For all that she often found herself disliking the Crystal Academy atmosphere in general more and more in her last year, she always missed her roommate on the weekends she spent at home. Imogen was a sweet girl and likely one of the primary reasons why Cordelia hadn't insisted her parents transfer her out of the boarding school. She couldn't have left the sweet girl completely to the wolves. It just wouldn't have been right.

After all, too much of Destiny City was already being fed to the wolves... But that was a different story entirely.

Cordelia Carden had finished her homework and what little reading she'd had to do for other classes and was now gazing out the window of her bedroom at the Carden estate. Something within her was urging her to go outside; to bound over the rooftops in the name of one thing or another and fight evil... But at the same time the teenage girl within her was reminding her that her cousin was right down the hall and, at the moment, they were the only two in the large house. If she went out and he came looking for her she would have questions to answer... Not that she thought Lucien actually would come looking for her. They'd barely spoken since the incident at the mall despite every way that she'd tried to apologize without taking actual blame for it.

He was happy that his aunt and uncle let him come home for the weekends. It meant that he could get away from Rikard's endless chattering for a while. He did sometimes feel bad about leaving his room mate alone, the guy wasn't -all- bad, but he liked his peace and quiet. It could get more thinking done when he wasn't also constantly wondering if Rikard was going to come in without warning and ruin his quiet.

He'd done his homework and a bit of extra studying. He was almost done with all the classes he needed to graduate and then he could talk to the people at Sovrign Heights about letting him attend there for a bit until he was accepted into DCU. Something was itching at his mind now though. With all the schooling done he wanted to test out some of the things he'd learned. There were Negaverse agents to either kill or gather information on. There were those strange Crystals Denebola had mentioned to find out about.

Eventually when meditation wasn't working to get things off his mind he pulled on a pair of shoes and a jacket. He wouldn't need them long but it -was- cold outside and he wasn't going to frees until he had to. Senshi uniforms didn't, at least his, offer much in the way of snow gear.

Cordy was home too but he knew how to climb out a window. If he could make it out there without her noticing he'd be alright. She probably wouldn't come looking for him anyway. He was still angry about the mall. Tugging his jacket over hsi head he pulled open his bedroom window before sliding one leg and then the other over the sill. The drop to the ground wasn't that far, really.

It was likely a good thing that their rooms were on opposite sides of the house for just as Lucien went out his window on one side, Cordelia was sneaking out her window on the other. Unlike Luc, though, while he was dropping down to the ground she was climbing up to the roof. After one of her previous outings she had stashed the satchel that she often took on patrols with her up there for safe keeping, knowing that no one would find it there and that she wouldn't have to risk her parents finding it amongst her things should anything happen to her again... As it was, she had been incredibly lucky that nothing was in her room to have been found (other than her letter to Erik) when she'd been in the coma.

She huffed softly after pulling herself up the rest of the way, muttering at least one or two curses beneath her breath before pushing herself up so that she could retrieve her bag and survey the area, determined to have a destination in mind other than endless roaming for the evening.

He grunted as he hit the ground and once the shock wore off unfolded himself and stretched. It was odd to think of sneeking out of the house. He'd always been such a good boy, prefectly behaved and everything, and how he had to sneek out or just never do what he was suppose to. He couldn't bring himself to do that thought. There was a reason he had been given his powers and he was determined to find out what that reason was.

Running a hand though his hair he looked up toward his window before heading toward the gate. He couldn't transform near the house. Cordy would be sure to catch him then just because fate was nasty like that. No, better to get away from the house and somewhere safe where he wouldn't be caught.

Her brow furrowed as she caught sight of movement down on the ground, eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out who it was. They weren't walking towards the house so it couldn't be anyone coming to visit... And the only one who was inside the house, other than herself, was Lucien. Lucien wouldn't be sneaking out to see anyone, would he? Wouldn't he have told her if he was going somewhere?

"... Right, Cordy. Like you so told him about your plans to be elsewhere." She snorted softly, shouldering her bag before heading over to the corner that she knew a rope ladder was still hanging from. She climbed down it before heading in the direction she'd last seen Lucien heading in, determined to find out just where it was her cousin was going.

He pushed the gate open and looked around before stepping out onto the sidewalk. If he was lucky he could go out and get some stuff done and no one would ever know he was gone. Cordy would probably be doing homework or whatever else she did in her spare time that didn't involve going to the mall or hanging out with the troll. If he kept whatever he was doing tonight short and didn't run into anything big and ugly no one would notice.

A big part of her considered this all a great mystery; something fun to do to pass the time, but the rest of her almost felt sick at the thought of tailing her cousin, imagining the worst. What if it wasn't just an innocent night out? What if Lucien was in some sort of trouble that he hadn't told either she or her parents about? What if...

