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The night air downtown was cool, even a bit chill, perfect for running around and bouncing off walls without breaking a sweat. Echoing through the alleyways, Spei's booted footsteps sounded maybe a little bit too loud for him, but that was okay as far as he was concerned. A traceur doesn't have to be quiet, just fast and graceful.

It had been some time since he'd practiced his parkour. He had been busy as his civilian alter-ego Yukio Peterson with a major programming gig that had a tight deadline, and as DJ Buster with back to back DJing gigs. This was the first time he'd been able to power up and practice since he'd become a Squire, too, so there were new things to learn there as well. For one thing, he felt stronger and faster; he could jump higher and actually leap to the top of taller buildings rather than cat-climb up the walls to reach the rooftops. It was a revelation.

Leaping easily from one rooftop to another, Spei practiced his rolls across the flat surface, diving and rolling back to his feet in repeated sequence. Rolling was the key to landing without breaking one's legs, and now that he had easier access to taller buildings that was a small concern. Tumbling and rolling and running was fun, too. The Moon Squire was quite enjoying himself.

Spei reached the other side of the roof and paused, reaching out with his senses to detect the auras of others around – especially Chaos auras. He didn't fancy a fight at the moment. Luckily, the only signature he felt was a strong Order aura, not too far away, but it was unclear if it was a Senshi or another Knight. He decided to find out.

Spreading his arms in an iron cross, he let himself fall from the roof of the four-story building, then tucked and spun until he hit the ground and rolled twice into a standing position. He tugged at the bottom of his uniform jacket to smooth it out. "Hello?" he called softly.

Spei strolled forward as the Senshi made her presence known. "Yes, I am. It's a very fine evening," he replied, allowing himself a tiny smile in her direction. It was odd to him, but somehow he didn't feel much of a need to hide behind his stone-faced facade when he was powered up. "Doing the usual patrol thing, you know the drill I'm sure. It's been quiet lately, which is nice for a change."

Fancying a bit of showing off, he dove to the ground in a roll and finished on his feet closer to her. It was a total Willy Wonka move, but it was fun. She was clearly an Eternal; the wings gave it away. And she was cute – there was no way he could resist anyone cute. He quirked an eyebrow and his tiny smile spread a little. Maybe he'd end up with a new friend out of this.

Placing his hand over his chest, he sketched a bow. "I am Spei, a Squire of the Moon. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

Spei snorted a light, wry laugh at the "interstellar war" remark. It was true, they were embroiled in an interstellar war, since they – participants on both sides, Order and Chaos – had come from the stars in the distant past. Some in the not-so-distant past, as he recalled Daphne, the cat girl from another world. Strange times they all lived in.

"Pleasure to meet you, Harmonia," he said with a small smile and a nod. "Yeah, us Moon Knights are a fairly recent development. We're rather thin on the ground yet, but as the situation evolves here on Earth, the Code is drafting more and more of us – and I do mean drafted, we have no ancestors on the Moon, so it's not like we're reincarnated or anything like that." He was more than happy to explain the Moon Knights to the Eternal, though now he was curious about her. Had she been inactive or away for awhile? He felt it rude to ask, though, so he kept his curiosity to himself.

He did snicker again, though, about being a gymnast. "No, I'm a traceur – I'm into parkour. It's great for defense, like evading fights and magic thrown at me. And I find with my enhanced speed and jumping distance, it's even more fun than when I'm powered down." He tilted his head at her. "I doubt you'd hurt yourself. In fact, I could show you a couple of easy evasive moves, if you like. They'd be really useful if you came up against somebody."

"I'm the same way, truth be told," Spei nodded. "I dislike fighting – my magic is more support for others than anything." Though he didn't quite count the strange spell he'd found at his Wonder; he hadn't had a chance to really use it yet, so he didn't know exactly how it worked.

He gave a small chuckle at Harmonia's description of parkour. "I imagine it does look like we're flinging ourselves at walls and things with no reason. But there's actual purpose behind the moves. It's to get from one place to another as quickly and efficiently as possible. Traceurs rarely hurt themselves, either, because we know how to land, and how to fall safely. That shoulder roll I did is one way of falling safely – you can drop from quite a height and redirect the energy of the impact into a shoulder roll. Let me show you."

Cat-climbing his way to the top of the building he had just jumped down from, Spei leaned over the edge. "That's another thing I can show you," he called to the Eternal. "Cat-climbing will get you to the top of a higher building than you can leap to. It's basically running up a wall." He then stood and repeated his iron cross drop, again landing with a double shoulder roll to a standing position. "You allow yourself to fall forward when you land," he continued, "and tuck and roll on your shoulder til you can stand again. You can also use this if you're running and trip over something."

Spei tilted his head at Harmonia, a faint smile on his lips. "Want to give it a try?"

Spei gave Harmonia a smile. "No, it doesn't require jumping off a building, though that's one application that it's useful for. You can do it on the ground – duck and roll and come up ready to either swing or run or do something else evasive. Here, let me show you."

Backing up to give himself a little room, he leaned forward, arms outstretched. "You basically throw yourself toward the ground, only instead of landing on your face you tuck your head and arms in and land on your shoulder." He demonstrated in slow motion the body position necessary to continue the move. "Then you curve your back and just roll," he said, continuing his forward motion until he performed the roll, ending up in a seated position on the ground. "You have to do it pretty fast for the momentum to carry you forward so you can land on your feet, but that comes with time and practice."

He stood and reached out his hand. "Do you want to give it a try? I'll be more than happy to help."

"That's better than a lot of people do on their first try," Spei nodded. "That was actually quite good. I ended up on my butt the first time I tried it. And the second time I landed on my head. I just couldn't get the angle quite right, or gather my legs under me. At least you ended up on your feet." His expression was flat, but his tone was full of wry approval.

"You have a good spatial awareness – you just need to teach your body how to use it. Try shifting your shoulders at an angle when you dive to the ground, that might help. Let me show you again."

Backing up, he slowed down as much as he could, demonstrating the shoulder lean that would get Harmonia into the right position to perform the move. He flung himself lazily to the ground and rolled, ending up cross-legged on the pavement. "Did you see it that time? I dipped my shoulder down as I did the roll. It was just a lack of momentum to carry me on to my feet," he smiled at her.

"Now you try it again," he said as he got to his feet. "You're so close to getting it already."

Spei allowed a small chuckle to escape as Harmonia laughed. "Okay, maybe this wasn't the best thing to show you how to do right off the bat. For future experimentation, though, watch the scene in Willy Wonka – the original, with Gene Wilder – when he somersaults on his way to meet the kids with the golden tickets. That's pretty much how you do it, like a somersault without using your hands."

Reaching out a hand, he helped the Eternal Senshi to her feet. "So let's see, what else can I show you… Oh, I know. Wall running. It's super easy, you just jump up to the wall as high as you can and kick off it with one foot. Let me show you."

He released her and backed up several paces, then demonstrated – running toward her, he leapt up, bounced off the wall of the alley about six feet up, and landed in a trot. "Simple," he said as he stopped in front of her. "A good traceur can actually run on the wall, like taking two or three steps before landing, but taking one as an evasive move is just as good. We do so much fighting in narrow alleys, it should come in handy for you."

Spei tilted his head a little and gave her the faintest of smiles. "You want to try?"