[R] energies speak louder than voices [Chrys/Helio]

[Kolina]

It wasn’t often that Heliodor spent time in negaspace. In fact, if it wasn’t for his need for some space from Waru, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to visit his small, closet-like office space. As it was, it became a bit of a refuge the past weeks. So he utilized that time alone to sequester himself in the tiny room, working on whatever he could. It wasn’t much, to be honest. He had no subordinates that required his attention, which was good considering his inability to take care of himself properly. He did keep up with his weekly quota. Still giving more than necessary some weeks, but sleep still eluded him. Regularity was not the norm for the corrupt and it continued to wear on him. But he powered through. It became the norm, honestly. While he wasn’t operating at 100% he was at least still operating so there was that.

The tiny space began to feel claustrophobic after a time and that was when the super opted to slip from behind the desk and haunt the hallways to stretch long legs. He typically ran into others when roaming around. It wasn’t out of the question to pass pleasantries in the hallway. Normally there was no one around though that he really knew. Another mark towards the order Faustite had given him. It was hard to understand how to approach his other team members when he was certain they’d rather not be bothered by him. As he had pointed out to Faustite, it was a two-way street and no one else seemed inclined.

Broody thoughts were never healthy, especially for someone already mentally struggling.So it was no surprise when he passed yet another person, he went through the motions of greeting them without really looking at them until he was a few steps away and something hit him. Metaphorically, speaking.

He spun on a wooden sandal and looked back to see a rather familiar looking form. It took a moment. Maybe a bit longer than it should have until he finally said anything. “Chrysacolla?” A further look confirmed his suspicion. “It is you.”

The two hadn’t necessarily been friends. In fact, they’d rarely spoken much outside of team meetings, but Helio felt a sort of camaraderie with her for their few shared experiences. “It’s been years since I’ve last seen you.” He offered a tentative smile, not sure if she’d share the same sentiments and be willing to chat.

Daekie

LMK if this works for you. <3

 

[Daekie]

Chrysocolla spent a lot of time in Negaspace. There was always something to do - someone to be useful for - or even just Lieutenants to put in their place, if it came to that. And people stopped being cautious with what they said, when they were here! Names dropped in the hallways, overheard discussions from half-closed doors - she'd known Heliodor was back, vaguely, kind of. Faustite's stupid little gaggle made waves. They weren't subtle in the way they existed.

She hadn't wanted to run into him. But she hadn't really been avoiding him, either, so it was going to happen eventually. And he'd been kind of emotional back then, hadn't he? Maybe this was a good thing. Not an immediate good thing, but maybe something good.

Didn't she know Heliodor's name? Maybe he'd changed it. Maybe things had changed. It'd been a while. She could pretend to be nice long enough to have a conversation; she understood how to do at least that much.

"Heliodor." Chrysocolla's smile was polite, but it was her secretarial smile, the same one she wore for work at Romano's. It wasn't personal. It was something she'd developed since he'd last seen her, so maybe it would be a surprise? Maybe he kept better tabs on her than she did on him. "I've been back for a while, but I'm here a lot, so I guess it's not a surprise we've missed each other..?"

She'd been kind of guileless back when they'd known each other better! Not that they'd ever known each other too well, anyway. But age and experience and Schörl had taught her how to fix that, and how to lie, and how to act like she cared about anything she was hearing. "It really has been a while, though! How are you?"

Kxlina_

 

[Kolina]

He was mildly surprised that the woman offered him any sort of companionable reaction. While he had hoped for at least something, for her to stop and pursue conversation was lifting. He'd kept to himself for so long. Well, if one didn't count Waru who had somehow begun to weasel his way into a somewhat companionable, if also aggravating, relationship with Helio. So, having someone else to talk to, who was not part of the team was welcomed. The team was a bridge he wasn't quite ready to cross yet.

"Ah, yes." He said, his smile turning less tenative in response to her own. "I don't spend too much time here to be honest. A bit to dark for my preferences." A shrug of shoulders as he fully turned to face her, leaning most of his weight to one leg as he settled into the conversation.

"I am..." He paused a brief second in his response to her. Mental olympics on how to answer warring within. "well." Old habits of politeness won out. No need to muddy the conversation with someone he, honestly, knew very little about. "I returned a little over a year ago. General King Faustite has kept me busy since."

"How have things been with you? Are you engaged with any teams? Prefer to keep to yourself?" To be honest, Heliodor had not kept tabs on Chrysocolla. He had no real purpose to. The other corrupt was always very dedicated to Metallia and the Negaverse, and she tended to keep to herself. He had no real interest in keeping tabs on someone he hadn't built any sort of relationship with, either. Goodness knew the young man was terrible at making connections with anyone anymore and his time on Schorl's team was no different.

In honesty, his corruption had brought about the death to his social butterfly ways. Wings were rippped and torn as he had settled into a life of pure survival, depression and grief. Funny how some things hadn't changed since those beginning days.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

That was good. That was what she wanted out of him - friendliness, or something kind of resembling it. Not being wary of her. He didn't have any reason to be. "I overhear a lot of gossip here! And there's a lot of people who can always use a little help." Chrysocolla thought she should be very proud of herself for not skipping a beat when he mentioned Faustite, or even really changing her expression, besides an involuntary tiny little frown she wiped off her face fast enough.

