Jade had lain quite low ever since she'd gotten the 'gift' from Volthoon. She knew they wouldn't find her just for using the new ring, but she knew that strange occurrences generated rumors... and even if they were all hopeless gits, she still wasn't taking any chances. She'd left Gotham, passed through NYC long enough to enjoy the seasonal festivities, then moved on to Chicago, where she'd settled for the time being. It had more than its share of an underworld, and it didn't take too long for her to set herself up once again as a bouncer in a bar off ill repute. Specifically, a horrid little place known as Bernie's. The little Mexican bar was the kind of place that anyone who was sane avoided. Both the overpowering smell of Mexican spices and the general shady atmosphere of the place drifted a good block in any direction from the bar's neon sign. Jade was lurking there at the moment, as she did every night, in the corner where the pool tables were. Her newly acquired ring was on her hand, but concealed in a trick she'd figured out years ago to look like a simple gold band. Eyeing the table over the rims of her glasses, she was just waiting for something interesting to happen.
Dave was busy rocketing across the skies of America himself. Just over a week ago he'd been offered the ring, and he hadn't once regretted it yet. The other Lanterns had been showing him the ropes, teaching him to use his ring. It could be extremely difficult, but with a ring such as his, it came down to two principles - imagination and force of will. For now, however, they'd let him wander around on his own, letting him 'get the feel' of it, only advising him to try and stay out of solving crimes and actively protecting others. They didn't doubt his skill, they just wanted him a bit more tempered in his new 'occupation' before having him aid them in the eternal struggle for peace and order. Oddly enough, he kept feeling drawn somehow. He stopped over in Chicago, wandering some of the streets in a plain disguise. It felt almost as though the ring was drawing him here, like some bit of history it had been involved in was lurking somewhere nearby. He couldn't explain it.
The holiday festivities hadn't quite died out at Bernie's. In fact, it was only the cigarette dangling between her lips that was keeping Jade from killing someone over the fact that Feliz Navidad was on for the fifth time this hour. The bar was still decorated in gaudy tinsel things, and the counter was still wrapped in lights. Blinking, annoying things they were. She growled slightly, as they almost seemed to be blinking in tune with the song, and then forced her eyes back on the table, taking her shot. A shout from across the bar caused her to miss. Baring her teeth a little, she shot a glower in the direction of the disturbance. College kids, about to get into a fight over something she likely didn't give a damn about. Her eyes drifted to Bill, the owner and bartender. He gave her a nod. And she all too cheerfully started across the room to toss the brawlers out onto the street.
When the woman, helping those in a state of disagreement by tossing them out, made her appearance, it was as though he'd been shocked. Somehow the ring was connected to her. He couldn't explain how he knew, he just did. He took a few tentative steps towards her, thinking hard. He certainly didn't recognize her, but the ring seemed focused on her. Kyle had mentioned the ring had been obtained from a 'former associate'. Could this be her?
"And stay out. I enjoy this -way- too much," Jade muttered as the two landed on the pavement. She started to turn and go back in, when she saw the young man lurking, and move towards the door. No, not the door, his eyes were on her. And some kind of instinct made her stop, looking him over. "If you're thinkin' of goin' inside, kiddo, you'd better be 21. Let's see some ID." It wasn't necessarily her job to card people, she was mostly just there to break up fights and toss people out. But something in the way he was looking at her made her damn sure she wanted to have some idea who he was.
Dave chuckled slightly. "Not intending to go inside...I just.... know..." He was babbling, and making a rather large fool of himself. He decided on a more direct approach. He pulled his hands from his pockets, making the ring glimmer slightly before tucking them back in. "I felt drawn to this part of town." He'd let her deduce the rest. Secrets didn't need to be blabbed.
Her eyes narrowed on the ring. That small emerald glimmer was all it had taken for her to know - he had her ring. Her blue eyes narrowed further, moving from the ring to his face. Muttering something none to friendly under her breath, she turned, shoving the door open long enough to shout, "Bill. I'm out. Got business." She stepped away from the door as it closed, placing her rather close to Dave, glowering at him in typical Jade welcome. "So. He sends a rookie after me? Too chicken to come himself?" she asked lowly.
Dave seemed confused, he backed off a step. "After you? I just..." He trailed off again, settling for honesty. "I guess you mean Rayner. He didn't send me after anyone. All I could tell was that something was here. It was like the Ring sensed you, and drew me along with it. Kyle never mentioned anyone like you, or in Chicago. I just came. They probably wouldn't be happy knowing I stopped into a city." He chuckled almost morosely.
