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 Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2023 11:00 am
Roselite was terrible at coming up with gift ideas, but, after missing the Thanksgiving party, he wanted to participate in something that would allow him to express his gratitude for the people within the organization that had given him so much. A gift exchange seemed like just the thing, even if it had been organized by a General who Roselite did not exactly favor.
Fortunately, he wasn’t paired with said General, but another Captain. Roselite was not sure he’d ever interacted with Captain Strengite. The arrangement seemed like it would be a success then. He would be able to mingle with one of his peers, maybe get to know them a bit, and express his gratitude.
Through the tablet, he arranged to meet with Captain Strengite in Destiny City. The Dark Kingdom might have been safer for them, but Roselite needed to fill his quota, and he rather liked the idea of patrolling with someone other than Bloodstone or Jasper for once.
They were to meet at a park. Roselite stood nervously as he waited, shifting from foot to foot, picking at his nails, twiddling his thumbs. He looked shy and jumpy, flinching at most noises — the distant backfiring of a car; the loud, booming bark of a large dog; the prolonged blaring of someone’s car horn. He was a pale, thin, anxious figure in the dark, but he wore a timid smile, pleased and hopeful, eager to meet his assigned partner.
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Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2023 3:23 pm
She had honestly spent the last several days stewing and angrily hunting, cough, patrolling the city after her store burned all those days ago. She had been mad ever since. So mad that she avoided the Thanksgiving party because her business being destroyed wasn’t worth celebrating. She spent many a day raging, even more sulking, but finally she was ready to get even. Or at least push one of her other ideas through the chain of command. They can’t deny that the sleep therapist store was going well, it was just going too well. Its the only thing that Strengite could think that would have drawn the little sparkly ******** to her business. Breath in…. Breath out… Breath in… The captain paused in her travels to take several deep breaths. Her anger was building and that was not very useful for a gift exchange. So why exactly was she out there while she was still so very mad about what happened early in November? A Secret Santa of course. Strengite might have been pissed but she wasn’t stupid, one should never turn away free stuff. All the better if it was expensive things. She knew she would have to reciprocate in some way but there were always ways to make things a bit easier on the wallet. Regifting was a real thing of course. Lucky in this case she didn’t have to. Apparently her match loved puzzles… that she could do pretty well, and on a budget of course. Finally she made it to the park that they had set as their meeting point. Honestly the name Roselite didn’t exactly ring any bells but then again, she barely knew the people in Beni’s team. The captain sauntered out of the darkness, spotting the pale man standing there all timid like. “Apologies, it took a bit longer to get here then I expected. I hope you weren’t waiting too long,” She smiled charmingly. Just because he looked like he would fall to tears if she just scoffed at him didn’t mean he wasn’t a stronger fighter then she was… thank all that cared that she ended up with another captain like herself. She didn’t need to do any a** kissing, especially since she really didn’t feel like it.
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Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2023 10:19 am
“No, I—” Roselite halted immediately. He never really knew what to say to anyone, though he was trying to be better with the stammering. He was better, sometimes. Unfortunately, meeting new people still frayed his nerves. “It’s fine, really! I… I haven’t been here long.”
He swallowed and cleared his throat, shifting to his other foot again, then forcing himself to still.
“I’m Roselite,” he offered, then, realizing that was probably pointless, added, “Not that—... I mean, obviously that’s who I am, we agreed to meet here, but… I think this is the first time we’ve met?” He didn’t immediately recognize her, but there was always that fear that he’d simply forgotten and was making an a** out of himself.
Nervously, he held out his hand to shake. He had long, thin fingers — a little bony, like much of his body. His smile was small and apprehensive, but still somehow welcoming despite that.
“It’s… It’s nice to meet you,” he continued. “I don’t get to mingle much, so… this is—... It’s just really nice.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2023 2:01 pm
Oh! Wasn’t he cute! The Captain wasn’t exactly someone who you could call ‘adorable’, granted no negaverse officer was like that, but Strengite kind of just wanted to pick him up and put him in her pocket! He stammered and stuttered and did his best to maintain his composure. It was adorbs as the kids would say nowadays. Strengite chuckled and took the offered hand in a shake, “It’s quite alright. I am a bit more of a ‘solo player’ as it were so we might have passed each other but as far as I am aware no introductions were made.” If they had been introduced before she had forgotten about it, she wouldn't normally remember people very well unless it benefits her somehow. “I’m Strengite, but like you said, that was pretty obvious. It's nice to meet you Roselite.” She glanced around and tilted her head curiously, “So… how should we do this? I can’t say as I’ve done a Secret Santa with an officer before so I’m at a bit of a loss. Should we patrol first or try to hit quota or what?” Truthfully she was game just to pass over her gift, get hers in return, and scamper off into the darkness but she also didn’t exactly want her antisocial behaviors to get back to the General who set this whole shindig up. Strengite figured they would be peeved, especially since the relayed messages about the whole thing seemed to be pretty angry to begin with. So she would be a good little Captain and stick around for a bit. No harm in it anyway.
