999/Don't Taste the Rainbow

Don't Taste the Rainbow
Date of Scene:	10 December 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Board Room
Synopsis:	Director-Queen Beryl has a new task for Hematite: find the Rainbow Crystals. Also, keep lookin' for that prince, kid.
Cast of Characters:	Beryl, Mamoru Chiba
Tinyplot:	Rainbow Crystals

---

Beryl has posed:
It's one month ago, just four days in advance of the titanic battle at Soryuu Shrine and all the revelations that day would contain. On this day, Beryl has no idea that the prince she seeks is right before her, that her favorite of the Shitennou, her prized soldiers, is actually the man of her twisted dreams.

Good for him, honestly.

Beryl has no idea that Hematite will be departing in just a few days. As far as she's concerned, business is as usual.

Business as usual includes Hematite in her office, kneeling just feet away, staring up at her with adoration (it's not adoration, it's anxiety).

"Hematite, there is something I must share with you," she says coolly, raking her eyes over him, over his pressed uniform, the sweep of his cape. "Critical information about our next objective. The Midnight Tokyo Project your brethren have chosen to undertake is approaching a zenith, but it is not our highest priority. Our priority has always been energy for great ruler, and of course, the reclamation of the Earth, our planet, from those who would misuse it."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yes, Your Majesty," Hematite says, and he manages to sound exactly as agreeable and determinatory as this particular physical, emotional, and mental situation demands, packing a whole lot into three words. 'yes, I KNOW, I'm sorry they're a bit... possessed...' without actually saying so.

He's only almost at crick-in-neck point.

Still looking up, obviously, Hematite almost asks something but decides that he'd rather not interrupt if she's leaning into a monologue, and he didn't sound agreeable enough to imply he was a dimwit, a sycophant, or drunk, so he can afford to keep his mouth shut.

Beryl has posed:
Yes, your majesty. He always knew just what to say. What a wonderful boy she'd brought him up to be.

"There is a treasure of our planet, long lost, sealed away from us by heretics who feared the power of our great ruler... and I have seen the signs that this power returns. Tell me - do you have any memory of that time, Hematite? Do you remember our ancient? The battles we fought? The war we won, only for that Moon Witch to steal it from us?"

There is a snarl in her voice at the last, and the power in her figure - the height of her, nearly seven feet - may call to mind the grimmest shadows of memory.

"We cannot allow those pathetic Senshi to gain that power. The Rainbow Crystals are too important to us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's actually kind of fascinating from a psychological horror point of view, because at this point, seeing the seven-foot-tall tiara-wearing redhead looming with a snarl absolutely does call to mind the image of a sword in Beryl's hands and the echo of knowledge of a princess at his back--

--Hematite doesn't usually look so... grey, does he?

He's doing everything in his power to avoid flinching, doing everything he can to keep from jumping to his feet and summoning a weapon to defend himself, and FORTUNATELY, the expression this provokes in his face can easily be as a tamped-down sympathetic rage or something. "I remember, Your Majesty," he says in a low voice. (It's not sympathetic.) "But I fear I do not recall the Rainbow Crystals. What is it that they do?"

Beryl has posed:
The poor boy - look at him, grey-faced and sallow at the invocation of those cruel, dark days, the victory stolen from their hands. The cringing, banked rage in his expression, the grit of his teeth -

Yes, he too recalls the past. He too knows what all they have lost.

Well. Perhaps not all.

"It is only to be expected... the time of our victory, when we succeeded in chasing away the Moon contaminant from our planet, was short, and the eons since then long.

"As I have said," she begins, sitting back in her throne-like armchair and soothing the rage in her heart with thoughts of victory and power and the prince who belonged to her, "There is a power that sleeps in the Earth - you may have heard the conspiracy theory, of the Hollow Earth. It is a theory for fools - but it is also an echo of ancient knowledge. For though this planet is not hollow, at its heart, there is another realm, one which - rejected our cause."

There is a bitter anger in her voice.

"In that place, slept power, and to prevent us from reaching that place, the order of priests who pledged their lives to that power's service sealed the entrance and forged a key, which they splintered into seven crystals. They wished to scatter them, to prevent our gaining glory."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite's hand closes into a fist, where his forearm rests on his knee. Soon he'll be out of here, free of her, free of this. Soon he'll openly wear his secret name. Until then, let her think what she will. He has to calm himself; he thinks of Kyouka-- NO HE DOESN'T she is NOT CALMING-- he thinks of Usagi-- NO HE DOESN'T he knows what kind of expression he gets on his face when thinking of Usagi-- he thinks of Kunzite, and that's where he borrows focus from, so high up in this magic building, where he can't borrow calm from the earth far below.

