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He wanted a fan? Cybele's smile softened a little. "All right," she said. "Your magic is great." She put just a bit too much emphasis on the last word, half-teasingly overexcited, before she sobered again. "It's true, though."

One of her newer projects was finding effective magic combinations, and while she wasn't sure how much more effective her own speed and focus powers would do for someone standing firm as a shield, she tried to mentally pair up other senshi magics with his. "It's always nice not getting hit, and if you can find someone with a ranged attack, you'll be nearly unstoppable."

That would involve getting him more comfortable with his powers, as well. She nodded when he mentioned a source, glancing back towards the sky. "You want to go to space?" To Cybele, it seemed from the way he was talking now that he did know about space, and while she wasn't as excited as she'd been talking about magic, she didn't talk about it like it was anything strange, either.

"It could work. It seems worth a try." She squinted at Megrez, the one star she'd taught herself to pick out from the Big Dipper. The reason space gave other people more answers than her was because she kept her distance, and she knew that. It was just difficult to care about an asteroid when there were monsters to hunt. "I'm not an expert on that sort of thing, either, but I know a bit." She summoned her phone. "I can show you how to get there."

"Space should be more than a conversation starter," said Cybele. "Although to be fair I'm sure there are people around who can talk about it for hours." For some reason, she remembered the way Anser's brother had tried to get her to talk about the plants on her asteroid when she'd been in the middle of a panic. Under other circumstances, she might have obliged him and ended up with a proper connection.

"Don't be surprised if you have some sort of vision of the past," she said. "It's part of our connection to these places. If you're lucky, another Sailor Athalia could have solved the same problem you're having right now." That would involve either quite a bit of luck or some sort of nudge on the world's part, which Cybele wasn't sure she trusted, but he was right. If he wanted full access to this magic, anything would be worth a try. "I think the knights have also been finding some technology up there, and they're starting to link space with Transcendence, I believe." She broke her focused, musing stare into the distance to look back at him. "That's a state that gives you a bit of extra protection"

No, she was not an encyclopedia by any means, especially when it came to this, but over time she'd picked up a lot of surface level information. "When it comes to how I spend my own time, I tend to think dusting youma is a bit more valuable than dusting off a ruin," she said, "But if you're looking for answers, space is probably where you should start."

Athalia may not have been intending to sound cocky, but Cybele's eyes narrowed anyway. "Yes, you are the one who needs the extra protection," she said. "I'm not saying Transcendence should be your goal when we still don't truly know how it works, but there are other things. Learning control is a form of protection. Mastering your shields is a form of protection. So is knowing your enemy. " There was something cold and deadly serious in her tone. She'd been reading her audience, and she didn't think Athalia was the type who needed things watered down. "Reducing collateral damage is equally important, but protection is why we do what we do. Hopefully over time you'll be able to extend that protection to other people, but that's not the sort of thing you'll be able to worry about if you're dead."

Cybele had seen far too many people snuffed out, or worse.

It was true that she was contradicting herself, a little. She hunted. She hunted recklessly. She didn't go looking through ancient places for slivers of things that could maybe help, but she told herself it was different. She was an Eternal. She'd obviously learned how to survive.

Some of the sudden tension softened again. "Sorry," she said. "I can tell you have good instincts, and you're even doing what you can with the magic. It can just be," she pursed her lips, "Difficult to tell just serious things can be at first. I'd stay away from Generals for the time being, but I'm sure you can give the rest plenty of trouble." She smiled.

"Do you have any other questions?"

If Cybele felt that he wasn't taking her warning seriously enough she didn't show it. When she had been new, lecture after lecture had gone neatly over her head and she hadn't really noticed the danger of this life until she'd seen death and found her own starseed in someone else's hand. She couldn't expect more of anyone else, but she also couldn't let any new senshi go without a bit of the serious talk, even if he was older than her.

For now, she nodded as he said she'd raised some things to ponder. "It can be a lot. It does start to fall into place a bit over time." It didn't take long at all for youma and magic to become everyday topics of conversation.

"Feel free to text me if you think of anything else," she said. She pulled her phone out of the subspace pocket and frowned at it for a second. She had finally just about figured out her regular smartphone, and all the apps on this one worked just slightly differently. Still, it managed to register Athalia as a contact. All right.

"Not just questions," she said. "Being a senshi can feel very isolated at times, but it shouldn't have too. I'll be around." She gave him the same professional smile as before, and then, with a deep nod, she turned to leave.