Welcome to Gaia! ::

Fulgurite had, thankfully, been powered up when she sent that note his way. Today, he was using it to dodge having to get himself anywhere with any significant effort. Teleportation was never necessarily like breathing, but he had been doing it long enough that calling it anything near hard was a bit of a joke at this point. How long had he been powered?

Every time he thought of it, his heart broke just a little bit, so he buried it with thoughts of the cracks in the ice he saw every time Cryolite couldn’t help his own laughter, and when Nectaris looked as brave if not braver than he ever thought she was before she had left the–

Speak of the devil, he supposed.

He couldn’t exactly respond to Nectaris’ request, but he did have an easy way to show that he had received it. Important gossip by itself was something as intriguing as it was alarming; did she have some information that might have put them in danger? And in danger in what way? Was Syrus right – was Waru in no doubt telling Eion about him and Nectaris? Was she in some sort of new danger now? Or perhaps maybe it was important because she knew some fun relationships on the Order side of things she just wanted a chance to babble about–

Either way, he supposed.

Fulgurite stepped through air and landed in front of one of his favorite places in town, weaving through the beds to locate the aura of a little butterfly.

And when he did, he offered a, “Hey Nikki,” just to confirm it was him and not someone else trying to get the jump on her. This place was his little sanctuary; he knew it was usually fairly empty during the night in part because the gardens were a peaceful place and didn’t usually have anything going on afterdark anyway. In fact, hours were usually pretty … limited.

“Wanted to see you too, actually.” He snickered. “Believe it or not.”

It didn’t matter that she probably should have been paying attention to pathways and where the flowers were and the signs that recommended staying away from a particularly thorny display. Nectaris managed to weave through them all, and when she had, Fulgurite hugged her close, lifting her off the ground to assist her little butterfly kisses.

He spun with her, then, and lost himself to happy snickers.

It was good to see her, and the divide between them was utterly unfair. As much as his mind occasionally toyed with the idea of asking her back so all three of them could be on one side and there were none of these attempts for the two of them to find each other as well as they could, Fulgurite instantly knew that was the wrong answer. Nectaris was Nectaris, and where she belonged was on the side of Order. He didn’t know what a recorruption would do to her, but he knew of the memory loss associated with at least one swap; he didn’t know what would happen with the next.

Plus, even though she had always been so happy as Chaos and uplifting even despite, something was different about Nectaris over across this divide. Even if nothing else was a factor, something would still be different. And why would he want to bring her back here when he envied her, in a way, for having been being able to leave?

He set her down as she pressed against him, and part of him wanted to joke that they could sit down so their positioning was a little more comfortable, but part of him was perfectly happy to stay right where he was. Partially because, “Missed you too,” he admitted, with a sigh. “It’s like being long distance without the actual long distance sometimes.”

What did she–

Oh.

So his wondering of if they or weren’t they had firmly settled on weren’t they. He supposed any implications he made to Syrus that she and Albite were together were now firmly wrong. “You okay?” As much as he didn’t like Albite at the moment, that didn’t mean he didn’t know a high amount of people who did. Syrus did, for one. Nectaris had been another, even as her relationship with him seemed a bit troublesome on a good day now when he thought of the depths of it. Albite seemed to be in love with more of an idea than Nectaris.

Though wasn’t that how Albite was with a lot of things?

“Sorry that it’s not working out.” Though was he? Fulgurite still felt aflutter with how she had stood in front of him to distance him from Albite, to defend him from Albite and his threats– “Know he’s important to you.”

Long distance but they couldn’t even text.

It was a sadly accurate picture of what their relationship was like. Was this how people used to feel in those centuries before massively prevalent technology but enough ability to travel that they ended up becoming lovers with someone never once possible? Fulgurite wasn’t sure how much he liked that. Pretty sure he hated it, actually. Calling that a romantic time felt like a farce, especially if this was what those times felt like.

“At least you can write those notes,” which was, admittedly, a lot more than he had a chance of. Where did he get the magic those signet rings had?

