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 Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2022 11:19 am
Jada's note sounded promising. She'd found a late teenager type, someone lucky enough to be born to affluence and have enough freedom to make use of it. In community college, of all places, so if this one had ambition, it wasn't of the scholastic type. Father was a wealthy businessman, which meant they would either indirectly have access to those business contacts, or they would have some perfectly viable blackmail to get what they wanted for a short period of time. And Faustite was sure that all of those pieces made this one a Person of Interest to Infiltration, and he wanted a better understanding of how that branch functioned and populated its ranks, but Faustite's attention was on this one's penchant for photography.
That in itself was a rare find. With enough snooping, Faustite had found something of a portfolio — shots taken of places, sure, but of more interest were what he assumed to be candids: people caught mid-conversation, honest expressions captured in some liminal time. Finding those unguarded moments both endeared his sentiment and intrigued his ruthlessly analytical side; where there was honesty, there was someone caught mid-transformation, he was sure.
Jada had been caught up in her day job, but she had mentioned that Strix was interested in joining them. With that invite already accepted, all that remained was for someone like Faustite to add them to the roster as a fresh Lieutenant. He'd never had a planned recruitment like this, however.
So he'd sent a succinct text identifying himself as Emmy's boss, that he was ready to move forward with Strix's recruitment. In it was the expectation that they meet Eion in the late afternoon at one of DC's newer coffee-and-tea shops that called itself The Greenhouse. It was there that he waited, in a double-breasted green jacket with birch-patterned leggings and thrift store Converse that were so jubilantly drawn over in metallic Sharpie that one could hardly discern their original colors.
As much of the building was glass, including the walls, tables, and most of the chairs, light had filtered in from all directions. Hanging from the ceilings were lights intwined with air terrariums, and potted plants found their homes all over the location. The Greenhouse bordered a public green space that had grown to commendable heights, but owing to the ongoing rain, no one had been interested in making use of it.
The time neared 6PM. A waitress had finally brought out his drink, in a glass mug, with a glass saucer. Eion yawned into his sleeve for the fourth time in five minutes.daekie hope this works! if not, let me know!
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 5:58 pm
This really wasn’t the normal kind of thing Strix did.
They’d stressed and hemmed and hawed about -- what to wear -- and they were sure Emmy’s boss probably would have found it funny, how much they’d thought about something so trivial, but. But they didn’t usually have the energy to present themself in any way but functional, all their restless nerves siphoning it away before it made any difference. Clothing standards for relative social levels of engagement - of formality - that was something Strix had never been able to grasp, and had given up on years before.
Ultimately, they’d settled on something... normal. Something that looked less lived-in. Headphones around their neck, because they weren’t about to give that up. An open buttonup with a subtle wave pattern, a forest-green shirt, black shorts... it was boring. It was fine. It was mildly comfortable. That was probably fine?
They were overthinking it. They knew they were overthinking it. But focusing on miniscule details helped keep them from thinking about how little they generally liked making any social engagements, and how little they generally liked doing anything one-on-one with strangers. Just their luck their family had gotten on their nerves, lately, and whatever this was, it sounded appealing.
Were they late? They weren't late. (They were... pretty sure they weren't late. Not by more than a minute or two.) Strix took a deep breath and entered the building, hands fitfully stuck in their pockets to avoid clasping them, looking around for the guy they were supposed to meet. He had to be around here somewhere.Strickenized sorry about late, i've been in headache town for days
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Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2022 12:07 pm
When the time of their meeting neared, Eion started looking about for any signs of someone who looked like his Person of Interest. Not that he knew what his Person of Interest looked like, but he expected they would be showing up now, and they would be looking for someone. Few had come in, most in pairs or threes. Of the stragglers that came in individually, only two of them looked like they were searching the room.
Eion half-turned in his seat, held onto the edge of the chair while he looked back at them owlishly. One was an older fellow with a hunched back and a beer belly that had him looking several months pregnant. His gait was unsteady, as if he suffered a leg injury that never fully healed. The other one was far younger, with hands in pockets and a look that screamed average. Regardless of their clothing taste, they could walk unhindered, looked relatively fit, and like they were ready to s**t a whole other glass house.
That one, then. Eion beckoned them over wordlessly.
