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"Yes, but no one had tried the weigh him down with sweets so he can't run after you when you rob him trick." Scylla gave a sage nod to her vaguely... iridescent... friend, eyes at last catching on the strangely yellow, pink and green highlights in his purple hair. "Then again, damn alien genetics, you probably can't get fat either, can you?"

She sighed, leaning over to grab a different snack. A bag of crispy crackers, this time. Savory. Something to cleanse the pal- okay, fine, they were cheez-its. No one was perfect.

Sometimes she felt like a terrible person, rife with envy for those people who had more. More freedom, more power, more ability to make the changes needed, and drive change. Ability, Intelligence, Strength. An over-arching view of the big picture, instead of being distracted by the trees in front of them.

One wrong step out there where I’m from and you don’t get a chance to give a disappointed monologue.

Inferiority rose its head in her like an ugly snake, twisting her gut and making her lips tighten as she dug her teeth into them. For all of Scylla's- Jada's- own privileges, she was still so... weak. Helpless. Her memories had spoken to her of strength, and ability, of those many arms of the Kraken being used to protect, but next to the senshi and knights who protected the Surrounding, or those who had held out against Chaos the longest, or- hell. The aliens. Caedus, who had survived and fought longer than her starseed had been waiting for rebirth. Almadel, who could travel the stars and explore freely the most dangerous places.

She took a deep breath, pushing that whole useless train of thought away. Down. What ifs and reproaching senshi who had served centuries before served no purpose, now. Dreaming of what-ifs, and never-weres, didn't solve the problems now. Held her back. Yet what was the point of such envy? And... planning for a problem that didn't yet exist while danger still lurked freely in her own backyard might be foolish, but...

Her thoughts were a riot, throwing back and forth, and so Scylla viciously bit into a cheez-it.

"One good thing about my being willing to love recklessly, I suppose, is that hopefully it will make a world where my little girl doesn't have to worry she won't get the chance for a disappointed monologue. If my willingness to risk makes friends and allies to fight beside the senshi and protect our homes, or means there is one more entity out there willing to think twice before they strike out, then haven't I made a difference?" her voice was small, and she felt so...

Childish.

Loving recklessly, taking that wrong step, was it throwing away a chance to be more? To try and make that change? Almost 29 years old, and she could still feel her mother's mockery sneering down her neck every time Jada thought about her own dreams.

"Anyways." clapping her hands together, Scylla polished off her cracker and reached for another, using the heel of her hand to press against her face, as though to physically shove away the thoughts haunting her. "You say you have so many good things. Impress me, Alma. What do you have? A universal translator? An intergalactic stun gun? A teleporter? Magic pills that can make you stronger?"

Scylla pondered, then squinted at Almadel. "You're terrible at show and tell," she noted, but it wasn't truly a complaint, "Yes is the worst answer, unless your intention is to make me badger you for more information." still, his own teasing was met with a wrinkle-nosed smile of her own. "I am very impressed," Scylla admitted, and her fingers ran over an invisible speck on the table as she added, "I envy you your ability to do that, Almadel, Merchant of the Stars. You get to acquire such fun objects, visit strange, alien species, speak to all kinds of life forms, and it's far too easy to imagine you know more than you let on."

Her lips quirked. "I can be happy with such delightful company, but we humans are terribly greedy. Give us an inch and we want two, give us one intriguing glimpse at something beyond us, and we want to try and see it again. You're raising my expectations is all, Alma."

The alien asked if her daughter knew about the uniform, and Scylla smiles, shaking her head. "My siblings do, but my daughter is still too young. My sister was awakened as a senshi not much older than my daughter is now, when she was only seven years old; I think... that's too young to have to deal with this all. It's a parent's job to protect their kids, and support them. I just want my daughter to be able to be a child for at least a little longer, before she has to deal with everything this could entail."

Scylla couldn't help her small laugh at Almadel's vague horror at the idea of a child. "You're right, she makes things more difficult, but she is something to fight for. She's my miracle, and my hope. And my siblings too- watching them grow and fighting my hardest to give them a future is my honor and my joy."

Shaking her head, her brow furrowed. "We've always- I thought we were here because there was no other choice. Every senshi I've spoken to, their homeworlds were... not there anymore. I thought Chaos had eaten them all. I think most of us, for a very long time, thought we were all alone. We're here because there's no natural habitable planets left."

Would Almadel ask questions about her use of the word natural habitable planets? But it was true- hadn't Caedus said, years ago, that.... well.

"Or am I wrong?" she tilted her head, innocence gleaming out of her bright purple eyes. "Space battles sound terrible."

But the innocence faded at his next question, something weary there. "I just told you humans are greedy, my dear Alma." chiding, ever-so-sweetly. "In the past, the Scyllans said that the Great One protected. The Kraken could destroy, as he had the world, and the Scylla was the one who harnessed him, reigned in their equivalent of a god-beast, and turned its power to new purpose."

