Welcome to Gaia! ::

Getting used to life on Earth was taking some time. Even having been aware of how long had passed while he wasted away on his planet, Thalassa had much to catch up on here. Much new to learn. Like, the language for one thing, and how to read it. Somewhat more relevantly, he had two whole new breeds of Chaos to learn about, which had all new insidious tricks that they could use to cause problems for normal people, who were simply trying to have their normal lives.

The Dark Mirror breed of Chaos especially perplexed Thalassa. From what he’d heard out of Kaifeng, Helene, and Pyrrhus, the Dark Mirror senshi were somewhat different from the one whom Thalassa had met immediately after landing on Earth. That tracked, Thalassa supposed, with the super he currently observed. For one thing, her aura felt different. More subtle than the aura that had followed the other boy, but still distinctly Chaotic. Given the nature of his own world, Thalassa knew better than to trust that subtlety. All manner of trouble could lurk under that, the way that the worst aquatic creatures all lurked in the depths.

Skulking on a second-floor balcony of some empty building near where the Dark Mirror senshi sat, perching on the stone wall that normally would have prevented people, Thalassa did very little to conceal himself. Why bother, honestly? As another powered individual, she could sense his aura. Stupid to condescend to her by acting like she couldn’t see him perfectly well if she would just look up.

Neither she nor Thalassa noticed the dark shadow swooping down—not until it knocked her off the bench. Without much thought, he jumped off the balcony, lunging for the gray, monstrous-looking thing. It didn’t have any aura, Chaotic or otherwise, but obviously, it couldn’t be allowed to live. As he crashed onto the monster’s back, the bench beneath them creaked loudly, then shattered.

But the monster didn’t give up and shatter itself, not even as it and Thalassa hit the sidewalk, amidst a scattered nebula of shattered wood and metal from the broken bench.

Bélénos shrieked, first when the thing knocked her down, then again when the bench splintered beneath the crazy stone beast due to some... some kind of... fish guy??? Oh, shoot, that was one of those alien senshi, right? She'd heard about them. She backed up, scooting on her behind until she was at least a little bit out of range of being physically attacked.

She wasn't quite sure what to do—and then another Order senshi came on the scene and holy ********, had she been being spied on by not one but two of them? What the s**t!! That wasn't cool at all—

The new guy's magic hit her full on and she gasped, knowing what she had to do. "Hopes and Dreams!" she shouted almost angrily, casting her own magic so that hopefully the fish guy would be able to hold on to the stupid stone beast for just a bit longer.

Grabbing a chunk of stone-covered rebar that had split off when the bench shattered, she swung it high, screamed "look out!", and brought it down hard on the gargoyle's head.

Well! Look at that! Cleeia had been helpful for once! It looked like his magic had actually worked the way he wanted it to when he was using it to like, actually inspire allies, rather than necessarily confuse and distract enemies.

Also, taking the monster's head off with a piece of destroyed bench? Absolutely awesome. Cleeia wanted to credit himself for that, but maybe the Dark Mirror girl was just that smart.

He jogged up and waved, closing the distance with an awkward little smile.

And now that he was closer, it hit him--the Order Senshi looked...strange. Maybe not quite human. Was this like the aliens that had worked with the Negaverse? Some other visitor from beyond the stars? That was wild, if so, and Cleeia wasn't sure what to do about it necessarily.

"Hi," he said, casually, or as casually as he could manage, because it was probably better to not be weird about the whole Alien Thing. "Are you guys both okay? Sorry about the aftereffects of my magic, it can be a little odd, but it'll pass." And hopefully they didn't blame him for whatever it made them feel after.

"I'm Cleeia."

Because an introduction was necessary. Even if it was a little lame.

God, he was so awkward, but that was okay. Her'd just have to push through it and maybe then he'd be able to....

He wasn't sure. Make friends? Seemed silly and a litte childish, but "silly and a little childish" wasn't the worst thing.

Thalassa nodded, listening to both of the young people with their introductions. So, Chaos had gotten its hooks in the senshi of pears. What a ******** waste, honestly. Might not have been worth the effort to say so, but really, if the fruit on her world still grew as it always had? The universe had lost something special by losing the ability to make their twice-distilled pear brandy.

(Somewhat frustratingly, the new Kaifeng wasn’t cut from the same cloth as Xingyi Kurogane had been when it came to alcohol, so Thalassa couldn’t even expect to try Earthling pear brandy back at the house. Stupid reincarnation cycles making people sober when Thalassa recalled them tending more toward drunkenness. Sure, Helene liked it better that way, or seemed to, but……well. He would. His people had been weird like that.)

With a soft hmmm noise, the fish-man shrugged. “Thalassa of exhaustion, feeling fine,” he said, “and I recall your world, too.” He pointed toward Cleeia, then looked directly at him. “Specifically, I recall that my friends and I never ran a heist there. Rumors of fantastic loot, but also extremely odd dangers.” But, that was neither here nor there. Speaking to both of them, Thalassa said, “You both fought well, showed ingenuity and resourcefulness. I should be going, but……take care of yourselves, especially after an unexpected battle like that.”

He still didn’t entirely understand how the Dark Mirror nonsense worked, but……there would be more time to observe and to learn.