Frankie eyed him, her scowl darkening as she could see he was telling the truth. She was no longer scowling at him. "Of all the idiotic-" she trailed off with a snarl, her eyes moving over the alley a moment, and then she looked back at him. Any small amount of competence she'd credited her counterpart with had just been withdrawn. They'd apparently just given him the ring and turned him loose. Kyle, of all people, should have had more sense than that. Go figure. "C'mon, kid. We need to talk," she said, with a nod at a nearby alley. "Looks like I gotta play babysitter yet again..."
Dave Naturally wasn't quite thrilled at being 'babysat', but following along anyways. He wanted to know who this was, and how was she connected to Rayner and the Lanterns. Kyle hadn't mentioned anyone else. Either he had forgotten, or just omitted this information. Convenient. It seemed this was worth putting up with a little patronizing.
She somewhat growled as he actually followed her into the dark alley. The kid was either far to trusting, or overconfident. The thought of just beating him senseless - which she doubted would take much work - and then taking her ring back crossed her mind. But she had a ring. And Kyle likely had a reason for picking this kid. Hopefully, it was something other than typical rashness on Kyle's part. Jade moved about half the length of the alley to a fire escape, and after pulling the ladder down, she made her way up to the third floor of a shabby apartment building, sliding in through a window. This was her current place of residence, nicer than the places she generally stayed in, as Bill owned the building, and there was actual furniture. When Dave entered the window behind her, she gestured at the small couch, still covered in a paint-throw. "Sit, kid. And tell me somethin'. They at least tell you who Parallax was?" Jade herself sank into a chair across from the couch, pulling a cigarette from the pack in her jacket to replace the one she'd put out in the alley below.
"Aside from being the destroyer of the Lantern Corps, and somehow currently at large on Earth - no." Kyle had decided explaining the ring's origin to Dave was not the best idea right then, planning on doing so later when he'd been seasoned a bit. He hadn't taken the offered seat, staying near the window if an exit was needed. "They say Batman spotted Parallax in Gotham a few weeks ago." Somehow, despite the familiar sense, in these closer quarters, she almost radiated an aura of danger. Something was definitely different, and it wasn't just the ring this time.
Jade buried her face in her palms a moment, releasing a soft growl of frustration. Her attitude abruptly changed as she lit the cig, inhaling and exhaling a somewhat artful cloud of smoke. Dropping her hands in her lap, she chuckled slightly. "Guess Kyle wouldn't know any better, he's never had to deal with someone else's ring." Half smirking, she gestured at the couch again. "Relax. I washed my hands of the Corps a long time ago, but we'll call this a temporary truce. At least long enough for me to make sure having my old ring doesn't get you killed. Name's Frankie." It would probably be better if she didn't mention being Jade or Parallax, she thought. Her mind worked to create another story.
"Then I guess that makes you the 'former associate'." Facing her as he had a seat, he explained. "It was what Kyle told me about where he'd gotten the ring. I never expected it to search out its old bearer. Kyle, John, Jade - they've been telling me what to expect, giving me pointers, and running me through exercises over the last week. This wasn't in the textbook, so to speak. I'm Dave." She was not overly fond of Rayner. Hmm. Kyle had mentioned the ring was like a memory bank. If it remembered her, maybe he could call up past records of her from its own database.
"Former associate..." she rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Had personal differences with the rest of 'em and left- I'm sure you've already noticed I'm little miss ray of sunshine." Gazing at him a minute, she then rubbed her eyes and readjusted her glasses. "Look. Dave. Don't get into the habit of just blindly following that thing where it tugs. That thing's been places you -don't- want to go. Hell, for example. I'm not kidding, either." She paused, and then said very pointedly. "That ring's different from everyone else's, kid. It's not from this dimension. It -may- not even be genuine."
Dave directed an odd glance towards the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. "Does Kyle know about this?" He was wondering if the supposed 'head' of the Lantern Corps knew about the history of the ring. If so, he'd ask. If not, well, here's hoping she could shed light on it. After the encounter with the lovely and bubbly Miss Frankie, he planned on taking her advice though. He didn't want to go chasing tugs after this one.
"No. He doesn't," she said flatly with a shrug. "I'm the only one who does. Which, I guess, is why I feel responsible for you. Feck..." she shook her head slightly, and then laughed. It was a somewhat dark laugh. "Me, of all people, playing mentor to a fledgling Lantern." It was likely when he got back to Kyle, this encounter would be mentioned, and that would blow all of the cards she had up her sleeve at the moment. Hanging out with Hal and Batman had apparently made her soft. "Still. I do feel responsible, and I'd never forgive myself if you got yourself killed while wearing my ring because I didn't bother teaching you the finer points of its use."
