to recover faster. [Maria]

[Cid Raines]

"CaROLiNE, you had better be right that this person has an ability we can use to our advantage..."

It was evening in Cocoon, probably about seven pm. The Cocoonian sun was dimming, so night would be close. Cid Raines didn't often stay this late in the office, but today he had decided to hold a meeting later. It felt urgent, so he didn't want to wait until tomorrow, though he did also want to sate his curiosity about the ability the 'life-system' for Cocoon had detected.

Besides, it wasn't like he would be sleeping well tonight. And the other person would probably be glad to get out of their cell regardless of time of day.

This war... It was really stressing him out, and he was desperate for allies, for weapons he could use. The war had literally been forced onto him by 'Judge Magister Gabranth', and he didn't want to surrender to them. He didn't want to fight, but... they started it! The Primarch wanted to protect the people of Cocoon to the best of his abilities, and to make Cocoon recover as fast as he could... The war with Archadia was just going to make the recovery slower.

"Your Eminence, we have the girl for you."

There was a pause as Raines turned his head, looking at the PSICOM soldier for a moment before he nodded, turning away from the window that allowed him to view the majority of Eden from its high height.

"Send...her in."

[Maria Traydor]

Normally, escaping from a prison would have been no problem for Maria Traydor. It wouldn't have been easy, but at the same time it wouldn't have been as hard as it would have been for anyone else. She could have used her Alteration power to turn the door to water vapor and walk right out, retrieve her weapon and disappear into the crowds. But this was different. The cells here weren't spacious areas with open bars and bright light. It was dim and enclosed, barely enough room for the bed, toilet and sink. And that was what triggered her claustrophobia. In any other case, Maria would have quickly come up with a plan and would already be in the midst of escaping. For the past week or so, however, she had barely been able to focus her mind well enough to eat, let alone escape. She was only now regaining her composure, and the ride to the Primarch's had taken some time.

And it was only now that she was consciously aware that she had spent almost an entire week whimpering and chewing on a lock of her blue hair, more often than not with tears streaming down her face. She hoped that no one had seen that... and now, she was led-- Or more aptly, shoved-- into the Primarch's office, heavy shackles around her wrists and a full force of guards, all ready to aim and shoot at the pretty young girl in to see the 'king', as it was. She took another minute to compose herself, breathing in the fairly fresh, clean open twilight of the afternoon, even if it was just through an air conditioning system. Primarch Raines was a great deal taller than she was; even sitting down and across the fairly spacious office, she had to tilt her emerald eyes up a bit. She shuddered a bit-- Not in fear of the man sitting before her, but more of what he could do. He could lock her back in that tiny room, out of her own mind because of just how terrifying places like that were to her. She just hoped her eyes didn't give away her still receding terror.

"... I hope I'm not here just for you to taunt me..." Maria said weakly, her eyes drifting to what looked like a red robotic eye mounted to a part of Raines' desk with a display beneath. "What is it that you wanted...?"

[Cid Raines]

The state the girl was in, it was enough to make the dark haired man visibly twitch. He could see that her eyes were red from, most likely, crying. Were the soldiers abusing her? Cid's eyes sharply fixed on each of the soldiers one by one, eyes narrowed with an almost expressionless face. The Primarch looked back at the girl, face softening momentarily but quickly guarding himself. This girl could have been here in Cocoon, on a mission to assassinate him. He wouldn't put it past the Archadians, really.

Oh, she sounded so weak. Raines glanced at the robotic eye of CaROLiNE on his desk, and then he raised a hand to stop the prisoner from talking. He turned his gaze to the PSICOM officer in charge of the soldiers here.

"Remove her shackles, then leave us." As expected, there was protest from the soldier he addressed.

"But sir, she could--"

"I can protect myself, Second Lieutenant Harper. Do as I say." The soldier stared at Raines for a second, seemed to huff, then proceeded to walk over to Maria. He removed the shackles from her wrists, albeit roughly, then he stalked out of the office, followed by his guards.