Not important, he supposed. Not important in the face of the fact that Albite and Nectaris were legitimately no more, which hadn’t at all been the gossip he was expecting. Her shrug, though, seemed to suit the reality of the situation. Of course it sucked. The whole situation sucked, down to their mutual blinders for the reality of their situations.

And then he ******** called the Negaverse in on her?

“Jesus,” muttered Fulgurite under his breath, following up with, “glad you’re alive and he didn’t bring down the entirety of them on to bear. Didn’t even call Cryo and I in, actually, but – not the point. Glad you’re at least physically okay.”

Even if she wasn’t, emotionally.

Had leaving him and Cryolite out been intentional? Was Albite trying to protect them, in some way? That might have actually mattered. He’d have to see if he could figure that one out, because if he was, Matt’s heart might at least rest a bit easier.

“I’ve talked to Cryo a bit about this, actually. Albite has a way of holding onto ideas stubbornly until something forces him out of it, and as Cryolite said, even the resultant change from any of that can be at a glacial pace.” If it ever happened. Instead of changing at all, he might just call in the reinforcements from things he didn’t owe any real loyalty to. But Cryolite had also said goodness knows he’ll never leave here.

It was a dream on both of their sides, he supposed.

“And some of those things may never change.”

“Glad you had friends around, truly,” because he couldn’t be.

This really did suck, didn’t it? It didn’t only suck from the perspective of the pedestals that Albite and Nectaris had perhaps placed each other on. It sucked because they had a required distance. It sucked because he couldn’t just know where she was and come to her aid. It sucked that they couldn’t have the same ease that he and Syrus had, just sitting on the same couch and sleeping in the same bed.

He yanked himself out of it. This wasn’t time to mourn what could never be. Time to treasure that she was alive, and treasure what they could have. She didn’t even have to beg him; he followed her to the grass immediately and settled next to her, letting her curl up as she wanted.

“Appreciate taking some of the pressure off me, at least,” murmured Fulgurite, even as he felt bad about the whole situation even still. The original blow-up had originated from him. It was because Albite had called him to that alcove one evening, and– “And I know you’ll fight him. You’re strong. Stronger than a lot of people realize with how cute you are.”

Fulgurite looked down to offer a teasing wink.

“It helped to talk to Cryolite too. He,” he chuckled, “suppose before that crucial point, it was a bit more of a square. Cryo’s been close with him, too. Not the same way as he’s close to me, but it means he has some perspective on his behaviours and how to handle it. He’s, unfortunately,” Fulgurite heaved a sigh, “just like this.”

Deluded?

Maybe. It was hard to think of him like that. Fulgurite knew of the concept of Chaos poisoning, and Albite likely … was. Fulgurite likely was too. He was kidding himself if he thought he wasn’t.

But his sister–

“I’m glad to hear you’re doing well, and not dead,” ignore it, ignore it. “And that you’re still coming back to this garden. A place of safety and beauty all at once, I think.”

Fulgurite closed his eyes as she ran her hands through his hair, taking in the way it felt to have his forehead against hers and her in his lap. This was ... nice. They were always so distant, in some ways by force, their factions saying they couldn't be this close to each other even if they wanted to be. But they kept approaching and orbiting each other's worlds and spaces -- they couldn't quite get away from each other.

"Thanks," he murmured, "my sister," Orah, which he caught himself before he said her name, "made some comments a few months ago that I should probably take care of it more. Hope that reflects."

As a civilian, that light blue was nearly gone after he trimmed his hair just a tad. She wouldn't know, though. She'd just know how alive his luscious hair felt--

A massive jerkface, but no longer her massive jerkface.

That felt better, a lot better after Albite attempted to keep her on a platform that didn't even fit her, wanted to recorrupt her, would stand to the side as others tried to kill her, after he had threatened him-- Fulgurite's opinions on Albite's treatment of himself aside, she and Albite did not feel like a great fit to him. "Why would I be a jerkface?" he teased, gently, after their not-so-brief kiss, reaching up to run a hand through her curls. Her hair was pretty soft too, but different with the way it ringletted on the bottom. "You deserve better than that."

A lot better than that. A lot better than a dodgy chaotic not-boyfriend who could only see her a couple times a month, no doubt, but he'd keep that to himself.