Dave chuckled wryly himself. "'Preciate that. Kyle doesn't know what all it can do, only that it doesn't seem to need recharging, and it works against both yellow things and wood. It operates in the same fashion as the other rings, though, as far as he could tell. Though I'm guessing he's not quite reached the extent of it, guessing by the look on your face." He fell silent, letting her explain, figuring she'd know more.
She shook her head slightly. "All that's right, at least. It won't drain. I buried the battery in the ring's core. I also drained off a good bit of the battery's power before I handed it over to Kyle." Jade narrowed her eyes on him again, then said, "At full power, that ring has the ability to traverse time. And dimensions. That's why I drained the battery. If, somehow, you manage to absorb enough power to restore that ability, I'd suggest you don't use it. There's a temporal police force somewhere in the future, just waiting for that ring to light up like a signal flare. They -will- kill you for jumping time. Took off half my face once when I did it." She rubbed the left half of her face. "This is just a sorcerer's illusion."
Dave eyed Frankie intently. This ring was getting stranger all the time. "Anything else about it that will get me in trouble and or killed?" He was hoping not. He didn't need that many complications. From what she was saying, he was already the veritable toddler with the .38 Magnum, perhaps out a bit too early. But he was still glad to know about the crossing time and/or space capabilities. He was a simple guy, and didn't need half his face gone. Heck, knowing him, he'd lose his whole face.
She half smiled. "If, for some reason, a rather menacing sorcerer in a gold helmet comes after you... Eh. Just be polite and tell him anything he wants to know. Seriously... He's one of the 'good guys,' but he doesn't take no for an answer. And he can yank the power out of that ring faster than you can blink. He's the one I got it from..." She trailed off and was silent a few moments, and then she asked, "You figure out how to heal yourself and others yet, mister?"
Dave shook his head. "I'm not quite up among the august company of Green Lanterns. I'm definitely no Hal Jordan. I know the standard force field heals me, provides atmosphere, removes wastes, etc, but I'm not sure about others. There a trick to it, or is this an application of will?" Constructs he'd gotten a good handle on, and flying was one of his more favored pastimes. The more subtle applications, applying the energy to forces of nature, to things not visible to the eye, he was still working on.
Jade flinched at the mention of Hal, then sighed, her hand moving to her boot to withdraw the switchblade, which was flicked open with a click. "The 'standard' field does that, but if you get the hell beat out of you in a fight, you'll learn to make it work faster. As for others..." she dug the point of the blade into her wrist, dragging it up almost to her elbow, slicing open the main vein a good way. "That takes a little bit of extra work." She curled the fingers of her right hand, the blood flowing freely down her arm. "Fix it," she commanded. She didn't seem all that bothered by the fact she was rather rapidly bleeding to death.
Dave looked at her a moment, never having done it before. But determination set in. It had to, if he were going to make this work. The green light sprang from the ring, enveloping her arm. Focusing his concentration, he got a quick scan of her arm, finding the extent and depth of the damage, and then turned that same energy into an instrument of repair, trying his best to imagine it pulling the cells back together and bonding them there. His work seemed painstakingly long, but after a good portion of a minute, he was finished. He loosed a nervous chuckle. "Guess that settles it, if I ever get to teach my kid to swim, I'm tossing him in and letting him figure it out himself." Learning seemed facilitated when presented with a rather nasty alternative.
Jade closed her eyes, feeling the green energy once again working at her system. She said nothing till she'd felt the flesh and muscle of her arm completely mended. Opening her eyes, she gave a small nod of approval. "More serious injuries take a little more thought, but it's the same principle. The hard part, I guess, is not letting your reaction to the injuries get in the way of your concentration." She was feeling oddly patient, at the moment. Enjoying herself. It fecking scared her. "You've got a kid then? Or, should I say, you've got a family?"
Dave shrugged. "Well, I used to. Girlfriend left with the kid for someone else." He chuckled slightly. He'd put it behind him best he could. He'd had a mostly pleasant change lately. Aside from finding out strange sorcerers or time police might come after him with his odd ring, it had been enjoyable. He'd accompanied John Stewart on a few 'test runs' earlier. John wouldn't trust anyone but himself in the training of a new Lantern, it seemed.
