Welcome to Gaia! ::

Injury was no excuse, not for anyone else and certainly not for himself. There were other agents, youma, and mirrorwraiths at large in the very, very large metropolitan area beyond the lurching crow. What he couldn't manage with his hands he could try to make up for with magic and brains- which were his stronger points to begin with.

Thankfully it was proving to be a quiet morning- the cold northern light filtered through thick cloud cover and dappled the ground through the arboretum with vague leaf-lace shadows from the canopy. Thraen stopped and rested against a tree- his ribs and lung throbbed under their medical wrapping and sling.

There weren't many aura about, as he felt out along the ripples of wind. Night time was so much more active without jobs, family or school to contend in the lives of the combatants. But there was an pinpoint of light nearing that felt rightful and clean, small like his own. A senshi, most probably. He wondered if they would come near, and debated if he should approach them himself, and so stood looking out at the manicured landscape as still as the trees.

It was a senshi girl, and a very brightly coloured one at that. She was very forward, certainly, introducing name and power. At her question of his alignment, Thraen's mouth pulled into a wry line. An alliance to Order does not preclude being evil I guess. There is Robin Hood and Richard the Lionheart both possible. It doesn't sound much like she means it that way. Too Naive.

"You're new, aren't you, to your powers. Recently awoken to name and purpose?" Slowly, careful of his balance and even breathing against bending his ribs, Thraen bowed to her. "I'm Thraen, of Gardens. And I am not an evildoer. You can tell that yourself if you feel out- my aura should be like a p***k of light in the back of your mind. Evil feels like a hole, or a distorted and warped page. "

"Its a necessary skill. It will tell you if danger is very near, and all our enemies are dangerous, even if they don't attack you physically. "

The question about his chest was equally disheartening. At least this last captain hadn't gotten a hold of that. "I'm alone because I don't have any allies that will patrol with me. I'm not on a team. It isn't a good way to be. It isn't safe."

A very emphatically self-proclaimed 'noob', even. Thraen blinked at the girl on his arm, Maybe she has had a good deal of caffeine? Or maybe shes just always two steps off hyperdrive?

"Let's get you on your feet about a few things first, before we go wandering around far and wide and get ourselves jumped by Mr. Dead." He looked her over once, "Anyone involved in our war, including yourself, can feel out to sense auras of other nearby combatants or allies. "

"You were given a pen and a cellphone by a talking cat, yes? Which cat? I was found by a cakecat called ********* some months ago. You'll want to take out your special cell phone. Did they explain that we're at war to you? A real war. People die. You could die doing this." He looked her straight in the eyes, trying to hold her gaze to impart the seriousness of the statement. It was no hyper matter. "I'm glad I found you before some Negaverser or Dark Court Senshi did."

"You know about 'patrolling'...but not about sensing Order and Chaos. ...Lets start with that. You have to stop thinking, speaking, or paying attention to anything else- just focus on the light in yourself. That light, centered in your chest, is your starseed. Its like your soul. Its critically important and you must protect it. Focus and feel the little light, the hale energy there. That is what you feel like to me, and to anyone else. Then slowly start widening your awareness, like ripples on water, and you should feel like there's another light much the same nearby, and that will be me- my starseed. "

Thraen's eyes narrowed, "They are not our friends. Evil can be a black sword, but it can also come as a bouquet offered out to you to snare you. Whatever they say to you, however nice they are, never forget that they are the enemy and it is all deception to convince you to let your guard down. To get you to sympathize, and reason yourself away from the truth. Maybe even join them. "

"Don't."

"And don't let them try to convince you on some point of necessity or justification that we're not meant to be here, or that they're protecting this place from us. And don't let any of us tell you the same. This is a war, and war doesn't determine who is right or wrong. War determines who is left alive. And god willing that will be the White Moon we belong to, because we aren't wandering around pulling people's souls out of their chests, destroying their souls and destinies, or robbing energy from the cosmos. We're all just trying to live. "

After a moment and a long breath, trying to smooth over the veneer of calm and let go of the sudden volcano of emotion, Thraen allowed himself to be pulled forward and fall into step with her. "You're going to need to work on focus. This isn't a game, and you need that skill. "

"Alright...these are the basics. Sensing auras you aren't letting yourself do- and THAT is how everyone else seems to 'know' who is on what side. Transforming you can plainly do, using your magic? Have you cast your spell, and therefore know if it is attack, support or defense based? Sooner or later, we all have to fight."

