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Ilmenite hadn't exactly volunteered for this; by nature of his promotion, perhaps, he was more pushed into it. Responsibility left a sour taste in his mouth, left him oddly jittery, uncomfortable as he set up camp in the meeting point. He couldn't bring himself to sit, instead choosing to pace the borders of the building's roof, green coat pulled tight around his waist and the heavy soles of his boots clacking into the night.

He had been the one to choose the location, and perhaps it had been less than wise. Meeting in the park would have been easier, could have been more central. Meeting out of uniform would have been more casual, less intimidating for both of them. Meeting at home would have meant comfortable chairs [well, relatively comfortable] and a bit of something to drink.

Up here, it was cold, it was weirdly exposed, and Ilmenite was already regretting his decision -- but perhaps not as much as the new Lieutenant would.

A voice carrying up several stories came quiet and light, the question fading it out at the end, and Ilmenite almost missed it -- only at the last moment blinking and looking down off the roof at the lieutenant below. Aurostibite's energy signature was faint compared to his own, enough that it left Ilmenite confused for a moment before he remembered, before he understood.

He looked impressive, from below: the long coat, the flash of light off the brim of his hat, the moonlight lighting up the mess of his hair. Up closer, it was a different story, perhaps. He was too tall. Too skinny. Too gangly. But from below, like, this, he could have an impact, and maybe Auro would remember it.

"Nice hat, Lieutenant." His own tone was dry, arms folded over the edge of the roof and shoulders hiking up. Two peas in a pod, them. "You just going to chill down there, or are you planning on joining me?"

The question got a flash of surprise: brief, and obscured by the dark, by the distance between them. Ilmenite blinked for a moment, looking back over his shoulder and trying to figure out a way up. He, himself, didn't have to worry about that half so much anymore. Teleportation meant he could pop in anywhere. There were nearby buildings, though, and he thought he could pick out a patch along their roofs halfway to home...

So he drew in a breath, expression puzzled and amused as he peered down at Aurostibite. "What, have you never been up on the rooftops before? Look around, see if you can find a fire escape."

Sure, he could have just come down -- but what would have been the fun in that?

For a moment, Ilmenite was tempted to play with the poor newbie -- to, instead of shaking that hand, snap his own fingers up to his forehead in a proper salute, to go cruelly serious and at-attention. Aurostibite was lucky that he simply was not capable of holding a straight face for long enough to pull it off, so he didn't even try.

He shook, a tidy little shake, except for the glimmer of amusement behind his eyes. "It was a serious question, though. Have you never been up on the roofs before? Never ran around? First thing I was taken out to do, I think..."

The uncertainty made Ilmenite's eyes raise; he shifted away a step, hopped neatly up onto the edge of the building. He'd been at this the better part of a year, now, which meant that there was no more heart-wrenching terror when he looked down the distance to the floor below. No fear of heights. A level of self-certainty that would surprise him, if he actually thought about it.

"How do you get around, then?" He looked back to Aurostibite, hands in his pockets and rocking absently where he stood. "Subway? Or do you have a car or something? Civvies, or running around on the ground in civvies..?"

Ilmenite grinned at him, suddenly, shaking his head at Aurostibite as he considered that. It wasn't that bad, not really, but -- options were better. As much as you might see in the heart of a crowd [and this lieutenant was lucky, in that his clothing would blend in well enough] you could see more from above. Plus, sometimes a rooftop escape could be good.

He rocked a little on the lip of the roof, hands still shoved into his pockets, and then took two quick steps: just enough to get up to speed, to give himself enough momentum that when he jumped it'd take him to the next rooftop, landing with less-than-perfect grace. His boots hit heavily. People inside likely grumbled.

He gestured, quickly, white gloves flashing in the dark, and raised his eyebrows. Voice raised. "You should learn this. Give it a whirl."

Perhaps it would have been polite to creep back, to grab Aurostibite's hands as he wobbled, pull him along onto the safety of the roof top. Ilmenite didn't, for two reasons. The first was because this was a training exercise, and if he had someone to catch him every time he wobbled, that was more or less useless. Failing was part of learning. And succeeding was even better.

The other was, naturally, that he knew the fall wouldn't kill the young Lieutenant. Hurt? Maybe. Damage? Temporarily. But the Negaverse were hardy folks, and it wasn't that high of a building.

He arched one pale eyebrow, hesitating at the other edge of the roof, and eyed the wobbling young man. "Not that bad, I think? I'm not going to stop again, so let me know now..."

The ramrod steel Aurostibite tried to put into his spine was obvious enough to make Ilmenite's eyes glitter, a smile flitting across his mouth, unable in this moment to keep it stern. He recognized that teetering not-quite-fall, recognized the way the wind caught the edges of the lieutenant's coat and struggled to draw him down and away. His own uniform was of sturdier stuff, perhaps, more toward leather than cloth, but on a bitter day -- and considering his weight -- he got whipped around something fierce himself.

But he didn't say anything, just grinned for that one moment and turned to take off again. One rooftop to the next, he didn't stop this time, but he did at least keep it slow. Not once did he turn his head; instead he kept the pace by tracking the glimmer of aura behind him, making sure not to take too much of a lead or push too hard. Twenty minutes, maybe, would have them covering a shocking amount of the city.

Ilmenite would finally draw to a halt close to his own neighborhood [no, Zac's neighborhood, his adoptive neighborhood], drawing in a deep breath and swiping hair out of his face and turning to watch Aurostibite flit across the last few rooftops.