"All the same. You're going to make enemies. I've never had a family or anything to worry about, so I've never bothered hiding who I am with a mask. Hal... Kyle, I mean. He's had enemies find out who he was. And they always go after the family. Your little stunt tonight, flashing your ring like that... Don't -ever- fecking do that again when you're not wearing a mask." She paused, and then took the risk of saying, "It takes a lot of practice to get it down, but you can mask the ring's form. Make it look like something else."
Dave could have argued back on the point that Stewart never wore masks, but Stewart had no family, and precious few good friends. He had almost none at all outside the Justice League or what was left of the Lantern Corps. "I suppose there are parts of me who wouldn't mind seeing the ex go down, but that's mean the same for my son, and I'd never wish that on him. Point taken." He meant to find out about this masking trick. He was questioning on whether or not to tell Kyle about this 'Frankie'. There were pros and cons of doing so. For now, he felt silence might be the better choice, and would need a more innocent reason to ask about the masking bit.
She nodded again, and fell to silent contemplation, her eyes drifting to her hands. Or more specifically, the ring on her left hand. "I'll make you a deal, Dave. Swear on your kid's life you'll give me two weeks before you mention a word of any of this to Kyle or the others, and I'll take a week to make you the best Lantern in the Corps." She raised her eyes, looking at him over the rims of her glasses.
Dave chuckled wryly. "I hadn't planned on telling them at all, just yet. I've been shuffled around enough like a kid. I decided I wanted to give my ego a break from the bruising. But as for the 'tutoring'...I'd appreciate it."
Jade eyed him, and then nodded. "Fine. Then we have a deal. Now. Watch. And not just with your fecking eyes. Use the ring. Feel it." She held up her left hand, showing him the back, where the light was glinting off the gold band. In a shimmer of amber, the ring seemed to morph, revealing its true shape. It looked exactly like Dave's own ring, but yellow. It lingered that way for a few seconds, and then shifted back to a gold band. "You get that?" she asked, dropping her arm. "Or do I need to do it again?"
Dave "Wait..." Dave recalled the same kind of idea behind altering the uniform. It took him a few tries, but he eventually made it into a fairly decent silver band with an emerald stone set in it. "Good enough for government work." Feeling the ring was strange. Maybe he felt it more strongly, since its previous bearer was around. He'd have to work on that.
"Heh." Jade nodded, though. This must have been what Hal had felt like, in the Corps. This seemed like his sort of thing. So she justified it that way, that she was just doing it for the memory of Hal. Somewhere in the midst of everything, Hal had rubbed off just a little. "Now, we go into something a little less pretty," she said, standing. The cigarette was pulled from her lips, and found its way out the open window. As her arm dropped back by her side, amber energy flickered across her form, her clothing disappearing in a fiery energy sheath. She opened her now-pupiless eyes, fixing them on him. "Field trip time, kiddo."
Dave An emerald glow enveloped the rookie of the room, his hazel eyes glowing a bright green, the Green Lantern uniform replacing his regular garb. "After you." He wasn't totally sure about following her, but he wanted to learn. And Kyle hadn't been all that forthcoming. Hell, he had never even known about the ring's origins, and all of what the ring could do. She'd given him a fair start, and a damned good practical lesson. She seemed all right.
Jade went through the roof. Without leaving a mark, having altered molecules to phase through it. She hovered, waiting for him, then continued upwards, into the depths of space. Damn. This felt good. It was something she hadn't taken the chances of doing since she'd gotten the ring from Volthoon, but now she had an excuse. She didn't stop once she'd broken through the earth's atmosphere. She continued out into the void until they were at the edge of the asteroid field between Earth and Mars. There, she stopped, turning to look at him. "I'm not going to go easy on you. In fact, I'm going to kill you if you don't defend yourself. Do you understand?" Jade may not be able to kill anyone, but then again, she was the only one that knew that.
Dave narrowed his gaze as he watched her. She liked these 'trials by fire' too much, he thought. He hadn't been in space, but he believed in the power of his ring, and figured he could at least keep himself alive, at the very least. He kept going over everything Stewart had been telling him about fights - to keep his mind clear. He was amazed by the display around him, but he was making himself focus on her, and anything she might do.
A small smirk was all she gave in warning before bringing left hand up and forward, a fireball of energy forming in her palm and streaking out across the distance towards him. In a way, she was testing herself as well as him. She wasn't certain what the extent of the powers of her own ring were yet, either. Her next move was to disappear into the asteroid field. This was likely going to go on for a long time. Or, she hoped it would. Then she'd have at least one worthwhile adversary in the Corps when it came down to the inevitable.
