Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was hard to keep him down, that was for sure. Especially around other people - being alone was a whole other kettle of fish, but that was fine. He wasn't alone right now, he was flirting shamelessly with Hvergelmir and also exchanging information of valuable sorts, it was a total win-win situation that could have only gotten better if he were being petted. Bit soon for that.

"Lucky for you, he's nightmare fuel." His reputation, as voiced by Hver, was very fitting and he found himself nodding. "I have no doubts that he's the sort of guy that'd tear someone apart just for kicks. If I'd been powered up." He would not be there to talk to the pretty Cosmos Knight, or - y'know - breathe. "Mm, well...actually, I bored him. Answered a few questions, told me I ought to be grateful for what the Negaverse was doing...and left."

"I think he was unbalanced, mentally, and probably wanted to kill me but was seeing if I'd be any fun for him first?" Aegir lilted his head for a moment, arms crossed over his chest in a thoughtful sort of way, searching his memories, "I can say he was pretty charismatic. Sure knew how to spin things, appeal to your nature, crazy as he might've been."

Maybe it was selfish. Maybe it wasn't. Aegir wouldn't know the difference, for him sharing the crazy he'd felt from Obsidian was just informational exchange. Plus, he got to keep talking to an engaging, intelligent person and fill a social need he'd been neglecting. "Unfortunately I don't know much more about him. Didn't really want him to realize what I was, get ripped up or worse."

"I was naive, not suicidal. And he looked at me like I was food." The creeper. "Guess in a way I was." He tapped his chest a bit and chuckled.

For all the strangeness of Obsidian, Aegir still could not keep his brows from going up in surprise. "He ate them? Like, literally and not just in a figurative sense? Because...I. That is hands down the most disturbing thing I have ever heard." More disturbing yet to think that he'd nearly been in that man's clutches, that his own star seed might have ended up as a crunchy meal for the red-headed General.

His horror caused him to miss the considering, mother-hen like look Hvergelmir directed at him. "Hmm? Er, I mostly patrol alone. Sometimes with Thraen, Methone or Mont Blonc." The blond frowned a bit, he hadn't really considered that going out on his own was overtly dangerous...but really, it was. Aegir's magic was meant for support, not the front lines. There was a reason he relied on fisticuffs more than magic, most of the time. "But I've been doing it on my own a while now."

"Besides, I'd be out this late anyway." A jerk of his head towards one of the larger buildings off Chapman and he was grinning again; the Destiny City Theatre building was visible over the tops of lower buildings, faintly rimmed in moonlight. "I patrol on my way home."

Indeed it was uncomfortable, especially after couching it as an addiction. Aegir had never been a person that felt addicts should be punished for their addictions when it was literally their chemically altered brains taking them for the loop to get their poison of choice. It made him sad, more than anything. "Wow...that's...really sad, actually." Odd feeling, that - to have sympathy for someone that probably wanted to destroy you....but since Obsidian hadn't actively tried to kill him, it wasn't as though he harbored ill will towards the man. "I hope he got away from it..."

Hver looked sweetly concerned upon his saying he patrolled alone; she was correct in thinking that Thraen would not have been happy about his 'habits'. But Aegir listened to as many of them as he could as often as he could...but sometimes, it just wasn't possible. At least, that's what he told himself.

"Work." Aegir smiled and made the quick mental decision that this beautiful Knight would likely not sell his identity to Chaos; she just felt safe. "When I'm not running around kicking monster-butt, I work as a principle ballet dancer with the Destiny City Ballet Company. After shows, I patrol on the way home." Wrapped in her colourful cloak, he shifted a bit closer to the petite woman, voice low so it wouldn't carry. Just in case.

"The name's Colin, Colin Hargrove."

Aegir's brows drew together; really it was sad and horrible. Not even violent, horrible murders deserved the pain of addiction - crimes required justice, but addiction and the horrors it wrought had no place in such things. He perked at Hver's telling of a good friend to help him out though, that was beautiful and the blond approved.

"Oh good. He was scary but...that's too much. Nobody should be sick like that." So he'd sent the friend away? It was unfortunate and the implications were clear and saddening. "I hope not, for the general and his friend. Maybe he just didn't want someone he cared for to see him in pain?" Aegir was like that, trying to keep others from worrying about him or being negatively affected by any part of himself.

When Hver reached out and grabbed him, the curly-haired blond's eyes went wide with surprise; she was so...concerned he just had to smile a little. It felt really good to have someone expressing that much concern for him, but he really didn't like having alarmed the lovely lady of Cosmos. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that he could say to allay her fears and concerns about patrolling late after work the way he often did.

Especially not since the whole point of it was to exhaust himself so he could sleep.

