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Hurst didn't know how to feel about the fact Sergei contacted him to arrange meeting up.

The man had been avoiding him like the plague lately, which immediately told Hurst that something was going on that Sergei didn't want to talk about it. Honestly it only would have been a matter of time before the red head would corner his friend though, and get him to talk. It was how it always went...maybe the Russian was finally learning his lesson...

The man approached behind his niece, coming to stand beside his friend, and quirked a brow at Noah. "Check yourself, NoNo." The man replied, a tad amused, before he turned his quirked brown towards his friend.

"Yes. She's under eighteen still, and I have her tonight...unless you want me to just be a shining example of responsibility and leave her at home." He smiled. "Color me surprised, Cody. I thought I was going to have to hunt you down, but here we are instead at your suggestion..." Hurst trailed off for a moment.

"You're not dying, are you?"

Hurst took a seat on the other side of the bench next to his friend, and laced his fingers together behind his neck.

He couldn't help but look like a proud parent, sadly, as Noah ousted Sergei about his business. "I mean...she's not wrong, is she~?" Hurst asked, pride touching his voice. "Honesty is best, after all." He called out to his niece. "Out of ear shot, if you'd be a dear? Don't think you can sneak up on me either, Crab Cake. I've been in the game of eavesdropping far longer than you have. I know what I'm looking for."

He waited for her to comply, and green eyes shot over to his friend, brow quirking with curiosity.

"You're going to have adult problems in a few years, NoNo." Hurst replied breezily, but gave Noah a look as she sassed him, sweetly. "Now don't get too big for those britches. I've checked my phone and my clothing, so unless you came to the park prior and set it up, you're out, Crab Cake."

He gave her one last look as she moved away, and turned his attention back to his friend.

"Oh?" Both brows lifted into Hurst's bangs at that news. So he found Sedna---

Oh.

It was probably the first time in their entire friendship that Sergei had managed to make Hurst speechless. The red head's expression froze as he stared at Sergei. He was trying to process it. A moment passed. Then another, and then the time Hurst usually came back with a smart a** reply also came and went, but all he had was silence.

Honestly, he relentlessly teased and joked about it, when she had been in White Moon, but he never actually expected...well. It technically wasn't Olga and Sedna anymore, was it?

And together?

"...Jesus." The man finally managed after an extended period of time. He didn't even believe, but there was no one word that had the same impact to express how he felt. "No wonder you were adamant about avoiding me for a spell." Hurst trailed off, not sure where to take this conversation next. His mind was now starting to chase all the possibilities of this new situation.

"...That different, is she?" He asked after a moment.

"Oh, trust me, NoNo, I'm very aware." Hurst replied, as if he couldn't be otherwise. He was actually thankful for this back and forth between Noah and Sergei. After what the man dropped on him, bantering with Noah helped to keep his thoughts focused, oddly enough, as he went back and forth.

He sighed. Different. Poor Nadia. Hoping so hard for any shreds of her best friend...but it just wouldn't be. Hurst's fingers slipped from his neck and he took to mimicking his friend's pose, lacing his fingers over his stomach instead. "That's a loaded question, simply for the fact that there's a lot muck in the form of ethics and morals and details you have to wade through before you reach the bottom line." Hurst looked back over at him. "But when it boils down to it, I don't think you have, Sergei. Considering you rarely ask yourself that question, you feel like you have. Why?"

"If only her mother was actually around so that I could leave her with Cordelia." Hurst replied lowly, so that only Sergei could hear. It was a painful point of tension between his sister and himself.

Hurst waited patiently as his friend thought about it. He was rather curious to hear what was rattling around the man's head. His own thoughts were still rattling, but he kept them to himself for the time being until Sergei answered the question. Green eyes followed his niece as she came back, and then decided to make herself comfy on the bench beside him.

"Noah." There was an edge to Hurst's voice. It went beyond the tone of playful chiding he often had with her, because now he was serious. "The agreement was you respect the space while we're talking. So either you ask if it's alright for you to stay, or you continue to play your game." One hand left his stomach to point at Sergei.

"And I'm not the one who grants that permission."

Sometimes it worried Hurst that Noah didn't have any good friends. A best friend. Granted, he didn't either at her age, but she wasn't on the same self-destructive path he'd been on. Noah didn't have anyone her age to confide in or, well, have talks like this one he was having with. On top of that, her being an only child gave her a sense of self-entitlement he was very aware of, and often did cater to. Not now, though. It was important to set and respect boundaries.

"That's because, as you so helpfully pointed out earlier, that you're a teenager and he's an adult, and the subject matter isn't entirely PG-13." Hurst wasn't one to try and hide things. Though he wasn't truly a parent, he couldn't stand people who sugar coated or tip toed around a subject. Thus he tried to be up front with Noah as he could be...while also exercising tact.

Hurst sighed, since Sergei didn't dismiss her, and that she was getting into it.

"She was an Order senshi." He told his niece. "But she was found out by the Negaverse, and they corrupted her. She lost her memories, and everything that made up herself. Now she's someone new, and a senshi of Chaos. It can happen to any one of us if we're not careful." He gave Noah a very pointed look.

"Go play your game, NoNo."

Because Hurst wanted to hear the answer to his question.

Hurst watched Noah's retreating form, and couldn't help but sigh at the child-like naivety she possessed due to her age. It wasn't as simple as saying it wouldn't happen to you when other more powerful and malicious people could make it otherwise.

Sure his niece was on the path to the jungle gym, he shifted focus back to Sergei.

"Ah." The man uttered in acknowledgement, a few moments passing before he followed it up. "I get it...but that last one is oddly sentimental for you." Hurst shrugged one shoulder. "We all go through the firsts, and you just happened to be it. New she may have been but she's still an adult and clearly there's something there you like, or else it wouldn't have happened. She's been apart of the Negaverse for...what? Seven months now? You know better than most what war does to people, and how quickly, Cody. She's in the thick of it now." Hurst trailed off for a moment, collecting some more thoughts. Like the fact that Stillwaterite's body count was probably higher than his and Sergei's combined during their time in the Navy, due to the quota agents were required to collect.

"What's the end goal here, Sergei?" He asked. "Is there one?" A brow quirked at his friend. "Are you trying to bring this Stillwaterite back to Order? Do you want to?" Hurst shifted his arms to cross across his chest. "Whatever happens now...it has to be because you want it. I spent the last few months watching you nearly destroy yourself tearing through the city trying to find her for the sake of your sister." Hurst locked his eyes with the man.

"It can't be like that again."