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Cybele didn't really think about her nightly outings as patrols. She'd never heard the term used before. Usually she thought of it as hunting, because of her sphere, and that was what she was trying to do. She listened for any noises carried on the warm spring breeze, and of course focused on any auras on her mental radar, but there didn't seem to be any monsters, human or otherwise, lurking about in the shadows. So, was she hunting? Or just wandering?

Wandering was stupid and pointless. She wasn't in the mood to just run across the city seeking Chaos, either. Her bruises were mostly hidden under her clothing, but they were there, and looking back, the fights hadn't even been for a good reason. It had been enough to make her attempt to fulfill her senshi duty somewhere far away from where she usually... well, hunted. Deciding to stay far away from the shadows, she planted herself near a streetlight. Perhaps that was pointless and stupid as well. Standing there wasn't really doing anything more than wandering would have been, and if someone did happen to come by, she'd probabally still have to fight. Still, she decided to stay there for a short break at least before turning home.

There was a rustle of noise and a sudden sensation of auras. Then, she was being charged by a youma. It would have been less surprising if it had attacked her or something, but no. It kept charging. Cybele glimpsed the senshi on its tail. Was it fleeing?

Either way, hunting was her specialty.

She gave chase, leaving the comforting puddle of light behind and dashing through a few others before coming to their end and entering a park. These shadows weren't so bad. She liked parks, though this one wasn't one she came to often. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly sure where the youma had gotten to. She paused with her back to a tree and looked around. No youma. She spotted the other senshi, though. "Hello. Hunting?" she asked, smiling brightly, but feeling like she didn't have time for small talk. "I can help with that, I think. Cybele Hunter's Grace!" Her ethereal bow formed in her hands, and she pointed it at the other girl. "This is harmless, really!" She added quickly, then fired quickly before things became more awkward. Despite the sharp looking arrows, her magic gave a boost to concentration and speed. "Ok, let's go." Slipping back into hunting mode, she glimpsed a bit of movement and started running towards it.

After rushing off haphazardly towards what she was pretty sure was the youma, Cybele stopped suddenly, noticing the movement she'd seen was a perfectly normal looking squirrel. Wow. She felt extremely stupid, but didn't have a ton of time to think about that as the other senshi was calling her in a different direction. She ran towards it as fast as she could, which was much faster than normal but apparently not fast enough. "I'm coming!" she called.

By the time she got past the first bush, the youma already farther away, with a trail of slightly damaged plants to show where it had been. "It's so fast..." she said, slightly out of breath. She slowed, trying to think. "I don't think we can outrun it. Trap it, maybe?" Not that she could think of a good place to trap it, the park they were currently in being large, fairly open, and unfamiliar to Cybele at least. She was smiling, though. Usually youma attacked, and getting to hunt one down instead was thrilling. "Keep it in sight if you can," she decided as it gained more distance, resuming her full speed to do just that.

Of course. It seemed fairly simple now that she thought about it. They could split up. She stopped for a moment and nodded. "All right. I'll see you there, then." She remained paused for another second, giving the other girl a cheerful wave and smile, not that she'd probabally have time to notice. Then, she whirled and was off again, in the other direction this time. Her feet pounded on the ground, again. They ached. Dashing about in ridiculous, heeled shoes was definitely starting to take its toll. The wind whipped around her, again. Breathing it was starting to hurt her lungs, as well. Still, she dashed to the fountain fairly quickly, leaping over a park bench in the process, and...

Silence.

That was good, she supposed. It meant she could stop running for a little bit, at least. Maybe prepare some other way as well, if she could. Like... a weapon? That would make sense. The fountain was in a little square surrounded by bushes, flowers and small trees. Ripping a reasonably sized branch from the nearest tree was possible with her senshi strength, and she crouched behind a bush with it. She was ready and it felt nice, lying in wait and getting to be the hunter for once. She waited, watching carefully. That youma was going down.

Cybele felt the two auras approaching again soon enough. It was time for the ambush, but what she was supposed to do to trap the youma wasn't clear. She stepped out from her hiding place as she could see them approaching to examine things a little. That seemed like a good idea. The senshi looked okay, which was good, and the youma was still running extremely fast. It didn't even look tired at all. That didn't matter. It wasn't going any further. She was going to stop it... somehow.

After a quick glance and smile at the other senshi, she came to a decision about her course of action and charged with almost exaggerated determination, partially because her makeshift weapon was awkward to run with. Oh well. She was very focused, though, and it seemed she was getting at least a little better at basic tactics, though. She stopped running before swinging the branch at the youma as hard as she could, and she didn't close her eyes.

Dust. Cybele grinned, though it was only partially because they´d won. Mostly, it was directed at the other senshi, Ida. Dusting youma happened almost every day. Actually making a decent first impression on another White Moon Senshi... well, it had happened a few times, but she usually ended up saying something stupid to ruin it right away. She would do her best to keep it pleasant this time.

"Thanks," she began, "You were great!" There was a firm handshake and more smiles, and she realized they wern´t really fake. It was a nice feeling, the victory celebration. She took a step backwards and gave a little curtsy, the way she always seemed to do when introducing herself like this. "I´m Cybele, senshi of the hunt." She glanced at the still settling dust. "That makes this my specialty, maybe. The chase. I don´t get to chase things that much, so this was nice."

Mostly, she was the one hunted. That subject was just a little to dark for their happy conversation, though. "Nice to meet you, Ida." Another smile and everything was perfectly pleasant again. She pointed to one of the flowers in her hair. "We match."

"Patrolling? I don't know what that is..." Cybele said, though it wasn't entirely true. She thought she had a general idea of what it meant. It didn't sound overly confusing, anyway. That wasn't the reason the cheerfulness had started to subtlety slip from her voice. That was because her adrenaline was fading and she could suddenly tell she had sprinted around almost as much as the other senshi, without the power boost to make things any easier.

"I hunt. I look for youma to kill, but not usually here. More that way." This was accompanied by her pointing in the general direction of her home. "Yes, alone. People keep saying it's dangerous, mostly before they attack me..." Ugg, things were getting darker, weren't they? Somehow this always seemed to happen. Fleur could babble pleasantly for hours, but all the things Cybele had to talk about were either unpleasant or confusing.

It didn't help that her flowing sleeves shifted a bit as she summoned her phone and registered the other girl, revealing dark bruises on her upper arms if one was paying attention. "But I've been all right so far, and it doesn't look like you're with anyone, either."

Cybele nodded along to the explanation. "That's what I thought," she said afterwards. "It's like what I do but more... organized." She paused thoughtfully. It would probabally be better if she could be more organized in her nightly activities, as maybe then she would spend less time wandering halfway across the city with no idea what she was doing. But then, she had know what she was doing, she supposed, she just hadn't felt anything to chase. And it was fairly hard to be organized when everything was based on feeling things out. As long as there weren't any people around, it was usually okay.

That was when things got really confusing.

Except this time. This time things were going surprisingly well, despite Cybele's obvious lack of ability not to say anything stupid. So she smiled happily again and shook the offered hand. "Yeah, I was about to go home, too... It was super nice meeting you though. And though it was true that going home had been her plan anyway, she was hesitant to leave this reasonably perfect conversation. Oh well. At least she had the phone, if she'd even use it. "I'll text you sometime," she said as she turned towards home. There. Now she'd feel bad if she didn't.