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Everything was back to normal. Supposedly. Everything was supposed to be back to normal and if it wasn't back to normal, then Babylon was probably going to panic and freak out and throw a hissy fit at the world, because things were supposed to be back to normal, sweet new uniform aside. That he couldn't stop staring at every time he caught sight of his reflection.

It was a problem. Probably.

"Is there anything weird about my aura?" he asked Mistral, for the nth time that evening. "Like, what does it feel like? I'm pretty sure I ******** some s**t up and I have no idea how much."

Like, for example, he had glowing blue circuit marks everywhere. (He'd checked. Literally everywhere.) His eyes still glowed blue. He'd never heard of that happening and was slightly worried about some kind of delayed reaction that was going to blow him to bits. But if Cosmos said he was okay...

"You doing okay, buddy?" he asked Mistral's dog, reaching down to pat Mendel between his floppy, fuzzy ears. He'd been unsure about bringing a dog with them on patrol, but so long as he had Mistral with him it was a good estimate for how much physical activity was too much - anything the dog couldn't do, she couldn't do, either.

Anyway, they turned the corner, and were greeted by the unmistakable sound of someone blowing chunks. Which wasn't so weird in and of itself, since there were plenty of bars in this neighborhood, but the mid-level negaverse signature in the same general area was sort of... worrying. "Stay back a bit," he instructed Mistral as they approached. "Okay?"

The captain came into view, and Babylon was surprised to see Titan puking his guts out under a streetlamp. "Hey, Titan, buddy," he said, approaching slowly. He waved Mistral forward. "You okay?" Vomiting was a symptom of not being okay, usually. "You look pretty roughed up. What's up?"

If he'd had the wherewithal for it, Titan would have spooked and panicked further to feel yet another Knight aura approach. Worse, a Knight aura with an accompanying smaller not-quite-so-knightly knight. He felt them, vaguely, but his focus was more on his hand and arm that gripped the lamp so that he didn't end up hands and knees in bile. Or his braid.

The voice drew his attention shakily upwards, familiar despite the blur in and out of a uniform pattern that wasn't. Or glowy eyes. Gods, not another one. I don't have it in me to teleport again. I don't think I can even summon my hammer, that far.

The captain threw more effort to trying to bring his frame to heel, lifting other hand up to mouth to make use of the glove before biting the edge of it to pull it off and cast it away. His vision focused slowly.

"Babylon?" It looked mostly like Babylon. It sounded absolutely like Babylon. That cannot be so bad, can it? To be found by Babylon. But there is another one with him...it wasn't certain if we could be friends if someone else was around. There were dog sounds, too- Do knights have war dogs? I'm so ********>

"Are you going to kill me? I cannot fight like this. Too far."

"Teleported too far."

Silverah

Romeo Wilco

They could ******** teleport? Mistral lurched back a step, alarmed, and Mendel barked again, a warning bark that said step off. "Shh, no," she said, scratching him behind the ears gently. "He's hurt, sweetie. He's not going to do anything to us." She spoke partly to reassure her dog, and partly to reassure herself--Babylon wouldn't expose her to danger like that. He knew her limits, and she trusted him to respect them, even for a Negaverser he was friends with.

Mistral ventured a little closer, wrinkling up her nose at the smell and trying not to gag. "It's good to meet you, Titan," she ventured. Holy s**t, he was huge. If she hadn't met the dark Lieutenant, just seeing this guy… she'd wonder if all of them were so extremely… massive. "Although I guess it could've been in better circumstances."

Was she supposed to be trying to kill people? Because, haha… not going to happen.

Oh. So he was going to crawl over to the bench? Okay. Babylon followed Titan across to the bench, and leaned down to help the bigger man get settled. The knight he'd been fighting with sounded like Kairatos, and he debated whether he ought to mention knowing him. Giving Titan a name would likely only serve to make Kairatos a target, and even moreso depending on how much of his history the knight had divulged.

"Alright, man, just take it easy," he said, stepping back from the bench. There was enough room for Mistral to sit, he thought - if she wanted to. Titan had luckily not puked all over himself. "I have not practiced my Norsk enough to know anything about what that means." Or at all, besides the name. Should he learn some Norsk if he wanted to convince Titan to purify? It seemed like a lot of work...

Maybe he was worth it. He'd give it some more thought.

"So you uh, you got away? You kill him?" he asked, coming back to the topic of Kairatos. Without revealing too much, he wanted to find out about his friend's condition. He doubted that Titan would be able to get the best of a knight, but that hammer had started looking mighty mean since his promotion.

"Anyway, just take some deep breaths," he said, resting a hand on Titan's titanic bicep and crouching in front of him. "See if your head starts to settle down. Mistral, you okay? You want to sit down?"

"I only got away by teleporting. If I were still a lieutenant, I might be dead. No, I don't think I could have killed him. Nothing slowed him down. He was growling through his words, I think he was very angry." Seated was very good. Babylon had good ideas.

Mistral's apparent abrasiveness didn't even seem to register to Titan. Nobles could be contrary if they liked, they had a lot more going on in their lives than he did. When Babylon asked if she would sit, Titan quirked while looking at her, trying to discern if the poor thing was wounded. Babylon wouldn't take a wounded soldier out into danger, would he? "Oh, no, I don't think I have any concussion. Nothing hit my head. Nothing vital in there. "

"I was at Michigan Jack's out by the highways. It's easier to just be there, not much trouble since they all wear leather, too. The knight came. We fought. He had a lot of motocycles to get over, so he didn't get near me until the end. He had a net. "

"You know, " sitting and breathing, talking it through meant it had a chance to clear through a bit, "I think he said he name was Realgar. Do you know him?"