There were menus propped up in a glass display setting. He seized one and placed it on the table across from him before he picked up his teaspoon and a single-serve portion of cream. He poured as he stirred, as he waited for this new fellow to join him.
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:15 pm
He didn't match what they'd been looking for, but -- honestly -- Strix was more than willing to concede that was on them. Okay, sure, he looked younger than they'd expected after meeting Emmy, but so did they, sometimes? (They hated it, but it was one of those things that had been mostly genetics and their own occasionally shitty and childish temperament. Whatever. Sometimes people thought they were in high school, which was, on the whole, not remotely one of the worst things that had ever happened to them.
Sometimes -- very rarely -- people thought they were a quite mature middle schooler, which always generated an emotion of pure disgust in them. God, no. Being one had been bad enough once; they didn't want to relive it again at nineteen, which was at least one and a half middle schoolers worth. Two?? Maybe two. No thanks!)
Sliding into the seat across from their potential boss was simple. "Strix," they said, trying their best to pass for a normal ******** human being and making it only partway there, "I'm - I'm Strix. Nice to meet you." Social norms. Right. Only one stutter-extension echo in there, so that was a success. "How much did -- did Emmy tell you about me? So we don't have to go over the same things repeatedly."
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2022 10:55 am
Oh, this one stuttered. Eion couldn't stop a smile; it was cute, that little glimpse of humanity in the middle of trying to sell themselves as efficient. And maybe they were, maybe they weren't — Eion seldom made that determination based on the first sentences out of someone mouth anymore, unless they were deeply unsalvageable. So far, it was not so.
Eion shifted his legs under the table until he was crosslegged, then he began bobbing one knee shortly thereafter. He sipped his tea. Let a few seconds of silence hang between them while he churned up what Emmy had mentioned.
"Eion," he began, as one of those strange formalities that he didn't fully understand. Youma never cared to introduce themselves, so why humans clung to it always escaped him.
"Said you have connections." He tapped his fingers against the glass mug as his attention wandered momentarily. "Generational wealth." That was the word. He peaked with it, as if the word was pressurized enough to move him when it was spoken. "Reasons to want more power of your own.
"Showed me your photos, too. Quite the portfolio.
"Said you were in community college." He sat back, shrugged. "That's all. Anything to add?" It was their chance to make themselves more presentable, or to ask the questions that slipped by from their last conversation with Emmy. "She tell you what comes next?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2022 10:30 pm
Strix knotted their ankles around each other under the table, biting down on the impulse to kick and move; it'd wait, it was fine, they didn't need to be a baby about it. "I -- yeah. It's through my dad? He's away a lot. Banking, architecture. Not the -- not the one who ever needs to -- to be bailed out," because as much as they loved Izzy (couldn't really stop, all their family they'd grown up with like siblings Strix was always going to care about relentlessly), Isidore was too interested in going loud and doing things like minor arson (as if abandoned and empty places and 'nobody gets hurt' made it any better!), "so I -- I have a lot of freedom." They swallowed, trying to find the words to continue that with, and took a second to find anything at all.
Talking was hard. Not for the first time, Strix wished, fervently, that telepathy was a thing. It'd save everyone so much trouble (and protect them from their dropped proper nouns; just because they were trying to speed through the sentence didn't mean anyone else was).
"Don't know what I want -- what I want to do. Don't want to make a big deal out of -- of it. So: community college." They tapped their fingers against the table, absentmindedly, in rhythm. Everything in rhythm. "She told me some things. If I - if I -- I ask too many questions, I'll get scared and back out. Always do. Trying to fly blind here; you're a -- a risk for me."
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Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2022 4:10 pm
Money. Freedom. Banking. Architecture. Jada found a good one — one that had promise in ways that the other members of his team did not cover, and thus cultivating this one would open avenues yet unexplored. On a personal level, however, the stutter was terribly endearing, and this one called him a risk.
Of course he was a risk. It said so on his driver's license.
Eion nodded once, behind folded hands. Then they were flattened against the table, and he was standing, ready to abandon his mostly drunk tea. "Understood. Better that you follow me, then.
