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s**t was hitting the fan left and right, and Gilbert wasn't exactly certain he knew what he wanted to do about it. Sure, he wanted to check up on the people he knew -- Marienrode and Felicia, mostly, Menthe as well, and wasn't it funny they were all women -- but he was having a difficult time tracking them all down. People were moving about to where they felt safest, which made sense; it was getting more and more difficult for him to snag a senshi to take him around the outposts, too. They seemed to think he needed to be sitting still and biding his time until the next catastrophe, he supposed.

The sit-and-wait-until-you're-found worked well enough when you were lost in the woods, but he was kind of in the middle of space. He wasn't going to just be pointed in a direction, sat down and forgotten about until some giant space monster tried to kill him, that was for sure. He was a little concerned about the pretty women he'd met, so he'd use that as his main excuse for traveling between outposts. Sure, he was probably vulnerable moving around, but... the more he moved around, the more he was in the presence of the magical warriors. He figured he had a better chance of surviving through an encounter with some kind of evil beast if he had one of the magical people close by.

That, and he was going to go a little stir crazy if he just sat around. When Gilbert had free time, he went and did something. Bowling wasn't really an option, and neither was drinking. Sex wasn't actually high on the list either, given that the majority of people up in space were underaged or close enough to it that it gave him the creeps to think about hitting on them. (Yep, even you, Felicia. He'd come close, though.) His usual list of activities had run dry, so he found himself just... wandering.

Information gathering hadn't been going well, either. He barely knew more than he'd started with, though he liked to think he was keeping up pretty well on the information front. The fact of the matter was, there just wasn't all that much to know yet. Nobody seemed any closer to getting them home, nor were they any closer to figuring out why the hell they were there in the first place. Depressing.

Well, he wasn't going to let him discourage him. If they'd been brought to space, logically, there had to be a way to get them back out. Something about things that went up had to go down, equal and opposite reactions, blah blah. Sure, space had different laws than earth, but considering they were all breathing and magical beings could speed back and forth along a rainbow road, he was willing to bet that this place had its own rules.

Tucking his hands into his back pockets, he rolled his shoulders and rounded a corner, nose wrinkled slightly in thought. Someone was by herself -- not smart, given how all hell had been breaking loose lately -- and he frowned a bit, angling his head.

"What're you doing there?" Despite his misgivings on anyone, young girls especially, wandering around alone, his tone was nothing but curious. What was she doing, anyway?

Ah, youth. Full of lippy teenaged girls and cocky teenaged boys. Gilbert remembered it well, having had more than his fair share of interaction with the former and having been one of the latter. It was a little annoying, but you ran into that sort of thing all the time, so Gilbert wasn't really phased by it. If he got his hackles up over every snotty teen that came his way, he'd be a lot more stressed out in general, after all.

Grinning a bit, a little amused by her get-up -- were they letting people modify the clothes, really? Leo had been adamant that the less alterations were performed the better, at least on his things, huh -- he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds fine by me. There's been some trouble lately, though, so you should be careful about going anywhere alone."

He glanced over his shoulder. It was peaceful here, quiet... didn't seem like the site for any terrible happenings or random attacks. But, well, nothing was really as it seemed here, was it? The fact that these places even existed was preposterous, but that they could support life and continue to function out in the far reaches of space..

Well, he preferred his life that was firmly rooted in reality and science, thanks. Where forensics solved cases and there was a logical explanation for everything. This magic bullshit was really messing with his worldview, in hindsight.

"Me? I'm just looking around, trying to redirect stragglers to more populated areas." When she began to walk, he fell into step beside her easily enough, shoulders relaxed and mood casual. No point in making a fuss over things and getting her back up even more, as she seemed to be the prickly type. "I'm a police officer, so it's kind of second nature to be looking out for people."

At the mention of family he inwardly sighed, thinking of his cousin. James was probably worried to death, no doubt glued to the television with his cell phone on his lap when he wasn't working, just waiting for any sort of sign or indication that he'd be all right. They hadn't exactly been close as children, but after the general falling out James had experienced with their family, Gilbert was the closest thing that he had left. It was fine by him; there wasn't anyone else in Destiny City he was related to, and rent was cheaper when it was split. Aside from that, James was actually a pretty decent guy, and they got along more often than they argued.

"I live with my cousin, James," he said, glancing down at his shoes and then back up while he walked. "And yeah, he's probably pretty worried. He's the worrier, anyway. What about you? Your parents are probably really worried. Wish there was some kind of way we could get a message back," he mused, smacking his lips.

But that probably wouldn't be a good idea. A lot of people still saw the senshi as terrorists, and would probably assume that they had been the ones who kidnapped them, even if most information seemed to indicate that wasn't the case. Gilbert might still be holding out a bit of suspicion himself, but... so far, the senshi had been doing a good job of protecting them.

"Probably wouldn't go over so well, though, given who it'd be coming from." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "Name's Gilbert. What's yours?"

He was a little surprised that some of the magical beings were sending messages back, and for a moment, he mused on that. Well, one at least--Camelot, whoever that was--hmm. Was the media aware of that, he wondered? He knew that in a case as big as this, with as many missing people as had been gathered in space, the media would be all over it. No doubt it would just be fuel to the fire if some people were getting messages from their loved ones and others weren't.

Lord, if James got wind that only some of the people who'd been kidnapped were communicating with their family, he might actually have an apoplectic fit. He was a good kid, a nice enough guy, but he would definitely be freaking out, and would probably never forgive Gilbert for not getting in touch with him. He'd probably better find one of those senshi and see if they could get him a message back to his cousin.

Thinking on it, he'd probably better get a word in for Marienrode, too. James and she were passably fond of one another, and he'd probably be almost as worried about her as he was about Gilbert.

"Good thing your mom knows you're all right, then," he finally settled on saying, smiling. "I'd probably be pretty desperate to get word back to my mom if she was still around."

When she introduced herself, his smile grew a little more, but he didn't comment on it. At least she hadn't booked it at the mention of him being a cop. That either meant she was basically a good kid, or she wasn't too worried about any of her crazy wrong-doings being uncovered in space. He hoped it was the former.

At the question on his experience, he pursed his lips and thought about it, and then answered, "Just over six years. Spent three as a beat cop, three more as a detective in Narcotics. I was just transferred to Destiny City not long ago."

He sighed, and then mused, "Least I don't have to worry about the lease to my apartment going up, since James is still living there."

Given all that had been happening in Destiny City, a lot of people outside the force asked him that question -- why on earth would he move there? There simple answer was, that was where the biggest demand was, and on top of that, not many people seemed to want to transfer in. It had been notably easier to get a promotion and a transfer into Homicide when he applied to Destiny City than it had been anywhere else, and that was for the simple fact that a lot of crazy things kept happening in Destiny City. The people who were smart, apparently, wanted out, and the people who wanted in? Well, there were the dumb ones, and there were the ones who wanted to protect their family. And then there were the ones like Gilbert.

Gilbert wanted to capitalize on a prime opportunity to throw himself into the middle of a chaotic scene and rise through the ranks like a goddamn roman candle. If he proved himself in Destiny City, just about every door would be open to him, and he liked the sound of that. He really liked the sound of that.

"Oh, you know. Job opportunities." He flashed her a smile, shrugging. "Pretty much everywhere needs cops, but Destiny City really needs cops, if you know what I mean."