And to find him? Why would I do that? Why would I go looking for an invincible opponent? " Something about choosing- It isn't very clear. I was so panicked at the time. I left as soon as I could focus on a place, whatever the first place was. "

But being a captain all of a month hadn't meant a lot of practice in using the skill, let alone to go so far. Not very impressive for a Captain. But then, Babylon is a friend. He's got some idea of me already, to have agreed to that.

Nothing vital? Nothing vital excuse her there was so much vital in his head, what was he, an idiot?--the disconnect between her thoughts was not obvious to her--"Humor me, please," she said, patiently, accepting Babylon's lantern with a little wince. The great big star wouldn't exactly do what she needed, but it would do enough. She got off the bench, hefted the lantern up, and watched the size of Titan's pupils carefully. "He's not concussed," she told Babylon, handing the lantern back and sitting with a hand pressed against her side. Her recent trips about the galaxy had not been kind to her insides, and she wished she had been a little more circumspect about them.

"I can send M-my dog to get help if it's needed," said Mistral. "He's trained to do that." Mendel's whining sound was a little heart-rending; he didn't like being around people who were physically overtaxed, but what was she supposed to do? Tell this Negaverser to henshin down and take a nap? "Teleportation takes energy, probably," she said, thinking of Babylon's new tricks. "Nausea and difficulty walking… he might just be exhausted." Or it was the aftermath of a panic attack. Or both?

She glanced between Titan('s massive shoulder) and Babylon. "Is it normal for people like us to be able to throw motorcycles," she asked, skeptically. She'd never seen anyone she knew do that. But… no one she knew was as large as Titan. And she'd only ever seen Babylon fight anything once. Not a representative sampling, that.

"A knight-knight, yeah," nodded Babylon, taking his lantern back from Mistral. He was not sure what difference the distinction of rank made to Titan, but he'd answer the question for whatever it was worth, Vanishing the lantern, he added, "He stands equal in rank to me," and looked over at Mistral. He didn't think of his lantern as being heavy, but he'd had a lot of time to get used to its heft - and she was in poorer condition than usual.

He reached over, pressing a gentle hand to her shoulder, and considered Titan's story about the fight as he focused on giving her a boost. "Not a doctor, no," he said. "Just... field medicine. Things you would need if you were out in the wilderness and you or a companion were to be injured."

Babylon slipped his hand away from Mistral's back, blinked a few times to clear his head, and said, "I'm not so sure I could throw a motorcycle." Not, of course, that he'd ever tried. Would he be able to pass energy to Titan, he wondered. He didn't see why not, but Chaos and Order magic interacted in strange ways. Best to evaluate the situation a bit more, decide if it was really necessary.

"Okay," he said. "I'll take your word for nothing broken. You start coughing up blood later, you go to the hospital, okay?" Babylon Knight: professional mother hen. He turned his attention to the gash. Balling up some of his cape in his fist, he said, "I'm just going to wipe away some of the blood and get a better look at this, okay?"

He did as he said. The cut didn't look terribly deep - if it had been worse, it had already started to heal. "Thank the Cauldron for magical healing," he muttered, the oath coming naturally to his lips. He'd never said that before - who said that? Menachem had said that sometimes. "Go home, clean this up, put some bandages on it, and you should be okay."

Not that Titan was in any position to be going anywhere. "Let's just sit for a bit, though," suggested Babylon, easing up onto the bench's concrete arm. "And then when you feel well enough to travel, you let us know."

He waved a shaky OK hand gesture at Mistral - you alright?

He gave what he hoped was a reassuring nod to Babylon on the state of visiting hospitals, watching the man looking over his hand. His hands are so small, for all the power in him. Fit. Keeps himself well. For all I know, I could see him all the time at the gym. Maybe I've talked to him. Or maybe he is a policeman. Or a Fireman. Or a park ranger. Or ...something. But so small. Both of them. Its so kind of them to both...just stay here, concerned. Mercury knights are very kind. I wish we could have alliances with knights. I would rather protect them than have to fight them. Like...that mars knight.

"Oh, yes, that wasn't in question, " Titan assured her. "There was already at least one in Linarite. Babylon even mentioned her, and its known in the Negaverse that she did. It makes sense that if someone had real power, they could go either way...choosing what lord they chose power from. "

If they have power. I had none. I was just a guy before all this. They choose the throne of the Negaverse or ....their.....Land. Like they were all Jarls in the before-before when high kings and queens and that large scale unity did not exist yet. But they are still just called....Knights. Or...Princes. What even makes a queen in this odd power struggle? Ares is a Queen. Metallia is a Queen. But they say the Sushi follow princesses. And Babylon said he was sworn to his land and not to a person and it just ....gives him more strength at random. It is all so strange.

I wonder if it would be better to just be a person. I wonder if my lord would just be a person, or a knight. Either must be better than what has come. It must be.


He couldn't even think the words of the outcome, even knowing them in his gut. The starseed addiction led one way, if it was not curbed. "Did you swear to a place too, Mistral? Not a person. "

He looked down at the pitiful, doggy face and lifted a hand to hazard to pet the beast, hovering it between the ears for a moment in hesitation. Then carefully let it drop onto doggy head to pet.