" Then there's using your senshi phone to scan someone and make them a contact you can call on, using your senshi phone to go to what was once your fiefdom- a place called Medea as my home was once called Thraen...Thraen was an asteroid world. I haven't visited it yet myself. Have you read the Primer on your phone? It has a very basic rundown of terminology, even if its missing some things. "

"You've met one of the Negaverse agents. Have you fought a youma, a mirrorwraith of the Parralell court? Or met on of the mirror senshi? They're evil. So are senshi that have black-star holes at their chest and forehead- they are what happen when someone like you or I is taken in by the Negaverse ....its called Corruption. "

Was she really already arguing that the senshi were evil? A line of concern formed between his eyebrows. More than just met. Maybe even more than once, or more than one. "They really did already get to you."

"Work on your aura sensing. When you can feel them, and get that shiver up your spine like something's trying to claw up it out of the abyss, you'll know without a double what lies under their sheepskins. Nothing that feels like they do is in or from a good place. Members of the enemy may have been good once, may still be in some way not yet stained black, " Thraen's mind strayed to the only corrupted senshi he'd ever met- to Vespa. Looking back at the memories from the distance of a number of battles, they had both been terrified and fumbling. They were both lucky they had been each others opponents, and not their betters. "The war is binary, even if the people within it are shades of grey."

"Stealing and murder are still stealing and murder, and that is what we fight to keep them from doing. It might be energy and starseeds, but you, your family, me, my family...we are none of us a harvest of fruits to be plucked. That is how they treat people- any walk of life. A whole carnival....they attacked it. Children, women, men, old and young, the Negaverse walked through with their youma and slew and laughed. "

He shook his head, clearing the memories, and attending more closely her answer. A support magic was useful, but unless she was a great deal more athletic than he was, it was going to avail her about as much in a fight.

"Yes, fiefdom. Somewhere up there, " He looked up at the wisps of cloud traversing the sky, "Is a place called Medea. A place that was part of the White Moon Queendom. A place that is in ruins. I've never been to Thraen, who's name I bear. It must have been peaceful, where gardens and gardners were in high honor. My magic isn't offensive or defensive either. I guess it is support. It...just is what it is. "

"Do we...well. What you consider is your own decision. But they are evil, the black of chaos gnawing at their starseed like beetles in a rosebud. If I became corrupted-" He'd not considered it a possibilty, really. Could it be done by force and not by choice? He wasn't really certain. One example did not make for much research, and at that he didn't know what Vespa's circumstance was. "A captain has had his hand him my chest, around my starseed. He wasn't interested in corrupting me. Just killing or torturing or something ...I'm not sure. I don't expect my magic or my skillset is valuable to them. What does a military care for gardens?"

"But if it happened, I would wish someone would kill me before I became something unrecognizeable. I can't say that woudl be you, Medea. I only just met you. "

"I wouldn't wish killing or fighting on you if I could prevent it. You have a lot of energy and innocence- war is not kind to those traits. So it will be important for you to find partners, a team. Other senshi you can trust and work with, that you can protect and be protected by. The sky needs unclouded stars."

He didn't flinch when she seemed hurt. It was a truth, what he'd observed, and so it needed to be said. Perhaps as much as her protestation that the negaverse were people, too. They are people. Vespa was just like us. But sooner or later they become like that black crow- too much chaos inside pushing out the human like a cuckoo chick pushing competition nestlings out of the nest of the body. There is no judge, jury or executioner, no moot to meet justice on them for what they become and what they do. Not until we get stronger. Or if no other will take the duty, then I will. I will build gardens to house them, for them to tend in their punishment and to heal them ...or bury them. Let the trees and flowering hedges cover their Howes and draw their soul back up through green and colour and send them back to the sky.

"You only just met me, yet you will protect me? One so shadowed and frightful?" A tired turn on his lips proved a ghost of a smile and his whole manner gentled. If his broken shoulder wasn't wrapped securely squared to heal, his posture would have relaxed with fatigue. "Thank you."

"Out of everything, that sort of raw faith...Medea-"
"No, I don't want to hunt. I don't even like patrolling...or war. I'd be a liability against him now with this broken arm and ribs. Space...is a better idea. Let's try that." It might reinforce to her where she belonged. What she was fighting for. ********* has said that their lands were all ruined long ago, he'd extrapolated that they were on Earth to prevent the same. The cat hadn't corrected that point.

"Would you rather see Medea, or Thraen? Supposedly it takes a bit of focus, and listening for the voice of your home as you press the button on your phone. Maybe Thraen, then, since your focus is a bit distracted? "

Will it be a ruin overgrown, or a ruin of ashes? Dried skeletons of plants? Or nothing at all, like how books depict the surfaces of asteroids? I can't tell if its an exciting or depressing proposition. Thraen pulled out his phone, flipping it open to recheck the primer and refresh his mind which button it was they were supposed to use for that sort of thing.