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One AM was a respectable time to finally put a niece on the verge of teen hood to bed. If her mother asked, it'd be eleven. They were good at keeping that secret.

After Noah went to bed, Hurst had retired to his room and was currently lounging on his own bed in his flannel pants and a t-shirt. Currently occupied reading a paperback novel that looked interesting that he picked up, eyes stopped skimming the page when he heard a noise. A suspicious noise he was rather familiar with. A noise that had him more on edge than it should of, considering what just happened to Sergei's patrolling friend.

Hurst dropped the novel and pulled out a switch blade he kept in his night stand. He slipped it into the waist band of his pants and moved across the room with a quietness that belied his tall frame. The door leading to his balcony slid open equally as quiet and he glanced up towards the roof as he heard the sound shift there. He couldn't take the risk that whoever it was up there was just passing through.

The man leapt, and had to thank all that strenuous exercise from the Navy for the ease with which he was able to pull himself up onto the roof. He crawled on his stomach to keep himself low, but as he caught sight of the figure from behind---small, petite, long curly hair that was dark, even at this time of night---

"...Noah?" He asked, and couldn't help but sound a bit baffled as he slid up into a crouch.

He started, and after a moment he stood from his crouch to instead draw closer to the other figure. As he got closer, he could see that it wasn't Noah who he had been speaking to, except the young girl had answered him and---

Hurst came to a stop some distance away. Freezing. Green eyes widened as he started at her, a cold settling over him that had absolutely nothing to do with the January air and his current state of dress. The movements. The uniform. The fact he didn't recognize her until she gave herself away through words---His chest tightened. It hurt, and his mind reeled to deny everything it was rapidly piecing together but he knew he couldn't.

"Noah---" Her name came out strained. "No."

What sick being conscripted children to fight this war?

Why did it have to be his niece?

He felt sick.

There was a faint tremble to his hands that he steadied by reaching out to place them on the young senshi's shoulders. He never wanted her to stop talking before. To stop talking about these things she wasn't supposed to be doing. "I should tell your mother." His voice was devoid of the normally good-natured lackadaisical tone it usually held. "Because then it'd stop you from doing this."

Why.

"How long, Noah?"

He felt like he was going to be sick. He also felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time. Anger. At her. At himself. At Cordelia. At whatever ******** up force had them doing this and not truly giving them a say in the matter. It was all irrational (well, maybe not the last one) and he knew it.

There was a small part of him that felt pride that Noah had been clever enough to have kept it hidden for so long, but that small ounce of pride was quickly buried under neath the disgust he felt for himself at not having caught on sooner. His fingers tightened a bit on her shoulders. "Do you understand how dangerous this is, Noah?" He asked her quietly. "And I don't mean just fighting the monsters. I mean the men and women out there who take people's lives from them with ease, the ones who wield weapons with every intent to maim and kill. The one's who wouldn't hesitate to hurt you. If any one of those people found you, Noah, and they knew what you were, they would harm your family and take you away from them."

From me.

He didn't care if he was scaring her. That was the point.

"Do you really understand what you're doing?"

"They'll hurt you either way, Noah." The thought that she could end up like Sergei's friend---taken---never to be heard of or seen again---

It was a naive enthusiasm with which she answered that, he knew. She didn't truly know the horrors. Maybe she wouldn't stop even if she did. He didn't want her to ever find out, though. Something told him that it was probably going to happen whether he wanted it to or not. He didn't answer her right away, and one of his hands left her shoulder to instead turn his palm up towards the cloudy night sky. In his hand appeared the silver pocket watch which had both saved and doomed him that night some time ago. After it appeared, he willed the transformation that came next, and his clothing rippled until he was clad in his Polaris page uniform.

"Helping you."

Okolnir released a long suffering sigh, because even without further discussion, his life as he knew it was over. As long as Noah, Mimosa, would be out patrolling, making herself apart of this war, he would have to follow. It was as simple as that. It's what you did for the family you actually loved and cared about.

"I'm a knight, unfortunately." He replied, still none of the easy going humor in his voice. "A page to be exact, bottom tier, like you. Under this mantle my name is Okolnir, and yes, I am."

With Methone already calling him Oakey, there wasn't anything that much different about Okay. Except the fact he wasn't feeling okay. He just stared down at his chibi senshi niece, still wishing with all he possessed that he wasn't looking at what he was looking at. The milk was already spilled with this one though, and he accepted that. Unfortunately. Reluctantly.

"Each faction has their own perks." He replied quietly. "I don't have magic right now, but I will at the next stage. What I lack in magic I make up for in strength and speed." He didn't want to ask, but at this point it was good to know everything he could.

"What can your magic do?"