No, she wasn't even going to think that particular what if. She knew that magic protected both sides, good and evil, but she would have liked to think that she'd remember if she'd ever seen Nega scum that looked anything like her cousin.

Cordelia stuck to the shadows, keeping her henshin pin within reach so that she could transform at any notice one way or another as she followed Luc, determined to find out where he was going... And who he might be meeting.

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket, fingers wrapping around the henshin pen he'd been given, and wondered where he'd go exactaly tonight. He knew he'd keep away from the park and the rest of the subarbs so it would probably be more city exploring. All the good ways to the city had low lights or none at all so it woudl be best to find somewhere to henshin and he headed straight for the one he knew.

Ducking between two houses let him into a small plot of land that had never been used. It was covered in old trees that blocked the view from any windows. He leaned against one of the trees and pulled the henshin pen out of his pocket. It was so ... girly looking and he doubted he'd ever get over thinking that. Twirling it in his fingers for a moment he shook his head and straightened up. There was no helping it.

"Arsinoe power make up..." He spoke quietly but it worked none the less. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he was englufed in a deep plum light that crackled with bright orange sparks.

For a moment she had lost sight of him; whether because he was trying to keep out of sight for whatever reason or because she had been momentarily distracted by her own thought. She had lost sight of her cousin, the person she had set out to protect for the evening (that was what sh would continue using as an excuse for tailing him, one way or another). She had lost him.

What she hadn't lost was the flash of light that soon came from a nearby alley. Her fingers tightened around her own henshin pen, calling out her own words to signal the start of her own transformation.

Not having time to assemble the staff that was stashed in her bag, Corvus simply scooped the bag up, heels clicking against the pavement as she rounded the corner only to come face to face with... Another senshi? "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

He had settled back on his feet and was watching the light from the lantern dance on the snow when he heard a sound and moments later. His fingers tightened around the lanter's handle as he watched another Senshi come around the corner.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"You could, but I asked you first." She remained at the ready, eyes narrow as she stared down the senshi opposite her, resisting the urge to cross her arms over her chest in favor of keeping her hands free should she need them. She knew that not all senshi were of the good sort and those who had been corrupted were more of a danger, in her opinion, than those who weren't.

"I haven't seen you around this area before. Or at all."

That technally didn't mean he had to answer. He lived in the area so he had every right to be there despite what she seemed to think. He shifted and held the light up so he could see her better. Her uniform was a lot darker than the others he'd met and that made him curious. He'd though all the girls would be bright and if there were any other males like him they'd have been the dark ones.

"Arsinoe. I'm stationed in the area." That at least sounded right and didn't nessicaraly mean he lived in the area. He wasn't sure who all he should tell where he lived, if anyone.

"Stationed?" Her brow quirked as she took a step closer to the other senshi. "Stationed as in someone told you to come here and stand guard or stay put or 'stationed' as in something else?" Not like she was entirely certain as to what else it could mean, really, but it sounded a bit too militaristic for her tastes and military meant Negaverse.

"Let me see your forehead." There was and underlying current of threat to her voice although currently she had no means to harm him with anything other than physical violence... Not that she was just going to attack him either way. She just wanted to make sure he wasn't a Negaverse senshi.

"Stationed as in this is where i am suppose to be" He lived there so why not? "Why are you asking so many questions? You are probably the rudest Senshi i've met yet." He shook his head and shifted his grip on the lantern. If she decided to get violent he could at least be ready for it even if he wasn't exactaly equiped to hurt anyone much.

He rasied a brow at her second question and ran a hand though his hair to pull the mess out of his face. Around his forehead was what looked like a wroght iron circlet that matched the lantern in his hand

"You're not hiding anything under that circlet, are you?" Her brow lofted slightly, wariness replacing a bit of the attitude and threat in her voice. "And honestly, if you think that I'm the rudest you obviously haven't crossed paths with some of the others yet. Consider yourself lucky. Some of them would have attacked you on sight. As it is, I don't have time for this... I was following someone and I seem to have lost them."

That seemed to irritate her more than finding this senshi here in her way, or knowing that he had caused a bit of a scene with his light display; enough that anyone could have found him. "You have to be careful in this part of town, Arsinoe."

"Good to know some of the people i'm suppose to be working with would attack me without asking questions" And his family wondered why he didn't like people. That was why he didn't like them. They were rude and uncarring and generally bastards to the nth degree. Denebola had been right. The Senshi were running around not working towrad the proper goal.

Following someone? That caught him off guard. "Who were you following. Why?" He snapped. No one should have followed him. Cordy was doing homework or something and the rest of the family wasn't home. He hadn't sensed anyone when he'd left the house. There shouldnt have been anyone around!