"Some things are better unseen at first, so I'll tell you when to close your eyes." He excused himself from the table, rifled his jacket pockets, left a tip for the place in the form of a few rumpled, randomly folded bills. One of them had a paperclip that he hadn't bothered to remove; he also hadn't bothered to ask Waru why some of his bills had paperclips attached. As Strix had said themselves, sometimes it's better to fly blind, so to speak.
Out would be marginally more of a walk than usual; they couldn't simply circle to the back of a glass-faced building and expect to go unseen. The back of the building housed an arboretum at the back, with enough mature foliage that it could obscure a sudden fire from prying eyes. The area was dense and seldom frequented due to its seclusion — people had wised up to DC's crime rates, and found that public areas gave more peace of mind than private ones anymore. Perhaps Strix would feel the same, but then again, they were trying to fly blind.
"Won't be long. Promise."
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Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 7:03 pm
He was -- he was leaving? But follow me -- maybe they'd impressed. Hopefully they'd impressed. It took a moment for Strix to follow Eion, leaving their own tip; as stringent as they were about things always being certain ways, at least when they did it, this was one of those. Then their hands went into their pockets again as they trotted after him with a balanced, steady gait, stride surprisingly long.
"Don't need to be anywhere too soon. Got time." Most of Strix's own schedule had historically been self-determined, and that had stayed the same this year: their classes were virtual-only, and everything else could be done at its own pace. The flowers weren't going to care if they were six hours late.Strickenized i stared at this for a month & couldnt get a full tag out of it so here we go: like 40% of a tag. better than nothin'!
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Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 2:44 pm
"You said you want to know as little as possible," Eion reiterated, mostly to remind himself. It was doable, to a point. There had to be a time for this one to open their eyes after joining, and they would see what he really was. Would they panic and bolt, or would they stick around to learn a margin more about the environment they were entering? If not, Eion couldn't blame them fully; the process of awakening someone was never a kind one.
Eion wound through the arboretum with energy to spare, always willing to step into grass and mud and cross over gnarled roots rather than walk a paved path. When they'd gotten far enough that only thick-walled hedges and stone sculptures surrounded them, with no evidence of people's prying, Eion finally stopped. He gestured to a stone bench for Strix to seat themselves, lest they find it troublesome to stand after their starseed had been pumped full of chaotic energy.
"Sit," he urged. "Then close your eyes. Don't mind the heat — won't hurt you." He'd have to be mindful of wearing the cincher for this.
Faustite didn't know if it burned any more for him to grab someone's soul, as opposed to any human General doing the same. He had to think that, if he could sear flesh with his touch, then he could sear souls with his touch. Still, there would be no knowing; all those he added to the rank and file were slightly more unfortunate than the ones added by the likes of a human, that was all he could assume.
"You'll feel a pain in your chest, but it won't hurt for long."
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 7:13 pm
You said you want to know as little as possible.
Right. They had said that. And they still meant it, because this would probably be good for them, even as much as they hated change, hated surprises, had never liked any of that. One had to do it sometime.
With part of their traitorous little brain trying to panic about not knowing things and the rest of their brain trying to maintain a totally normal composure, Strix took a deep breath and sat themself solidly down on the bench, hands planted on the cold stone on either side, arms slightly bent; when they closed their eyes, a ghost of a frown found itself on their face, a neutral expression. "...okay."
They had questions. They weren't going to ask them.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:14 pm
As Eion exhaled, his skin began to slough off in swaths. This false, magical skin began to burn as it left him, becoming ash as soon as it reached the ground. Then the ash was carried away on the winds, dissolving into a complete lack of evidence for the falsehood that was Eion Risk. Once the disguise wore away, there was only Faustite. And with Faustite came irrepressible heat.
He was quick to don the cincher. It banked the heat, though not entirely; what was once blistering simply became warm, sometimes uncomfortably so. Faustite expected that, for this one, he might see scrunched brows for how close he would have to loom. Better, then, if he didn't dally.
Stooping, Faustite reached for Strix's chest. He would have to be quick, he knew — the more he lingered on the starseed, the greater his propensity to rip it out and cover it as a failed attempt. As he reached, as he passed the barrier that skin and bone so normally posed to this chamber, Faustite felt his mouth go dry. He was parched, suddenly starved, and faced with a crystallized ambrosia that could deliver him from his ravenous, gnawing hunger. All he needed to do was abuse that trust, for what was a stranger's trust truly worth, and wrench the starseed from its happy home. Perhaps Strix would be better off for it, too.