It wasn't an answer, however, and Scylla took her moment to consider her answer. "Too much power turns protectors into dictators here on Earth, and the ability to destroy a planet would make me an object of fear, not a trusted ally. No, I don't want to bring back the dead, or destroy a planet. I'm willing to fight, willing to dirty my hands, but..." She quirked her lips at him. "I'd rather be a beacon. I want to bring hope, and let my allies flourish knowing that I have the strength to help them."

"Well," Scylla said with a smile, "I already glow, so I'm halfway there to the beacon thing. I can't say for sure how strong I am, but I've survived." Not, she supposed, for lack of trying sometimes. And not because of any particular skill, or any strength. She had been lucky, and she had friends, and she had loved ones. She had survived thanks to love, and being loved in return.

"Nowhere at all?" the senshi hummed, snagging a cookie. "How do you survive then? You can't just... stop by Earth, calorie-load, and then run off into space again. You have to eat and the like, don't you? So there's got to be... something, right?" her brow furrowed. But... if there wasn't... "So it probably wouldn't have just been the Surrounding that kept us safe, then, if there's absolutely nothing." the last was a mutter, her mind already rushing off in other directions.

Did she still have a Great One to whip out? "Sorry," she informed him, "But what you see is what you get. Tiny human with big dreams, some fancy magical jewelry, and access to great takeout." Even her rainbow crystal really only let her track people. "I'll just have to do my best to help us all avoid space battles. Unless you have something in your inventory of tricks that you could share with me to help change that, or information you can offer me that can actively change that- but even then I'd rather avoid the confrontation entirely."

The look on Almadel's face as he stuffed more food in his mouth made Scylla break out into a peal of laughter. The expression was eloquent enough, so she let it slide.

So far, the evening had been enjoyable, but unproductive. A straight answer from the alien was like pulling teeth, and he even dodged round-about questions like a pro. She was, indeed, getting simply the pleasure of his company- which wasn't bad. And, perhaps, a date out of it next time he came to Earth, if she lined up a good restaurant. So not a total loss.

After all, Jada hadn't been on a date since.... late 2018? She wrinkled her nose, considering. Maybe? Ish? She really needed to get out more. And not with aliens. Or kids. Or Negaverse agents. Not that Order-vs-Chaos was likely to come up on the first date.

"Ah well," she said cheerfully, returning his smile, "Never hurts to ask, regarding space battles. Keep us in mind if that changes, you want to protect your source of gelato, right?" the smile lit her eyes, crinkling in the corners. "I can try and get you some good food for traveling, but you'll have to figure out how to store it. Vegetables alone cannot feed an alien. Though I'm curious as to how you grow them." Her head tilted curiously. "Growing a lot of veggies can't be easy, and I've heard it's hard to get edible plants to grow. I tried growing some tomatoes and onions on Scylla because I heard they were almost impossible to kill, and I murdered them."

She blinked at him. "What's your secret? Regarding growing things in space, specifically, I am sure you have many, MANY secrets."

After a pause she added, "And you still haven't named a price for a universal translator."

As the alien gazed sadly upon his gelato, Scylla leaned over, pulling out from his shiny new solar-powered fridge- another container of gelato. "I know our friendship is new, and still in the freshest bloom, but I sense," she told him dryly and with NO malice, "that a lot of your fertilizer is home grown rather than imported."

Almadel: Full of sh*t.

"I do like trips, though," she said, popping the lid off of his sweet treat for him, "So if you decide to let someone play in the greenhouse, you know where to find me." Her smile widened. "If it's to play in the treasure pile, you don't even need to call first. I've always wondered about the truth in alien abductions, and I could probably sell my story to some nice men in tinfoil hats for a laugh."

"I'm good at business," Scylla told him with a sharp smile, "Though more International rather than Interplanetary." Szelem had always told her daughters that there was nothing more useful to a businessman than a sharp-witted, vacant-seeming pretty thing on his arm. And at least for humans, that did tend to a terrible accuracy. Far too many men were fools around an attractive woman- it was the other women you had to look out for. Though that was changing, much to Jada's relief. "But I'm a quick learner. And I'm small. Great for squeezing into a tight spot."

She considered him, then gazed around the tent. "Fun as that sounds, I feel like your treasures are a lot more things and a lot less coin, so there would be a distressing lack of things to actually swim in." No uncle scrooge diving into a pool of gold coins here. "Though I'm sure you have plenty of rich things to wrap yourself in, if you're so inclined. Alien textiles used to wrap your shiny prizes, hides scavenged from savage beasts hunted long ago on distant worlds." a delicate hand waved. "It's still called playing, even if it looks more like a strange museum tent."