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Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2023 8:00 am
Roselite’s smile widened ever so slightly, tinged with mild relief, grateful that he hadn’t unintentionally made an a** of himself, and that Strengite was so accommodating—at least in this.
His hand was cold, his grip loose, certainly not capable of the sort of firm shakes a more confident man might have given, but he hoped the brief contact adequately expressed his happiness in meeting her. The Negaverse had been good to Roselite. He had no reason to think that Strengite would be any different. The war might be a difficult game to navigate, but that didn’t mean the players were without kindness.
“Oh, we could—... If you wanted, we can—... I have my gift here for you,” Roselite stammered again, cheeks going a bit pink as he summoned the gift from his subspace pocket.
A golden gift bag appeared in his hands, decorated with glittering white snowflakes and stuffed with equally glittery tissue paper. Inside, Strengite would find a variety of gift cards and a stack of scratch offs—all clearly more than the $25 guideline Aquamarine had set, but Bloodstone had always paid Roselite well, and now that they were earning a salary within the Negaverse, Roselite wanted to go above and beyond for his recipient.
“I don’t know if anyone’s run a Secret Santa in the Negaverse before,” he said. He certainly hadn’t expected Aquamarine of all people to do it. Part of Roselite felt guilty that he hadn’t thought of it himself. “I’m sorry if—... I mean, when General Aquamarine sent your information to me—... You’d written that you needed help with rent, so… if you still do, I’d be happy to help with that, too.”
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 3:34 pm
Sunshine Alouette ((Wordy post that boils down to 'here is your gift of puzzles and yes please on the extra money' ^_^' )) The handshake was a bit of a cold fish but then again, who was Strengite to really judge…. Well ok so, she does judge, but she kept her thoughts to herself. She even remained smiling when the other captain continued to stammer. Was he just nervous? She absently noted that he didn’t seem to stutter, just stammer, as if he had several sentences in his head all trying to come out at once. But all her contemplations and notes just fell to the wayside when the golden glittery gift bag just popped out of nowhere. Strengite knew he had pulled it from his subspace, its where she had stashed his gift as well, but it was still a bit surprising. Especially with how very sparkly it was. Following his example she pulled out the much more mundane gift bag from her storage for Roselite. Unlike his overly glittery offering hers was a simple red and green bag with a snowman and a tree on it. She tried to add his ‘favorite’ color as the tissue paper but Blurple isn’t exactly a color one can find at the dollar store… which is where she got the bag and paper, but she did use quite a bit of the blue and purple paper that came in that pack to fluff out the bag and overall make the whole thing look like some demented holiday gremlin upchucked blueberry’s on the bag. Red and green versus blue and purple… not a great mix. She had at least gotten better with the gifts that she had shoved in the holiday bag. All kinds of puzzle books ranging from the requested sudoku and crosswords to even some that were called ‘fill-ins’ and ‘crostics’ that looked like crosswords. There were even a few mixed puzzle books that had a little bit of everything. Amazon had some pretty nice deals for variety packs that she was able to snag for cheap, penny press was a massive wallet saver on this one. Overall Strengite had gone a hair over the limit but she had done her best to keep the cost as low as possible. “It's definitely an interesting challenge, and nice to meet other officers,” She said as she handed over her bag to Roselite. She didn’t really care about the Secret Santa, or meeting the others who populated the negaverse, but she saw the merit of the exchange. It could be useful in the future. Somehow….. Or then again…. Maybe right now. Strengite tilted her head slightly when the Captain offered to help with her rent. That she did not expect, she wouldn’t turn it down, but she didn’t expect it when she casually wrote it on the info card. At best she figured she would get cash and at worse, gift cards which could be used as basically cash, but to get both a gift and an offer for rent assistance? That was the unusual part. Lucky the whole negaverse salary thing had eased quite a bit of her rent worries, she just wanted to have, make, and play with more. It would be nice to be one of the rich SOB’s in the city who didn’t have to worry about inflation and crap like that. “I can’t say I wouldn’t appreciate it. The salary does help but well,” She shrugged and smiled sadly. “As Ben Franklin once said, ‘nothing is certain except death and taxes’.... I personally would add student loans to that as well.” Just how much could she shake Roselite down for?