Snorting smoke from his nose, Faustite seized the seed. He dredged up the scraps of chaos latent in him and forced them into the gem in his hand, bore down on it, enveloped it, but —
"This s**t again," Faustite murmured with a crackle in his words. He slipped his hand away before the starseed would be coming with it. "Hold on." He took up Strix's arm instead, and they were no longer outside.
Faustite's office offered enough seclusion in the case of delays. Soon as they arrived, he dragged one of his metal office chairs to place behind Strix's knees and urged them to sit. Bitterly, he summoned his youma to send a message that he'd prefer to never have needed.
"Headache, send a message to Axinite. Tell him I've a senshi in my office. Needs awakening."
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 8:02 am
The message must have been quickly received. Axinite had a propensity to drop whatever he was doing whenever he could manage it, and his self-assigned desk duty had been kind to him today. He was between projects when he got the message and it made it that much easier to pull himself away from his desk. He collected a tupperware container full of sweets and an energy drink from the fridge behind his desk before tucking them away to subspace. Though there wouldn’t have been much distance to cover if he’d decided to walk the distance, Axinite teleported from his office to just outside of Faustite’s. He knocked on the door, out of courtesy alone. Faustite would have been able to sense his energy signature and know who it was, and given that he had a Senshi that needed awakening, Axinite didn’t think he should make Faustite walk across his office to let him in. He waited a few seconds and then opened the door. If he’d known where they were in the room, he might have just teleported directly, but this seemed the best choice. He smiled politely, to Faustite and his guest. “I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for long. Please excuse me for letting myself in, I didn’t want to disrupt you two.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:29 pm
Words were difficult for Strix at the best of times, always getting caught somewhere between brain and mouth; unlike how it might've worked for some others, they had not been blessed with a particularly expressive face to make up for this, or indeed the kind of face that emoted much at all.
Actually, that was just them. They'd pulled faces before. It just always looked weird.
That was to say: when Faustite took their arm and transported them away, Strix didn't appear to have any particular reaction facially or verbally, although he might've felt them go rigid. Looking from one man to the other, they made a little huff of a sigh, the sort of thing that thrummed in the back of their throat.
New situation. Unknown circumstances. Not the time to panic, or to try and make a move.
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Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:51 am
"Enter," Faustite called, almost immediately. Leave it to Axinite to be so punctual.
Axinite's conscientiousness was second to none. It was so thorough that when Axinite mentioned not knowing where they were in the room, Faustite's thoughts had wandered to whether or not one could spontaneously explode another person by teleporting into them. To his knowledge, there had been no such instances, but he did not doubt the Negaverse's ability to cover up such a thing should it happen.
But now he was thinking he should ask Axinite about that afterward. He knew that his old boss had been through quite a bit, but if he teleported one day only to be covered in giblets? That would explain even more.
Faustite shook his head at Axinite's apologies, unbothered by the entry. "This is Strix," Faustite informed as he gestured toward the cowed youth. "Picked by Jadarite. Was going to do this myself, but —" He thought better of going into the messy details of what would've happened. Better that Strix remain blissfully unaware that they would have become one of the monsters prowling the streets if Faustite tried to force matters.
"You've a more tempered hand for this," he saved lamely.
To Strix, he added, "Just wait. He's better at this than I am."
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Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:04 pm
Axinite bowed his head politely in greeting when Strix was introduced. “A pleasure,” he greeted. In other circumstances, he might have asked if Faustite wanted to do it himself, but the comments about his tempered hand made him keep such thoughts to himself. He never minded doing these things, and if Faustite had a purpose for Axinite taking the lead rather than giving him the power to do it himself, he wasn’t going to argue it. The important thing was bringing someone into the Negaverse. “I can do this while you stand,” he began, “But you might find it easier if you take a seat. It can be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s well worth it. You might feel a bit drained afterwards, but I’ve brought a drink and some snacks.” Hidden from sight in subspace, but within reach no less. “You’ll be fine,” he promised, and waited only to give Strix time to get comfortable or as best prepared as possible.
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