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Life for Christa had been tumultuous at best - not only did she have school, homework and family life to think about, but she also had to juggle the duties of being a senshi, saving the world and finding a princess to bring an end to the war. Her sleep schedule was off-kilter and her grades were slipping, but she was able to stave off questions by saying she's been preoccupied with her parents' divorce. That would only last so long, however, and despite all the drawbacks, Christa donned her senshi outfit and was on patrol, slinking from behind air conditioning units and billboards to watch the streets below and the rooftops above. Like the young man Zinkenite she'd met before, she'd taken to the shadows and acted more as surveillance and intelligence than a brute force combatant. While she could only fire off her ability once, it proved effective enough. Still, she wasn't confident enough to truly take on someone else. Not yet.

The senshi in crimson knelt behind the brick wall of a building to gaze above at the stars. What little research she'd done suggested that the people of Destiny City knew about the war to some extent, and for quite some time. Christa herself had seen news reports of terrorists and their activity, from kidnapping to arson, splashed all over the television, radio and newspapers. Still, she found it hard to believe the incidents involved magic and warriors from across the universe. No, she'd never imagined it. For now, she carried a small tote containing a notepad, pen, small flashlight and a bottle of water. She used this patrolling time to watch for those monsters called youma, and to take notes on what was happening in the city. The notepad contained what information she'd been able to get from Zinkenite and the other powered people she'd run across.

However, she felt something in the night air. Yes, that familiar Nega energy spike was nearby, but it felt different. Slightly different. Was it that man Zinkenite again? Putting her things away, she hid the tote near some air ducts on the building and started to creep towards the source, staying in the shadows and keeping quiet. Whoever they were, they were near this building, if not on it already. Her ability to pinpoint direction was vague at best, and she hoped it would improve with time.

Damn it. How did they always know she was there?

Kallichore was only a story up from where the young man resided, and as the senshi stood up and looked down towards him, she immediately realized he was not the dark-haired Zinkenite she had met before. No, this boy was blond and apparently wasn't interested in a fight. However, if experience taught her anything, it was to be on guard at all times. The senshi knelt by the edge of the building, allowing herself to be partially seen by the man below. The dull glow of a nearby street lamp may have illuminated part of her boot, or perhaps a bit of her bodice. It was interesting to note how exhausted this boy looked. Certainly a great deal different than Zinkenite, whose crystals she still had shudders about.

"You're not interested in a battle? Then why are you out here in powered form? You could get caught by someone else who isn't willing to sit and talk. Don't you find that dangerous?" This boy could easily be attacked by someone interested in wiping his existence from the earth was more like it. From what she saw, people of the Negaverse had more than enough power to defend themselves. Why was this boy so down? He looked downright depressed and uneasy.

Kallichore allowed her shoulders to relax a bit as she watched him, listening to the tune he was humming.

He had a point, which she commended. Sensing power signatures was still a very new thing to Kallichore, and she was still getting used to the idea that she had a built-in radar in powered form. She could vaguely sense others, but at greater distances, everything becomes muddled and the sensing power becomes all but useless. The senshi stayed where she was, appreciating the vantage point she had on the boy. If worse came to worse, she could probably get a head start on him, or try distracting him with her attack. It sort of worked on Zinkenite. Sort of.

When Zinkenite introduced himself to her, it had been after an introduction. Would it be safer for him not to know, or would it be better to have a reputation? Kallichore was too green to know and hadn't enough experience to know for sure. If Zinkenite was an intelligence officer like she perceived him to be, then half the Negaverse probably already knew her name. She pictures giant wanted! posters all over the city. Was it too late now? The senshi sighed.

"Kallichore." she explained, voice low as if she was under scrutiny. So this boy was known as Scheelite, and he was a Captain? Without any perspective on the ranking systems, if the Negaverse actually had them, the title was meaningless to her. "I'm out for the same reason you are, I would assume. You're trying to stop me, I'm trying to stop you. But somehow, you don't look like you have the fighting spirit with you tonight." If Zinkenite was anything to go on, that simply meant the boy was tense and ready to strike at any moment, despite looking calm and disinterested. He probably had a frag grenade launcher tucked away in that coat of his.

Her kind?

The senshi had a snort of her own, but it was more at herself than anything else. It was clear they knew more about this whole war than she did, being so new. Sometimes it was painful to be so in the dark and uneducated, and she wished desperately to have the same experience and wisdom so many others seemed to have. Whatever the Blood Moon Court had done, it angered the agents of the Negaverse beyond a shadow of a doubt. Whatever it was, it was something major.