Stewart's admonition to be 'innovative' and constantly moving in a fight came to mind. A whirl of the emerald energy spun into existence before him, angling back into a conical shape, a drill of sorts, which shot forward, towing him along on a strand of the green light. The spinning drill whirled neatly through the fireball, carrying him safely through it, when he let it go, causing it to fracture into several small beams, still moving in a whirling cloud, heading towards Jade.
Pursued, Jade turned, coming to a halt, a somewhat remorseful grin on her lips as she recalled her first encounter with Trunks. Predictably, it had been a fight, where she'd been intent on killing the smug little brat. Especially once he knocked her flat on her ass. She couldn't pull things off the same way he had, but she'd come up with a rough approximation that had worked in the past. Her form flared in fire that rather blurred her image, and she divided her concentration into two tasks. Using her powers to leave that image there, while bending the light around her actual form to render herself invisible. At least, to the eyes. It was the sort of thing that only worked once, but it allowed her to sidestep his attack, following up with a counterattack of her own, producing an approximation of a large mallet as she dropped the other image, swinging it at what should have been Dave's backside.
The ring was 'tugging' again. Glancing around, looking for the source of the tug, he found the hammer swinging at him. He had just enough time to increase the strength of his force field before the hammer impacted, sending hurtling towards the asteroids. A big one, in particular. His emerald power flaring to life again, a massive gauntlet appeared on his arm, which he used to smash his way through the rock before he could check his momentum, pushing off a final asteroid, headed back into the fray. Grasping onto a forming green bar, he began rocketing forward as small engines appeared on the forming craft, filling out with a ring encircling the bar, a half dozen laser cannons appearing around the circle, all opening fire on the wielder of the yellow ring.
All and all, the kid wasn't too bad. He had a good instinct, and he didn't hesitate once he'd started something. Eyeing the approaching craft, Jade gritted her teeth, thrusting her hands in front of her and creating a concave shield, one that would redirect the laser shots back where they'd come. Once more bending light around her form to flicker out of sight, she drifted out from behind the shield, using her powers to envelope several nearby chunks of asteroid in golden fire, causing them to close in on the man. It was an attempt to confuse her opponent, and make him focus his senses more in order to sniff her out, as it were. She waited for an opportunity to strike.
Dave let go of his makeshift assault craft ducking most of the deflected laser blasts, the rest bouncing off the sheath of emerald light surrounding him. The chunks of asteroid wreathed in flame were a new distraction though. But Stewart's philosophy concerning obstruction had been simple. Remove it. Noting wistfully that one of the other Lantern's could have likely cleared the yellow-controlled rocks away easily, he went for a simpler road, being newer to this. Focusing his attention on one at a time, he used some plain raw power to smash them into a few too many fragments to keep track of. Having fewer manifestations of the yellow energy around, he turned his attentions to finding his opponent. She wasn't behind the energy shield anymore, and he felt somewhat pleased that he could tell. Employing another emerald beam, he pushed himself out of the immediate field of battle. The beam widened, changing into a near-180 degree hemisphere, which caused the rocks with the golden auras to glow red, as the beam was meant to do the same to Jade, scanning for usage of the yellow energy."
Jade was drifting in an attempt to get behind him when he stumbled across the means of tracking her energy. She was, of course, prepared for this, having been there before, and was simply using the energy of the light and radiation she was bending around herself to mask the power she was using to do so. This one was clever. This one might become a thorn in her side if she allowed it. That less than happy thought brought Jade to the conclusion that this fight -couldn't- go on for too long, else she'd kick into nicotine withdrawal. She doubted that'd be a pretty sight.
Dave frowned. Jade's insistence that he pay attention to the 'sixth sense' that his ring could afford him was on his mind, and it kept nagging that something was getting nearer. Jade, of course, but where? Squeezing his eyes shut and trusting the emerald ring, of possibly-other-than-Oan make, and spun around, his hemisphere coming with him. A massive series of holes appeared in the half-dome, altering into a large net, retracting rapidly into the ring. Maybe all those years in the Boy Scouts had hammered the 'Be Prepared' motto into his skull after all.
When he moved suddenly, Jade figured he'd found a means of coping with the presented problem. As the net materialized out of the energy, she pretty much said to hell with it and darted towards him, her hands in front of her forming three large saw blades, the teeth dancing in flames, and sent them spinning ahead of her towards Dave. Her hands balled into fists, she drew balls of fiery energy around them, intent on controlling the course of the blades to keep them from bouncing off any shield the man threw up to block them.
