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"That's certainly a ******** phrase for it."

Without any shame. To be honest, Hydor was either ashamed of most things or nothing at any given time, but he couldn't understand not being ashamed of being part of a group that literally took souls. He didn't care what the excuse was. There wasn't any good way to justify it. There wasn't any good way to justify taking souls and eating them, even if they weren't the ones, themselves, doing it.

... It'd be wrong to say he hadn't thought of what it would be like to do it to a few particular people, but he would never cross that line.

The merchant was laying it on as thick as ever, but there did seem to be something legitimate behind his words. Did he dislike Chaos as much as those on Earth? Did he legitimately think he could find something to help? It was interesting. "Weaknesses? Wish I could tell you. They can teleport freely, run about as fast as us, jump about as high as us, and have the lovely bonus of getting to corrupt us or just take our souls without our permission." He harrumphed. "I think the only weakness I can think of is that they can't seem to follow us into space."

At least, he'd never heard of an agent going to space.

He took out another one of the wisps and offered it to the chalice.

"They are very organized in their militant organization. I feel like eating at the infrastructure of that may make the whole castle fall apart."

The merchant was invested in the conversation, or perhaps he just wanted some juicy gossip about Chaos. Either way, it was giving him the information he didn't quite have -- Chaos had infected other worlds, perhaps in its entirety. The forces of Chaos could be bent, manipulated, even if that came at great risk.

... Could he learn to manipulate Chaos? Perhaps beat them at their own game?

It was a thought that felt incredibly tempting for a moment and sickening in another. Perhaps he could finally stand taller against the demons in his mind. Perhaps it was the only way to defeat the forces of Chaos. Perhaps it was just a quick way to end up with himself turning into a youma, like Logan's mother. He buried that thought deep down under the waves as he watched the dice roll onto the table and watch him.

Hydor swallowed.

"I don't know much about the being that commands them and how they get their power," Hydor admitted, leaning back and crossing his arms. "I've heard things. They follow someone named Metallia. I think that might be the biggest source of their power, here. There's a Queen under her, Queen Laurelite." He pinched his nose, digging through what various people he had run into had told him over the years. Sylvite's words bubbled into his mind. "They say their mission is to save the world. From alien invaders like us, mostly, who have apparently been the ones to wipe out the rest of the universe."

He snorted at that.

"We're born here, so I don't know what the ******** they're on, but."

Those dice concerned him.

Hydor agreed with that statement.

There was definitely no reasoning with the Negaverse. He had tried a couple of times. Quickly realized that was a no-go and a way to either get himself beat up or abandoned. Hydor decided that the reasoning with step was no longer worth the effort that he could instead be putting into ending them.

He glanced to the eye dice again. He couldn't help wondering if the merchant was recording whatever he said.

Was that why they were watching him?

... Ah, ******** it. The ******** was the merchant going to do, prove to Chaos that Hydor hated them? That s**t was already obvious.

"Yeah, sure, secret's safe with me, businessman." Hydor snorted under his breath. Chaos. He wondered if they were all determined to save the world from the wrong aliens, or if Chaos just gave them whatever excuse felt right at the time. Was that just what Sylvite had been fed? Had they fed some other ******** different things? And he still barely understood what the deal with the Dark Mirror side of Chaos on Earth was - he had only met two of those. "Yeah, I mean, that's what our names imply I guess? I'm Sailor Hydor. Hydor's some ******** star off in the Zodiac somewhere." He paused. "Aquarius?"

Was it ******** Aquarius? He didn't really keep track. Nor did it really matter. He imagined out in space, the constellations lost relevance as the perspective of the stars changed. Hydor probably had its own weird set of constellations.

"I haven't a clue how we ended up here, to be honest with you, but there sure are a lot of us here. Think the implication is probably that all our worlds died but this one was alive, so we're here," on this miserable spinning rock, for whatever reason. Was Hydor any better? Had it been any better? "Perhaps we're here because Chaos is still trying to take over this planet? I don't know, speculation. Even has two whole factions to itself. Dark Mirror's the other one, if you've ever heard of that."

Love wouldn't have been a word Hydor chose to describe them, and he quirked a brow at the enthusiasm.

"Been trying to figure out more about them myself," he huffed, watching as the Merchant put the dice away. Done recording him, probably. "But guess it makes sense they're unique to here. Seem to be rare. All I can tell is that they don't seem to be in the habit of soul-eating, which I suppose is an improvement."

Not sure it was much of one, but it was something.

Comparing evil to evil felt pointless, though. Still of Chaos.

"Now that you mention it," Hydor cautiously lifted out one more wisp, playing with it in his hands, "don't think I've ever heard of a Sailor Earth. Maybe that's why we're all ******** here. All the other planets are dead and this one doesn't have any decent self-defense. Though--"

He followed the merchant's gaze.

"You know of some other s**t we gotta watch out for?"

Hydor couldn't help a snort.

Somehow, the merchant had gone from a car-dealing irritant to making sense.

"Fair enough. I've made a habit of getting to know them." Better to extinguish them, he figured, or at the very least, figure out what the hell he was supposed to be avoiding. He probably should have figured out how to avoid the catastrophic forces of the universe. Even unnamed, those sounded perhaps worse than whatever Chaos had made itself to be on Earth. "The soul-eating bit has me a bit," he clicked his tongue, "less inclined to stay back."

Could it be worse than that, though?

"Would be ******** convenient if they just swallowed each other. Maybe they'll do the same to our Negaverse. At a distance." The final wisps were finally handed over, Hydor perhaps finally convinced that it was either a worthwhile endeavor or, at the very least, the wisps were longer worth withholding from him. "One more question. Don't think it's fair you know I'm Hydor and all I got for you is Crater-Dwelling Merchant."

Really. That was really all he had to ask.

Seemed fake, but Hydor shook Almadel's hand despite.

That sugary sweet smile made Hydor innately uncomfortable, and he quirked a brow at it, offering an expression in turn that didn't look grumpy but also didn't necessarily look friendly. "Glad I know what to call you now."

Friends. Yeah, sure. Not sure he'd call himself anyone's friend, really.

"Well. Guess I'll let you know if I see any more wisps." Hydor's shrug was loose. "Warn me if any of those catastrophic forces you named seem to be making their way over here, yeah?"

... Now what? Did he just leave?

He kept his eyes on Almadel all the way until he left the barrier.