"What if I just want to stop the war itself?" She shook her head, gray hair that wasn't aged by time coming loose from her buns. Somehow, it always did that in her powered form. "But no, I wasn't involved in whatever the Blood Moon Court did to you." Perhaps that was vague enough for him, but Scheelite, for what it was worth, looked exhausted. He wasn't out killing or maiming or abducting small children, so the senshi thought it was best to keep her attacks to herself for tonight. Information was most valuable at this point.

"I won't ask what happened - it's obvious to me that it wasn't good. Still, I can't help but be a little offended at the 'my kind' comment. The one called Zinkenite did call me an alien. Sounds so strange to me."

"New enough."

But this was the second person who said senshi didn't belong here, and for obvious reasons - they were on opposite sides of the war. Still, it was more information she'd have to ask another senshi about, and soon. She wanted more information before forming an opinion of who was right and who was wrong, on all sides of things. Kallichore knew that war had its share of atrocities committed from every angle - there simply wasn't a war where such a thing didn't happen. Humans did desperate things when pushed up against a wall. Internment camps, torture, working on mind control... such things she'd read about in history class. It was clear the Blood Moon Court felt it necessary to tear people's family's apart, but she would hope it was not without provocation.

But did that make it right?

She sighed, hanging her head in a moment of silence who all of those who were, no doubt, injured or dead on both ends of the conflict. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what has happened to you and your family. I'm sure you don't want to talk about it, but I'm sure that you know, since I'm new, I can't help but be curious about it."

As Scheelite explained what had transpired between himself, his Negaverse friends and the Blood Moon Senshi, Kallichore kept silent. She stayed still in her kneeling position, resting her arms and chin on one knee as he spoke. She watched his face, his shoulders, listening to the tone of his voice, watched his demeanor. None of that pain was a lie, that much was for certain. One part of his explanation made her cringe slightly - used their powers to drive them slowly insane.

That's exactly what Kallichore's powers did. Somehow, it didn't feel right at that time, having powers over the mind and insanity, but she kept those thoughts to herself. She didn't need to announce something like that. It could prove fatal, especially since Scheelite felt more powerful than she was.

It felt lonely at the bottom of the totem pole.

Kallichore shook her head when she was asked what she thought about the abusers. "I don't know much about them aside from their name and what you've told me, to be honest." she admitted with a frown. "Though I have no doubt that atrocities have been committed on both sides. That doesn't necessarily make it right." With that thought in mind, Kallichore didn't know what her place in the war was, aside from the fact that she was a senshi tasked to find some kind of lunar queen to bring peace to the earth in some form. Everything was so vague, yet the war was a real, tangible and very bloody thing. "I'll keep what you've said in mind, though, if I ever run into one. But I'm assuming not all senshi belong to their group?"

Kallichore shrugged from her position on the roof above. It made sense to her that since he identified himself as a captain, he would lead a group, or be part of a group that identified each other by military terms. That lent itself to organization inherently. "Isn't death still wrong, though, no matter how you ended up there? Taking someone else's life... that weighs on you."

If it came down to it, could she herself take a life? Kallichore didn't know at that time. It probably depended heavily on the circumstances. In the end, it depended on if one could forgive oneself after an atrocity was committed. Could the act be justified in the end?

"Do you forgive yourself after what you've done?"

It was an odd question, yes, but she was very much interested in his answer. If she had to commit an act that would normally be vile or abhorrent, how would she deal with it? It came to be clear that eventually, she would have to seriously hurt someone to save someone else. How could one deal with that?

Scheelite looked weary, worn and tired. Could the people of the Negaverse stop fighting? For that matter, could senshi stop fighting? They could simply power down and never take to the streets again, but could someone really do that? Kallichore shifted a bit where she was and she found herself looking at him like a war-torn veteran. That's probably what he was in the grand scheme of things.

"If you... wanted to stop fighting, could you? Not like anyone could blame you." she said quietly. It was true and honest what she said - she hoped that if the war proved to be too much for some people, they could quit and be left alone. Somehow, she didn't think it was possible. Getting out of human wars once you were involved was nearly impossible. She'd read about it in history books and seen TV specials about people being called to war, but they fled to Canada.

Was there a Canada in this war?

"Sometimes forgiveness is the hardest thing to give."