Far below... Hematite's expression twitches briefly at the mention of the 'Hollow Earth', but then his gaze gets intent as he listens to Beryl drop lore like her pride depends upon it. When she pauses, he draws himself up slightly, still on his knee but not quite as he was a moment ago; he still looks intent. "I remember the realm as you describe it, Your Majesty, vaguely. The priests, I assume, have not been reborn like the Senshi...? Or is there another way to find the crystals?"

Beryl has posed:
"The priests were not reborn," she says, dismissive, looking at his contorting expression, his thoughtful effort to remmeber that which he cannot recall, which was stolen from him by the cruel Moon. "It is all too likely that they have yet to die. That place, at the center of the Earth, is both within and without time. Or so the rumors say."

She hopes they are true. She wishes to end those wretches, those fools, who dared to spurn her.

"They sought to defeat us, but they failed. The Rainbow Crystals were found, once." Her expression goes cold. "They rejected our hand. But that was then - this is now. When they were captured, seven of our greatest youma were sealed within them, that no force could exist which would turn that power against us. Now it is time to find them again."

Beryl shifts her head, looking out the window.

"My prince lives. I have sensed it, I know it. And with him, will come the crystals."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That's... that's a new one.

Hematite now tries not to look puzzled. How can some things he doesn't remember and apparently had nothing to do with the creation of, even if it turns into a key that leads to the place he wants to go, be tied to him--? Being fair it makes some sense but it's one more thing...

It doesn't matter. If they're tied to him, they'll be tied to him after he gets out, and he can worry about them then. Right now, he has some distracting to do.

"That reminds me, Your Majesty, I brought pictures of the princely boy you'd asked about, Adrien Agreste. He is Gabriel Agreste's son, and very beautiful--" He's reaching into his pocket for his phone now; he takes it out and bites off his glove to unlock it and show an Adrien fandom/wikia page, then leans forward to offer it to Beryl.

Beryl has posed:
The Rainbow Crystals will be found, they will be hers, it will be - "The boy? You've taken pictures - show me!"

The Rainbow Crystals can wait! This boy! This boy, who is surely her pri-

"A blonde?!"

Her voice rises dangerously, nearly a shriek, but she recovers quickly, scowling with distaste.

"This is not our prince. This - pathetic whelp, with his - his disgusting, yellowed hair, he cannot be our prince. He is not the one. I should have known - no product of that... whimpering Frenchman could amount to anything of value."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's even odds, Hematite figures, whether Beryl will actually smash his phone. It's not a big deal if she does, it's his business phone and he'll just requisition another, but w o w. Wow that almost-shriek.

He is now trying really hard not to show even a hint of the helpless laughter he'd be dissolving into if he were safe--

"--I deeply apologize, Your Majesty," he says, faking serious, faking dismay, lying so well with his face and his voice and his words, "I didn't know. What color hair does he have? The only other princes of the school are also light-haired. Perhaps he's older?"

Beryl has posed:
Were he any other member of the Heavenly Kings, Hematite would be writhing in agony, shuddering with the force of her rage, the punishment bestowed upon him for failure.

But he is Hematite, and he is her favorite, and so for him, she will be kind.

"It's to your benefit that I care for you so," she sighs, "For were you one of the others, I would strike you down for this egregious failure. The Prince will be near to you in age - nearer to Nephrite, at the oldest. He belongs with ME. With the Dark Kingdom."

She knows what she said.

"He is of dark hair, and - incomparable beauty."

She has no idea, of the rest. She can't quite make her mind seal the connection...

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's kind of awful -- the boys were right, he really doesn't know how badly she treats them, because he is her favorite. (He doesn't want to be her favorite.) (Especially not with her reactions to prince things.)

He does look the kind of afraid, briefly, that is 'oh no didn't think that through oh no oh no' but Beryl's all on about 'that I care for you so' and he puts his fist to his heart and bows over it, still on one knee. "I thank you for your mercy, my Queen," he says, laying it on thicker than usual.

Then he lifts his head again and nods, quite serious. "I will find him."