Why mire their conversation with his own depression?

"Me?" asked Fulgurite, his voice lifting in mild surprise. What did he have to share-- "Increased quotas, as per usual. Since the little fight with Albite, I've taken more of those responsibilities back, energy only though..." Hm. "Team general has got me looking into a mission--," which had thankfully seemed to have gotten distracted by ... other general issues, which meant he could just pretend he didn't have to go gather a bunch of White Moon to kill for a damn training exercise. Maybe the general had forgotten with the imminent death.

Well. Might be a few other things. "Our team has their hands in a lot of pies, actually."

Even if she wasn't qualified to say how much it showed, Fulgurite took it as the compliment as it was, his shoulders melting just a bit further. To be honest, it was doing wonders for his confidence to have two loves complimenting him; while his own confidence was generally low, he could just think of the things that Sy and Nikki took the time to say to him fairly regularly. "Well, if you're trying to butter me up--"

It was working, to be honest. He felt very buttery.

... She liked the dyed hair?

He noticed that for sure, and he realized that perhaps redying his tips wouldn't be the worst idea. It had faded over time, considering his want to keep up with something that required active maintenance had entirely faded. It was why he had given up on the black-dyed state in the first place, preferring to let his roots just grow out. The blue was the singular callback to his old hairstyle, but if she liked it, and Syrus was complimenting his hair in general...

When she asked if it was nothing bad, though, his babble and bright sun took a record scratch. Fulgurite cleared his throat. "Well, no. He wants me to help train newbies, I guess? I've been in this s**t for almost ten years, not many people more qualified than myself according to Albite himself I guess." Although considering Albite outleveled him for a while, he figured that to be a farce. "Not ... sure I agree with the advised method, but maybe I can find an alternative."

One that didn't require a mass death at the end.

His gaze shifted elsewhere.

"There's like a good twenty people on our team. Faustite manages something large and sprawling." Very large and very sprawling. Fulgurite knew of everyone on the team, but he didn't necessarily know them. He could definitely pick out people like Cryolite, Albite, Heliodor--Cryolite was his responsibility, dammit--and Jadarite, but some of the newer entries and more distant members escaped his ready recall. He knew their names and probably their spheres when relevant... And that Faustite wasn't the only half-youma... (were they all destined to meet his apparent fate?).

"Besides for the standard energy-gathering s**t and I think they got that new guy on some information-gathering s**t..." ******** Borax, "at least, he's always bragging about it when he's asking me to teleport him around. Uh. We got our hands in some bigger pies too? Like I think a few people are working on some bank stuff."

But it wasn't really a secret that the Negaverse had their hands in every pie, was it?

His brows rose slightly. Right, she wouldn't remember the hell they went through in the Rift, would she? "Not really," offered Fulgurite, confirming at least her thoughts that maybe the numbers weren't quite adding up, even as a silly smile spread across his lips at the kiss. "You weren't my first general," or his second, or his third, really. "We met during a mission into the Rift, and afterward, you reached out to take me on and I agreed."

Maybe they could talk more about that mission another time. He was fine trying to backfill her memories of a time she wasn't remembering.

He couldn't backfill all the details of her life, but he could give her some of those things back.

"Ah, kinda," not the best answer, he knew, and he swallowed that down. He remembered the original proposal that General Faustite had given him before other issues had distracted him (like his impending death by youmaification, apparently--). He would have to gather members of the White Moon, preferably weaker ones. He would have to lure them in. He would have to launch his own group of newbies onto them.

And as the White Moon fell, they would collect their starseeds, one by one.

He shook his head out of it as she asked about the bank operation. Wait... she didn't know they weren't all tied up in everything? He thought that the Negaverse had their hands in too many pies was just a generally known fact of how the world worked-- "Yeah, we're in finance." Just like they were in a lot of things. "I don't know what people plan on doing with the money. Loans, for sure. I think she mentioned that."

He shifted.

"Probably ways to make money more accessible for both personal projects and Negaverse wide-reaching projects. It's a whole thing that the infiltration types are working on."