"Not all of the senshi in Destiny City play nice... And not all of them are playing for the same side. Watch out for corrupted senshi. They aren't to be taken lightly." Her eyes narrowed as she tried not to let her mind wander to the encounter she'd had with one in particular.

"I hardly see how who I was following, or why for that matter, is any of your business." This time she did cross her arms over her chest. "I have my reasons and the only ones I need share anything with are my teammates."

He shook his head. He still didn't understand that one. Why couldn't they all work for the same side? it would make things easier and it would get rid of the damned Negaverse a lot faster. Killing each other without asking questions wouldn't get anyone anywhere. They should be working -together- "And people wonder why i hate people." He sighed.

"I rather think it is my business since i am the only one out here, aside from you, and i don't particulary like the idea of being stalked for no reason missy."

"Likely for the same reason that a good number of us don't... But that doesn't stop us from having to work with one another and watch our backs." She shrugged her shoulders lightly. Chaos was something that they couldn't control. They could do their best to restore order and keep the streets safe.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the one I was following. I'm just as surprised to have found you here as you were to be approached by me... And, for your information, I don't stalk people, alright? Things like that are reserved for creeps... And trolls."

"Attacking eachother for no reason isn't working with each other or watching eachother's back. It's being paranoid." Not that he wasn't a bit paranoid but at least his version of it meant he hid and stayed away from things. Not jumped out and beat the s**t out of the first person he saw and asked questions later.

"No, it doesn't make me feel better." He -knew- no one else had come this way. So if she was following someone it had to be him. People didn't hang out in this lot after dark and he didn't feel any others but the two of them. "Did Denebola send you? Or Maia?" He wouldn't have put it past Maia at least "There isn't anyone else yo ucould have been following. So either you're following me or you're lying".

"Denebola? Maia? Are those two friends of yours or are they people I should watch out for?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "No one that I associate with is prone to tracking anyone other than youma or Nega-trash." As far as she knew, at least. She wouldn't exactly put it past Alshain to not track a hot piece of...

Men. Ugh.

"Listen, kid, I wasn't following you. I was worried about what someone I knew might have been up to so I was trying to keep an eye out for him... And I got you instead. Not exactly the best of trades, if you ask me."

"They're friends of mine." It wasn't really the truth but it wasn't a lie either. At least he knew both of them and they'd both helped him before. "You're prone to tracking people if you were ... following ..."

He paused and stared at her. He -knew- no one else was out here. So that did meanthat she was following him. ".... you were following Lucien weren't you." Maybe she didn't know he was Lucien but that's who she had to have been following. There wasn't anyone else for it to be if you boiled everything down. Why would a Senshi have been following him? None of them knew who he was powered down.

That question put the Senshi of Vengeance on the defense and her pose changed from what could have been considered 'at ease' to on the edge. If her powers had been active there would have been a sphere of dark energy crackling against her palm. Whoever this senshi was, she was starting to think that she should have made him remove his circlet. Clearly he was a threat.

"What do you know about Lucien?"

He held up his lantern so he could see her better. He didn't like the fact that she got defensive about hearing his name. None of the others should have known his name. He couldn't think of a reason someone would have innocently been following him this far into the alley.

"I know enough to not tell you what i know until i know you have a right to know"

Stormy eyes narrowed further in the soft glow coming from the other senshi's lantern, gleaming with emotion that she couldn't tap into despite her reat desire to do so. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kick your a** right here, right now for keeping me from whatever trouble he might be getting himself into? I have every right to know and I certainly don't need to explain myself to you."

"Because if you kick my a** you'll -never- know what he's gotten himself into." He shook his head, His voice had managed to stay calm. There wasn't any reason to get worked up too much. not yet at least. If she was a threat then he could panic properly. "I am a man of my word. Tell me why you are following him and i will tell you where he went." Or at least he would if she needed to know but she didn't need to know that right now. All she needed to do was explain herself.

"What have you done with him?" Her face contorted into an angry mask as she all but snarled at the other senshi. "I swear by the stars if you've hurt one hair on his head, I'll..." Again a sound almost akin to a low growl passed her lips. "I promised someone that I would keep an eye on him if I ever saw him out and about alone at this time of night. Vengeance always keeps her promises."

"I told you i was not telling you what i did with him until i had a reasonable explanation as to why you are following him. Keeping an eye on someone can be for both good and bad." He didn't like her temper either. She seemed to get angry too fast. "If you would just calm down and be rational. You're acting like his mother ... which you couldn't be."

"You're right. I couldn't be his mother, but that doesn't mean that I didn't know his mother... Or at least know someone who did." She added on quickly, almost too quickly, to cover her potential mistake. The only senshi she had ever revealed her identity to were those who she held in close confidence. She didn't even know if she could trust this... This... Arsinoe.

