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A grimace passed over Sue's face, only briefly, at Kirin's unfortunate turn of phrase. As terrible as it was, though, it wasn't the death of a teammate that bothered him. Sagittarius was someone he'd never met, never known, and with Zue so out of touch, the only tragedy in Jude Lawson's death was that Sue didn't know what was tragic. He knew the Zodiacs were weakened; he knew he'd failed in one of his duties. He knew the people around him were badly hurt, and that everyone's confidence was going to suffer. But he himself... he didn't have any attachment. And that was what he knew was the worst, but could do nothing to repair.

It was like Barren Pines. People died. If you got attached, they would turn into zombies and try to eat you while you grieved. (Sue was not considering, for the moment, the fact that sometimes they came back to life later and got mad at you for trying to kill them off. That had just been complicated.)

"Hm. Well, keep it that way," Sue replied to Kirin's assertion of getting along fine, the closest thing to a fond word he had to offer. Really, Kirin was a bastion of sanity and reassurance. He seemed capable and self-assured, and wasn't overwhelmed by confusion or getting his a** kicked out on the street (that Sue knew of.) So far as Sue knew, he was a goddamned paragon of a senshi, and it kept him hopeful to think that there could indeed be a self-sufficient senshi out there.

Or as close as they came, anyway. "Have you got a team?" Sue gave the other a puzzled look. The way Kirin had said that, nobody's died, sounded like he was talking about a group. Personally, Sue thought it was a good thing - the Negaverse was teaming up, so the last thing he wanted was for any senshi to get caught running around alone. But there was something surprising about it, too; he'd just sort of figured that the Ice Queen wouldn't be looking to pair up with others, in spite of the challenging times.

"Oh." That sucks, Sue thought, but didn't say aloud; somehow, it didn't seem like it was enough, even while it seemed like saying too much more was taking too far an interest. Still, he couldn't just sit there and say nothing.

"God damned Negaverse," he muttered venomously instead. "Which one was it?" Not that Sue was planning any elaborate revenge plans, of course. But he did want to keep track, at least in his own mind, who was out there and dangerous. It seemed like some of the Negaverse agents were one step away from being walking jokes; others, you didn't want to take lightly. Knowing which was which meant damn near everything on the battlefield.

Sue listened to Kirin's account of the mysterious Negaverser, shrugging and nodding in time to the redhead's comments. This wasn't one that Sue had come across, for certain, nor that any of the Zodiacs had reported back to him. Not that he recollected, anyway; it wasn't as though anyone were keeping a list. Intel was difficult to track, disorganized as they were.

"Don't think we can talk much 'bout fashion, either," Sue sighed, shaking his head. "No offense to you, of course, your outfit doesn't look half-bad. But some of our Zodiacs - you know Pisces, she nearly got herself killed because that damned hoop skirt got stuck in a tight alleyway?" And Sue'd nearly gotten taken down with her, for that matter - that was before he'd figured how to transform. With the rest of their team dressed in short skirts, high heels, and God knew what other ridiculous outfits, Sue didn't think they had much to brag about when it came to criticizing the Negaverse outfits! They might look just as ridiculous, but at least they were functional! Not that Sue was complaining about his own Zodiac threads, of course. The shorts might look a bit odd, but he'd gladly sacrifice some length off the bottom of his pants for that God-blessed armor!

On that same subject.... "Not a clue," he informed Kirin, sighing. "I hope I do. Astraea never told me if so, though, and I've got no memories." Secretly, Sue feared that he didn't have any flashy offensive lasers at his disposal. Maybe his cat-talking and his armor were supposed to over the whole "superpowers" shebang. He really, really hoped that wasn't the case, though. "She gave me a few pointers a couple weeks back. Showed me how to get to full cat form. Didn't say a word about headlasers, though."

Sue hadn't finished his beer, but on that troubling thought, tossed back the remainder of his drink and polished it off in seconds.