Raines watched them, waiting for the whole group to leave before pointing to a chair in front of his desk. "Please, sit," He said, walking over to his own desk and seating himself. Almost immediately his hands had found a piece of string [he couldn't remember what it was from, all of a sudden] and started to play with it, wrapping it around his fingers, before dropping it on his desk.

"Would you like a drink?" He offered, eyes flickering to the physical presence of CaROLiNE, as he waited for an answer. She didn't look too good, as she was pale. Not in the way that he was, but more of a sickly pale. Water would be good for her, and this freedom, too... He had seen the PSICOM cells, and... they were just horrible.

"First of all, names. As you may know, I am Primarch Cid Raines, but you are welcome to call me Cid, or Raines. Whatever you fancy," Maker, did he hate his position of Primarch. He could hear a low warning growl outside the window and out of the corner of his eye he saw a red dragon head glare into the room, and Raines grinned sheepishly over at his Eidolon. Sorry, Cymru, all he received in response was another growl as the dragon removed his head from sight.

"Now, tell me about yourself. Anything you want, but I'd like a name too."

[Maria Traydor]

Maria was surprised when instead of addressing her, he ordered the biggest of the soldiers, who looked to be their leader, to remove her shackles and to leave them alone. Naturally, the soldier attempted to protest... but the Primarch interrupted, and the soldiers complied. Roughly, but they did. And to further defy what she had been expecting somewhere in her still-recovering mind, he offered the seat on the other side of his desk to her, and then offered her a drink. The way she saw it, she had no choice in the matter. She sat down in the chair (A bit harder than she had meant to) and rubbed her eyes. Could she just be going insane from a week of unrelenting terror? In either case, now that she was returning to her own mind, she was very thirsty. And hungry as well, though she didn't see fit to mention it. She felt like she had lost a few pounds in that cell, now that she thought about it.

"Please..." Maria replied, somehow not noticing the dragon head that appeared in the window for a few seconds. She heard the Primarch introduce himself, and him ask for her name and information about her. She suspected he already knew, at least to some extent. "My name is Maria... Maria Traydor. I think I've been in your prisons for a week now..."

[Cid Raines]

"Maria Traydor..." Raines repeated softly on his tongue, closing his eyes momentarily as he thought for a moment, before standing up. "Excuse me for a moment," he said, walking over to a room, almost hidden, and going inside. For some reason, the builders had insisted on a small kitchen like area for himself. Whatever, it saved him from having to ask a soldier to get him a drink and having to wait five minutes. He came back moments later with a glass of water, and passed it over to Maria, then returned to his desk.

"A week... Where do you come from? You're obviously not... native to Cocoon," Raines's pale green optics scanned the choice of Maria had on, and back up to his face. It was similar to the clothes of an enemy working for Archades -- Fayt Leingod. She had been captured so as to use her as a bargaining chip, however, they didn't need her anymore... So they were going to release her, but CaROLiNE had detected a hint of useful powers.

That's why Raines wanted this meeting with Maria Traydor. To recruit her as an ally, as a person to fight on Cocoon's side in the war... even if her ability wasn't going to be useful.

[Maria Traydor]

Maria thanked him for the glass of water, drinking it fairly quickly. t hadn't struck her that she was that thirsty until then, but now she felt recovered from it somewhat. In any case, she had enough of her wits back for her mind to start working the way it usually did. She caught the question he asked her, but she didn't speak for a minute or so, breathing in the fresh ventilated air and admiring being able to see so far out through the window. She shook her head to clear it a bit before facing Raines. "I'm from the planet Earth, far away from here. I don't remember how I ended up here, or much of my past. I remember that I was the captain of a ship... for quite some time, actually. A lot of that is a blur."

Maria stopped there. He didn't need to know the full extent of her past, and she suspected why she'd called her here anyways. The Alteration gene. It was hardly a surprise that someone would want to get their hands on that kind of power; lead to gold, water to wine, moderately explosive missile to nuclear weapon. It was immensely useful... and using it, one could probably rebuild entire worlds. Or even destroy them. "Let's just cut to the chase. You wouldn't have called me here if you didn't want something from me. I'd at least like to know what it is you want."