind her that you convincing her sister wasn't part of the deal. Give her a week to convince her own sister, then send for the pair to meet you at the end of that week. Either the sister will have agreed, or she will have not, but a General Sovereign will brook no arguments.
"Never slacken the leash. Use a choke chain if necessary."
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 4:07 pm
Valjean listened to Faustite's advice. It was straightforward. Cold, but useful. There was something comforting about the direct approach; no need to pause or cradle or be gentle about feelings. He gave a sharp nod, and then smiled, in a way that was distinctly sharp-edged.
"Very reasonable, Sir. I appreciate your directness." He looked thoughtful for a long moment. "Do you recommend a General-Sovereign best to handle the deed? You brought me to Hessonite, so I assume she tops the list."
That only seemed reasonable. Hessonite was the leader of Special Operations, and Valjean had to admit, he already had an eye to joining them, once he was more anchored in the Negaverse. Perhaps bringing her two pretty heads would smooth the way.
"And--would you prefer to be there as it's being done, or for me to bring them to you after? I assume I'll be accepting at least some responsibility for them." Responsibility he expected he would sort of have to share with his General, since he didn't outrank them.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2022 4:22 am
"No one better for recruiting two senshi at once." Should one be noncompliant, Hessonite would find it no obstacle. As for the others, he was uncertain how they would perform. Jet was new, and while they had worked together, he suspected they had different ideas about the worth of a human life; he may not like the way Faustite suggested going about this plan. Lepidolite, he never met. And Axinite — he liked his desk work.
It was the second question that left him silently staring at Valjean. He wasn't sure what else he was expecting, of course — Valjean took the initiative to bring these two in, which meant two more bodies in the Negaverse, and those bodies had to go under someone. While they would technically be of equal or greater rank to Valjean, depending on their heights of power, Valjean was still in a position to dispense guidance. And if the Sovereign wanted to keep them with a face they knew, or knew, then that meant Faustite was involved.
Whether he wanted to be or not, of course.
Breathing a sigh, he reached into the lowest drawer of his desk for a small decanter of brandy. Part of its load was deposited into a half-finished cup of tea from an hour ago. By the time he returned the decanter to his rightful place and had taken his first sip of cold tea, he had made his determination.
"Prefer to see the before and after of these ones. By rights, they would be mine, but you will act as formal superior. Even if you lack the rank, you will earn it." While an assurance, it sounded more like a threat.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2022 1:59 pm
Valjean nodded, shortly. Hessonite it was, then; a good thing, because she was who he was most comfortable with as well. He'd never met any of the other General-Sovereigns, and it would be an awkward sort of introduction, which might be messy for Ingrid and Godiva.
"Hessonite, then," he said, agreeably. Better the devil you know, anyway.
Valjean his amusement behind his hand, hoping he looked thoughtful instead, when Faustite pulled out a flask of bourbon. He did sort of get the impression that Faustite wasn't entirely pleased with the possibility of more subordinates, but there wasn't much else for it.
And, anyway, although there was an edge to the way Faustite said it...
"I appreciate your faith in me, Sir," Valjean said. He would earn the damn rank, and if bringing in two Senshi for corruption wasn't enough to do it, he couldn't imagine what would be. Valjean was intent on proving himself;
"I'll leave you to the rest of your duties, and keep you in the loop as things progress." It seemed appropriate, at least.Strickenized fin? heart thank youuuuuu
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Posted: Tue May 24, 2022 5:06 am
Faustite grunted his acknowledgement, then finished his tea. "Dismissed," he added with a measure of exhaustion.
Even if he was excited to watch Valjean leave his office, it did little to combat the fact that it was far into his sleeping hours, and he was having trouble convincing himself to go properly to bed. Bed was a strip of metal, with little difference from his desk, or the floor of his office.
So he waited for the boy to leave, and smiled something small and lascivious, and once that little thrill passed, he rested his head in a nest of his arms and returned to sleep.
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