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2024 7:00 pm
Roselite chuckled quietly.
He felt awkward, but when didn’t he? Strengite seemed so nice so far, and the gift she offered contained more than Roselite had been expecting. He loved to give gifts to others but rarely (if ever) expected anything in return. He would’ve been pleased simply to offer Strengite what he could. Of course he knew the purpose of Secret Santa was the exchange, but it still seemed to take him by surprise that there was something for him to receive as well.
Roselite didn’t mind the clashing colors. He thought it was charming. He took the gift and clutched it gratefully, his smiling widening enough that it reached his eyes.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, quiet and a little uncertain still, but so very appreciative. “I—... If you let me know how much you need I can—... Well, I don’t know what would be the best way to get it to you. Probably cash? If we did it electronically I’d need personal information, and—... I know that can be—... I mean, that requires a lot of trust and I understand some people aren’t exactly comfortable—... Given what we do…”
He swallowed and cleared his throat, breaking eye contact when maintaining it made him too uncomfortable. Shyly, Roselite dropped his gaze to the ground between them.
“Not that—... I mean, getting to know one another was probably part of the point of this, but—... I mean—... Um… So… What do you do? Outside of the Negaverse, I mean. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine, I just—... I don’t know. I’m sorry, I’m not very good at this.”Fiction1119 I am so so sorry for the wait on this!! crying
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2024 2:49 pm
Sunshine Alouette No worries ^_^ tho I would say we should be just about able to finish it with your next post Strengite smiled softly at the other captain as he stumbled and stuttered through his comments. As much as it annoyed her, it was a good indication of inner turmoil. Turmoil she could use to manipulate him… within reason since this was still a ‘compatriots’ and it never was a good idea to burn bridges with someone who might be helpful later on. “Cash is fine since it's also untraceable. Besides, you know what they say, ‘cash is king’.” She had made a decision while talking to him. As much as she wanted to ask for a sizable amount of money she figured a smaller sum was more reasonable. Besides, people were less likely to bulk at minor ‘gifts’ than much larger numbers. Strengite figured that as long as she didn’t cause any issues the captain could be used again at a later date for a little extra influx of cash. “Right now I’m really only shy of about one hundred dollars for rent. My last job fell through and I haven’t been able to get another one lined up fast enough.” She shrugged before explaining, and answering his stammered questions. “Oh no worries! I’m a freelance writer most of the time but I do pick up a few hours here and there as a PA. Neither pays all that great,” Not quite true. “But I do get to see and do a lot of things in the pursuit of my writing.” True. “How about we continue talking while patrolling? It's a bit chilly out and this skirt isn’t exactly winter appropriate.” Eh… not all that true. She wasn’t overly cold, all things considered, but she was getting a bit bored. Messing with civilians was quite a bit more amusing.
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Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2024 4:29 pm
Roselite’s eyes were wide and earnest, his smile small but sincere. He suspected nothing about Strengite’s motives. To Roselite, she was simply an ally who needed help, and he was happy to give it.
“That’s—... Yes, we can—...” When he couldn’t get the words out, Roselite nodded enthusiastically. They had met up with the intention of exchanging gifts and patrolling. He had no qualms about doing so. If anything, he seemed delighted by the company. It wasn’t often he went out with anyone other than Bloodstone or Jasper.
Accompanying someone else was a refreshing change of pace, even if he was awkward. Strengite didn’t seem to mind, which Roselite was grateful for.
“And I—... Just let me know where your office in the Dark Kingdom is and… I can bring by the money once I’ve withdrawn it.”
He had a spring in his step as he made to begin their patrol. Roselite tried to control it, occasionally falling into a nervous shuffle, but he was too happy to let anxiety bother him for long.
The Negaverse had already given him so much. Pride. Safety. A chance to make a difference. What more could he ask for?
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:03 pm
Strengite kept the smirk in but she did smile and nodded before following after the sucker -cough- captain. This seemed like this would be quite beneficial for herself. Just the way she liked it.
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