"I have a couple of senshi, actually? Just Beatrix and Richelsdorfite right now, but Beatrix got promoted recently, so I'm proud of her. Mostly I'm trying to find people whose commanding officers... dipped, since they fall through the cracks a lot.

What about you?"

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

"Sounds like you're keeping yourself busy and doing some people good, then." He offered a smile. "I imagine they're appreciative of you helping them out."

A door down the hallway opened and shut, Helio's eyes flickered past Chrysacolla's shoulder to see an agent he wasn't familiar with depart down the opposite side of the hall. "Ah, well..." He shrugged. "No subordinates myself. I don't really think I am the best at the moment to be teaching anyone anything." A self depreciating joke paired with a huff of a laugh. "That might change whenever I get promoted, but for now I am content. Faustite's team has been good at keeping things from getting boring anyway." Little white lie upon little white lie. He'd been anything but busy with the team as of lately. But, appearances were important sometimes. Chrysacolla was an old team mate, one he didn't want or need to know about current affairs between him and his husband.

He raised his left hand to brush away at a stray hair that tickled his cheek, the bone ring on his ring finger on full display.

Daekie

SO, SO sorry for this wait. crying Life just got the better of me in sept between vacation and getting covid and all of the changes happening at work.

 

[Daekie]

"They should be." She offered a small little smile. If they didn't appreciate her, then she'd need to be a harsher master, but it generally seemed like her girls didn't make a lot of trouble. Given their personalities, it was probably only a matter of months before Richel mouthed off to someone and had to learn a lesson she wasn't going to enjoy, but until then it was smooth enough.

What was the right thing to say here? What would be appropriate? Well, Chrysocolla didn't even need to really be that nice, so something that sounded like a straightforward question that he'd need to read ill intent into might be the correct way forward. "I'm actually kind of surprised you haven't been promoted. It's been a while, hasn't it? Maybe you just need to do something to really stand out."

And then she squinted, eyes glimmering a dull peach-orange kind of shade that shifted to a more vibrant Halloween-sort of orange. A ring? She'd never really thought he was charismatic enough to justify someone wanting that kind of thing, but love made people stupid, probably. She'd never fallen in love with people who didn't deserve it. "When did you get married?"

Kolina

 

[Kolina]

Ouch. Well, it was fair enough to say. He'd been a super for...years now. "Ah well, yes. It's been a few years now. I'll take your advice though. It would be nice to finally prove myself as worth the effort to promote." Or, you know, worth much of anything to be honest. But, again, those snide little comments stayed bottled up behind a forced smile.

At the mention of married, Helio sucked in a bit of a breath. His eyes shifted to his own hand as he lowered it, eyes grazing over the ring he'd refused to remove. "Back in spring." He said carefully. "It was right before Faustite was promoted that he and I exchanged vows." Vows that...were currently null and void for one side of the party. "It's been...a rollercoaster year, honestly." A genuine chuckle escaped him though he was sure there was a hint of derision in his tone for all of...well everything that had been going wrong.

"Honestly, it was the highlight of my year so far." And it had been. Still was. He didn't regret his vows. Didn't regret the time and love he gave the now General King despite the troubles that had built between them.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"It'll happen eventually." Playing innocently insensitive was always easy. It'd been true for so many years! She'd just gotten a little smarter, eventually. And when it came to smiles, Chrysocolla's was a lot more natural and genuine than his.

It didn't exactly last forever. Hearing he'd gotten married to Faustite made her grimace, in a way she couldn't really suppress; she could pull all the rage out of it and leave it as just disgust by the time it hit her body, and she did, but it was still clear. Eventually she pulled her smile back, but it was more forced, now; a what do you see in him kind of face. "...Congratulations. I hope you're very happy together." That ******** stung, but she'd told worse lies. (Her eyes flickered acid-green, leaf-green, forest-green, settled to a silver-peach gradient in time.)

"I should get going, though, my shift starts in twenty minutes." It didn't. She wasn't even working today. And she'd called off 'sick' for Negaverse reasons before, anyway; working at Romano's had its benefits. "See you around...?"

Kolina

writing. can you imagine that

 

[Kolina]

Though there was an attempt at hidiing the obvious, visceral, reaction to the news he'd married Faustite, it surprised Helio. The smile forced onto her face was curious and made him wonder if perhaps there was some history between Faustite and Chrysocolla and he hadn't known about. "Ah yes. Very happy." A flat out lie, but a hopeful one for what the future would bring for the two of them. Still, his brows pinched slightly as he contemplated the other corrupts reaction to the news.

In fact, he was about to ask about it when Chrysocolla pleaded a need to leave for work. He knew this escape route. It was something he himself had used many, many times before. Especially during a past long gone. It was an easy out that no-one would argue with. Having somewhere to go that was time-based always created a clean break from a conversation. So, Aelius offered her another smile.

"Yes. I am sure we will see each other around." He offered as he began walking again in the direction he had been going. "Take care of yourself, Chrysocolla." He offered as he walked past her.

When he had the chance, he'd have to ask Faustite about her. Perhaps Waru would know, but it was likely this pre-dated Waru considering Chrysocolla had been Faustite and Helio's team-mate in the past.

daekie

All done!