"Thraen would, if he knew." That he could admit, easily. "I know it's not the smartest thing to do, but...I find it difficult to sleep, without." Aegir shrugged helplessly, not wanting to bring up the reasons behind his newfound self-destructive bent. It would only upset them both and he didn't want that.

"Really, it's alright. I don't do it every night, definitely not on two-show nights." That wasn't nearly as reassuring as he would have liked it to be.

No, she did not. Aegir knew that the things he had been doing were incredibly dangerous, that he was an idiot for doing them, and that some day or another he was going to pay for it. But the sharp ache in his heart, the roiling of his guts when he was left able to think...he just couldn't take it.

"I know." He ducked his head a bit, not able to meet her kind eyes or the caring and worry written over her face. I know. I do, Hver, I really do. But I am alone and that's the problem. He's not at home anymore. Things he didn't want to drop on the lovely lady of the Cosmos he'd just met, no matter how warm or safe she seemed...one did not just dump one's relationship issues on a new friend.

Aegir straightened up and put on a smile, "I'm working on that."

Had he any idea that Hvergelmir was planning to rat him out to Thraen, he might have considered hiding out for a bit, ignoring his senshi phone. But Aegir - Colin - was a trusting soul without mind-reading powers.

He was also going to be screwed when Thraen found out.

Aegir couldn't have explained how comforting Hver's gentle - if worried - tone could be, or the way she'd offered simple affection to him as though knowing he'd needed it. His inability to heed her concerns for his safety wasn't due to a flaw in the soundness of her logic, but more a sickness in him.

So it was nice when she didn't press harder about it, though she might have wished to do so. But it was nicer yet to hear her offer to lend an ear - or a shoulder - if he needed it.

"I'd like that." He said quietly, her cloak still wrapped around his shoulders, "I sleep better with someone there." It was easier to fall asleep, it was easier to stay asleep too - though he wouldn't have expected Hvergelmir, Laney, to stay at his place overnight just so he could possibly avoid waking half a dozen times in a cold sweat with the ash of a nightmare half-choking him.

Aegir unwound the shimmery, borrowed fabric and - with a little flourish - brought it around the Cosmos Knight. "Thank you for talking with me tonight. And for caring." His lips quirked a bit, "I'll go straight home, without patrolling further." With a bit of concentration the curly haired senshi powered down into a more tired looking version of himself in jeans, long-sleeved shirt under a Star Trek themed t-shirt and a jacket.

Colin didn't think before leaning in to kiss Hver's cheek softly; it just seemed a thing to do - something he should do - and it was only when he'd straightened again that he realized how forward even a chaste kiss of gratitude might actually be, how it might be taken. Not everyone was as freely affectionate as he was - not everyone was comfortable with such things. Oops.

He still wasn't sorry for having done it though. Just annoyed with himself for not having asked beforehand. Stupid to do it, stupid. I just hope she doesn't get offended...doesn't seem the type but...still. Should have asked. God but I'm tired... "I should have asked first, I'm sorry."

For a few moments as the lovely Lady of Cosmos's expression read surprise, the blond fretted, but when she smiled his worry passed and the tension that had settled in his shoulders seeped away. "I'm not always the best about personal space." This was something he'd known about himself for some time, something that had often caused problems.

So it was very nice when his flub with Hvergelmir hadn't ended up being horrible.

Where once aggressively sparkly powered up beings had stood, two rather...normal civilians now stood. Laney was different from Hver, just as Colin was different from Aegir - being powered seemed to give many people a better, more...regal?, sort of carriage. He was the same way, though that additional air of grace and surety also carried over when he was on stage or playing the graceful, princely danseur at an event.

He smiled at his new friend, taking in the relaxed, comfortable look and feel to her and wanting to kiss her cheek all over again. Instead he reached for her slowly, to fold her into a grateful hug that lifted her off her feet just a bit. "You're amazing, Laney. Thank you so much." Once more he felt the impulse to kiss her cheek and once more he gave in; releasing her only reluctantly - she was so good to hug! Like she'd been made for easy affection the way he had.

"You too, when you get to bed."

Colin stepped back and half turned towards the direction he needed to get home but then thought better about it and fished his wallet out of a back pocket so that he could remove one of the DCBC business cards. From a jacket pocket he pulled a pen out and scribbled his cell phone number on the back of the card that he then offered to Laney.

"Call me whenever you like. Or just come to DCBC. I'm usually there from eight to two, and some evenings, six days a week." The danseur started off again, walking backwards so he could keep the petite woman in his line of sight a bit longer. "Friendship goes both ways, right?"

With a princely bow followed by a half pirouette, Colin turned towards home, one hand raised above his head in a wave. He was tired, yes, but his meeting with Hver - with Laney - had put a little pep back into his step that would help him get back home without falling asleep on the way.