Placing a hand to his temple, focusing intently, a small sphere of energy from his outstretched ring hand, from which three appendages burst, each sprouting a pinching clamp, biting down on the centers of the blades, aiming to halt their motion. Utilizing his clamps, the pincers shifted slightly, changing into a pseudo-axle for the arbor holes in the blades, forming crude buzz saws, which tried pushing their way back towards the creator of the blades.
Jade came to a halt, gritting her teeth and pressing with her own will against his construct designed to stop the blades. A simple struggle of will wasn't going to end this, but for the moment, she didn't care. The thought once again crossed her mind, though subtly, that Dave was going to be a thorn in her side. Her aggression rose in response to that thought. Her golden lips parted in a snarl, as she shifted the shape of the blades, teeth forming on the inside edge of the arbor holes.
The clamping constructs found themselves severed, the blades hunting him anew. Stretching his arms wide, large new energy forms appeared, massive and thick; a series of pinpoints dotting the broad sides of these walls. Bringing his arms together, the walls served as a crude compactor, catching the blades between them with a soundless thud in the vacuum of space. But this constant defense wouldn't work. Another clamping construct sprang from his current focus, this one hunting down Jade herself to trap her. It had been lesson #3 with Stewart - never let your opponent walk all over you. Go to them.
Annoyed by his solution, her eyes blazed just a little dangerously. Trailing tendrils of flame extended from each of her fingertips, forming into snaking chains. Those on her left hand moved to try and tangle themselves around the clamping construct, those on her right hand continuing to extend, snaking towards Dave like fast moving vines in an attempt to snag some part of his body. The spiteful determination was growing into something more definite.
Dropping his system of contracts, he expanded his force field into a broader sphere, which sprouted small pointed teeth. The teeth began moving, and disappearing in a whirl of motion. The sphere charged forward, slicing its way through the vines, making his way for Frankie. The look in her eyes and on her face was changing. He'd known she wasn't out to kill him, despite her warning she would. But the fire burned differently now. She was getting honestly irked.
She was now more than just irked. She was bordering on murderous, the voice in the back of her mind gently directing her thoughts to Dave going back to the Corps, finding out who she was, and bringing them to hunt her down. Jade used a burst of brute force and raw anger in the form of a large fist to redirect the sphere away from her, a second fist forming in a right cross towards Dave immediately afterwards. "Dare you oppose a -god-!" she snarled, the words leaving her lips before the thought registered rationally in her brain. She had sworn those words had been uttered for the last time a few years ago, yet something in the back of her mind was insisting that she enjoyed that feeling of god like power. Torn between horror and bloodlust, she somewhat froze, her eyes looking a little wild.
Dave's sphere construct was rather demolished, having been battered quite severely. Being a good several hundred feet from Jade, he watched her carefully, confused. His voice was somewhat hesitant. "Up until now...I hadn't been aware I was facing one..." What exactly was she? He wasn't sure, and part of him worried what the answer would be, as whatever she had been could likely be a part of his ring. The thought that he might one day become like that was disturbing. Seeking the ring's past memory records would be the first order of business once he got home. Hoping he got home, at that.
You -are- Parallax. You enjoy the power. The subtle nudging at the back of her mind didn't register as an intrusive other-mindly thought. It was something she had always questioned herself. Didn't she enjoy the power? "No.Parallax is dead..." she growled softly to herself, and then narrowed her eyes on Dave again. She was concerned, and she masked it in the same way she masked everything. "Training is over. Get back to Earth."
"Right." He wasn't going to argue after something like that. A god? But of what sort? Kyle hadn't mentioned anything special about the previous bearer of his ring. He had some looking to do. He doubted Kyle would be totally forthcoming, and Kyle didn't even have all the answers. He'd need to look through the old memories of the ring. He turned to return to the pale blue dot he called home, pausing to call over his shoulder. "Frankie... thanks." She didn't seem like the type for mushy gratitude, and kept on going.
Jade had her back to the little blue world, and didn't respond as Dave left. He left. She was impressed. He didn't question her. Yes, he was a smart one. That was going to be a problem. Why would that be a problem? ... At the moment, she had no intention of going back to Earth. It was just an instinct she got, that where she needed to be at the moment was somewhere in the depths of space. Jade trusted that gut instinct, as it had been the thing that had kept her alive ever since she was a kid. She went where instinct led.