He tilted his head slightly as he looked at her. "How ... did you know his mother." He looked worried now, slightly frightened of the idea that she might know who Lucien's mother was.

Sailor Corvus should have felt more relieved to have turned the tides on the other senshi; to make him the one who was worried... But she didn't. Something about the look on his face made her feel almost guilty; almost concerned, although she didn't quite know or understand why.

"His mother married into a family that I suppose you could call me the guardian of." She crossed her arms over her chest, finally breaking her defensive stance. "I know them... Of them... Personally."

"Guardian? They're guardian ...if you're suppose to be their guardian .. then ... then how come she's dead!" He screamed the last at her. His mother was dead along with his father and no one, no one, had ever told him why. All he had ever heard was they couldn't fully explain things and how some other Senshi said she was suppose to be the family guardian? "How could you..."

"Because they weren't here! And I wasn't who I was then; who I am now. What I am now..." Her arms dropped down, facial expression clearly torn. "But I can look after him now. I can make sure nothing else happens to him now. It's bad enough that it's already my fault that... This summer... I know he still blames me, even if he doesn't know it's me... It's my fault."

"She shouldn't have died." His eyes fell to the lantern in his hand, the flame flickering in it. Somehow he'd always thought it had something to do with who , what, he was but no one could prove anything. "You chased him, lost him around a corner and you think you can protect him?" He looked back up at her, eyes still haunted thinking about his dead family. "You think he -needs- protection? Could he not possibly be able to protect himself or do you think so little of him? Do you th...blames you for summer?" His head tilted to the side again.

"The only one he was angry at for the summer ... was Dolly." He knew that name was safe. If she wasn't to be trusted she'd have no idea who that was and he would have revealed nothing

"With the Negaverse and the moon only knows what else out there? Of course he needs protection." Her eyes narrowed, temper flaring up again. "We all need protection; a strong line of defense, heavy artillery... Something."

Just as easily as she had gotten riled up she found her stomach sinking, a strange sort of sickness washing over her as she eyed him with great wariness. "... How do you know who that is? Who that name belongs to? No one uses that name..." Except for a troll who only used it when desperate times called for desperate measures. "I'll ask you one more time, Arsinoe... Who are you?"

He closed his eyes for a moment. The realization sinking in. There was only one person who could have followed him and he hadn't wanted to believe it. Not her. She was suppose to be a happy girl, his little cousin. "My name means light you know .. ironic isn't it?" He held up the lantern again.

"The only way it's ironic is if you're working for the Negaverse. Senshi are the light, even those of us who are darker than others. I certainly don't radiate good will and sparkles, do I?" She snorted, gloved hand forming a fist once more. "If you are working for that trash our talk ends here."

"You're suppose to be smarter than that Cordy." He looked at her again. "our talk is done here if you're going to act like this, without thinking." He shook his head. Senshi blinded by rage and thinking that everything that isn't prefect must be the negaverse. No wonder they were loosing.

She almost cursed. Or sputtered. Or something. Instead she stood dumbfounded for a moment before realization set in accompanied by a facial expression that the senshi standing across from her was likely to be more than familiar with. "Lucien?" She paused, blinked, looked at him again for another moment longer... And then promptly tried to kick him in the shin.

"You're such a s**t. You could have told me, you know, instead of making me worry. Sneaking out like that..." Not that she had room to lecture anyone on sneaking out. "What if something had happened to you?"

He managed to swing his leg out of the way enough to only get grazed by her shoe rather than a bruised shin. "Should have told? Like you were so forthcoming." Cordy hadn't said anything to him either. IT wasn't something you could just -tell- someone. The Senshi were still branded terrorists by the news so anyone who wasn't one was bound to think something bad about it. "I could say the same things to you. You've been sneaking out, not saying anything, you could be getting hurt."

Not that he hadn't gotten hurt but a few scrapes weren't enough to blow out of proportion. "You could also have said something instead of following me and then treating me like i'm suspect number one"

"What was I supposed to do? Let you know that I saw you sneaking out across the lawn? Call out to you and scare the hell out of you?" Her brow lofted, arms crossing over her chest once more. "For all I know you could have been sneaking out to meet some sort of hush hush secret romance sort of deal... Wouldn't want to stop that." She smirked.

"Where were you heading tonight anyways?"

"... do i look like the sort who goes out for middle of the night liaison with someone for ... romance?" His nose scrunched at the idea. "I was going that way." he waved vaguely toward the city. "I just, look around at the moment." He still needed more information before he wanted to go gallivanting off and running head first into a Negaverse agent by himself.

"Well congrats then, Sailor Arsinoe... You've got yourself a patroling partner for the evening." She stepped forward, uncrossing her arms so that she could loop one of her arms through the other senshi's. "My name is Sailor Corvus, by the way. Consider this your official welcome to Destiny City."