"Big itty bitty kitty," Sue corrected him. It was probably a moot point - a cat form was still a cat form, after all, and bigger cat forms were probably less useful than most. But still, for a moment, he seemed to almost smirk behind the beer can, affecting a sort of satisfaction; it was gone before there was time for a second glance, however.

There was no humor to be found in this next subject, though. "Nope. Nothing, no way. If an emergency comes up, I can't even snail-mail her," Sue replied grouchily. "Far as I can tell, she'll show up when she pleases." Just like a damned cat, he would have added, except that sounded remarkably self-depreciating these days. He heaved a heavy sigh, and it was likely no surprise when he added, "Yeah, another beer, please."

What sort of....

Sue made a face of supreme confusion, and possibly slight disgust. What sort of cat? Okay - so he was a Cat Whisperer, whatever. Why did that mean he should know what sort of cat? "Uhm. Big. Fluffy - really fluffy," Sue reported, perhaps not considering the sort of criticism was opening himself up to with that admission. "And purple, too." If he were in a joking mood, he might have added and handsome as the devil himself - but he wasn't really in a joking mood.

Taking the beer with a nod (as much a thanks as Kirin would get), Sue wasted no time in getting it open and taking a chug. He wasn't normally a drinker, mind you, and he could definitely feel the alcohol of that first one taking effect - but hey, if someone offers you a beer, you take that chance before it's passed!

"Probably, yeah. Can't blame her too much for being so pissy, though," he waved a hand, "given some of the other senshi I see out there."

"What's that say about me and Gemini, then?" The boy grinned, though, not taking the suggestion seriously. If he was, it would have sobered him right up. The idea that he'd have to take responsibility for his Zodiacs a hundred times over, no doubt, even without remembering anything from their lives before Barren Pines to know why - the reminder that he was already behind the curve....

Yeah. That was a thought worth another drink.

"Ugh," Sue answered inauspiciously to Kirin's question. Shaking his head with a pinched face, he answered vaguely, "I've got a room in this motel. Fudged some residency requirements to get into Meadowview, you know; my mom lives out of the city, but...." Well, he didn't need to explain more than that, did he? His Princess was here. He couldn't go home. So, this was what he did to make it work; and if his vocal pitch said anything, it was a very clear, I don't want to talk any more about this than I have to.

Which meant it was his turn to change the subject.

"Hey, have you been around any of the other Barren Pines kids?"

Sue didn't know if their lack of knowledge about each other was a problem, per se. After all, that was one of the reasons that they'd gotten along so well back then; they didn't know, they didn't care, and so they didn't have to bug the crap out of each other. It was only circumstance that had intervened now, making it seem suddenly more important to know something about the other - or maybe it was just something of a truer friendship, rather than a mutually tolerable lunchtime alliance, which had changed his attitude toward discussion with Kirin.

The one rule that really mattered from those days, thankfully, had survived well. If they didn't want to talk about something, they didn't talk about it - no pushing for more information, forcing opinions on each other, any of that s**t that people did when they thought they knew better than the person they were talking to. Sue nodded slightly, a brief sign of gratitude, then it was back to pretending like the topic of conversation had never existed.

"Maybe. Probably not," Sue answered, but seemed unsure. "The ones I've talked to - my friend Yahya, and Imogen - they get caught up in the fight. Running into youma." He'd made Yahya promise not to, of course - or at least tried to, Yahya hadn't actually promised anything - and tried to warn off Imogen.... "When I talked to Imogen a month ago, she'd run into four. Haven't talked to her since then." Hopefully, the girl hadn't gotten herself killed.

"Could be," Sue answered, though he didn't sound much like he believed it. The Opal Crystal had taken those memories for a reason, and it was because it was better for them not to have known what had happened. If those missing memories were putting them in danger....

No, Sue couldn't buy that. It was something else; had to be.

"Could be that the Negaverse is targeting them, maybe," he mused. "It'd be a smart thing to do. You know that the Zodiacs came out of Barren Pines, you have a list of students that survived it...." It would make sense. It would make a lot of sense. If the Negaverse wasn't doing that, in fact, then the Zodiac Guard wasn't doing their job and making enough trouble.