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Marlo had a lot of bad habits. He would leave his toothbrush on the sink. He liked to drink in the morning if he knew he was going to a meeting. His ability to not stare at women's designer shoes was one of his worse ones. Another bad habit was his desire to forcefully get those he deemed in need of aid new wardrobes. They often were those who's company he enjoyed.

Arkady was one such victim of his bad restyling habit.

Dressed in clothes that actually fit her and looked good- he was content with the world once more, more than happy to invite her to his place for a meeting with his life's bane. Elzo.

"Not me, my brother. Please don't." He said, pulling the folded shirt from her. "I'm trying to teach him to take care of his own messes. As for the music-" He shrugged. "Elzo picks the stations. He also stole the remote for it so I don't bother to change it."

Elzo-who just happened to hear him and had decided that even tho he heard a female voice, it was still perfectly acceptable to walk into the living room with nothing but his boxers on.

"Oh hey, first time bringing a lady friend over Marlo. Want me to leave the place to you for a few hours? There is still wine on the rack. For her-" He was grinning, Marlo was scowling. "A spicy red for the hot red head."

"If its metal-" Marlo closed his mouth. She probably got a lecture on microwaves already from her Finn. "Never mind. I am sorry for the mess though-" Elzo laughed, picking up a stray beer, finishing it off.
"He's just pissy because I ruin in perfect picture of a palace." Falling onto the couch and kicking up his feet, Elzo pat the spot next to him.

"For being just a senshi, he acts more like royalty than I do."

Marlo just kept his expression a mask of frustration and disapproval. "The brother with wings indeed- and I would not '********' you." He said with noticable distaste. "Sleep in the same bed and do nothing but actually sleep? Yes. But that's as far as you get." Elzo just laughed again.
"My wings are hidden- a bit hard to get around indoors with them. Thanks for the compliment, but if you like abs Marlo's got some nice ones. Just need to get him drunk enough to show them off." He held out an unopened bottle to Marlo who took it only to set it down near the kitchen counter.

"Stop trying to flirt with her while getting her to flirt with me. It's really pathetic, even for you."
Elzo shrugged, lounging and drinking one of the not yet finished beers. "Alright- doesn't explain why you brought a girl over. Only girls you do are for your little-"
The bottle he'd given his brother was then thrown back into Elzo's face.

"My activities are not your concern."
"I don't want my little baby brother ******** some tramp-"
"Like you?"
"Exactly. Why do you think I was so happy to see you bringing back a good one?"
"Pervert."
Elzo just grinned.

Inside, Marlo was happy to know that Arkady was not interested. It was a just a bit awkward to think she even considered- He blushed when she looked. "I don't walk around without clothes. Unlike Elzo I have manners." Elzo who was snorting back a laugh.

"Aw, Red. Looking doesn't make you a bad person. It's when you touch without asking that you become a bad person." Elzo said, reaching out towards her. It was a moment made by experience, Marlo grabbing Elzo's hand before it touched Akady's thigh. The younger brother had closed the distance in such a short time, and he did not look altogether pleased as to why he'd needed to do so.

Pulling his hand back, Elzo's grin was not entirely warm. "I am not the best of people Red. Everything marlo is? I'm not."
It was then that Marlo decided to take advanced measure, sitting between them and half on one of Elzo';s ******** Marl-"
"..." Marlo just glared, silently subduing Elzo.

"The white lady might have saved my brother's sorry a**, but she didn't prepare them for what came after. She might have been having good intentions, but she ******** up in aftermath."
Elzo just downed his beer, shoving off Marlo so he could stand and get another.

"So, Cosmos purified you?" Elzo cracked open a new beer, starting to down that faster than he probably should have. "No offense Red, but you sound like a ******** moron."
"Elzo!"
"You lost your memories to such an extent that you lack basics like the ability to give consent? As a grown woman?" He was frowning. "That's ******** up. Never heard of a hard reset before but if she's going around purifying and doing this s**t it's no wonder senshi are on the low. The balance is all ******** up if you do that. Hell she's supposed to know that"

"So what I am supposed to explain? How to give informed consent?"
"Elzo-"
"Or space s**t."
"........" Marlo gornaed and rubbed his head. "Space s**t."
"That's easy enough. So tell me Red, what do you know of chaos and order?"

Marlo didn't mind Arkady touching him, something that surprised Elzo, knowing his brother's aversion to touch. "Aw, look, just like two love bir-" The sudden grab to his arm had Elzo silence, seeing Marlo's glare to shut him up about it.

Surprisingly enough, Elzo backed off.
For now.

"Bad and Good are points of view- subjective. From a survival standpoint, Chaos is 'bad' Order is 'good'. But they both need to exist. Without one, the other runs unchecked. It just so happens that both sides want to remove the other." Elzo flicked on the TV, the sound of sports filling the room mixing with the music. It all was white noise to the siblings.

"Arkady- If you recalled nothing at all I would be more annoyed than I already am." It didn't show very well. "Think of the universe like a scale. On one side are those who are lacking in chaos yet filled with the force known as Order. On the other, those filled with the force we know as Chaos. When you remove someone from Chaos and put them in Order, the scale tips- so the universe makes a new person with Chaos to fill that void. You follow?"

Elzo started to channel surf while Marlo leaned back, fine with listening.
"Black doesn't mean anything. Nor do names. What you should use is your gut. They feel wrong? It wont be that normal feeling. It will be something that brushes against your senses, that creeps its way past your skin. Chaos is the loss of control. It is parasitic and hungry and will feel like a predator to your sense of being prey. Who ever told you the bit about princesses.. they're wrong." He stopped on Animal Planet. It was a segment on whales.

"A royal, that is a prince or princess, perhaps even a king or queen depending on what their original title was, is a senshi of great power, who's tie to their homeworld is absolute. We cannot purify alone. Who we purify must desire it, and lend us thier will and conviction. The strength they have to fight their own corruption is what keeps us alive. If we were to take on someone who rejected us we would likely die and kill whoever we had tried to purify. Cosmos probably had a hard time with you from what you're saying."

Marlo finally spoke up. "Being a senshi is different from a Knight. Yet we share a common past and a common goal. The problem as stands is the lack of uniformity or understanding of the severity of what people think is an easy solution. Knights are tied to worlds and wonders yet often come from Earth. So it's possible, that with the fact that Knights naturally were inclined to be born on earth, that when Chaos invaded it intentionally targeted knights, knowing that once corrupt their ties to their wonders would too, be corrupted. Rendering the earth itself, or perhaps the other planets, more corrupt. That is speculation on our part though."

Pollux looked at Arkady, curious. "Is Avalon corrupt?"

There was a crash of glass, then, silence; the TV was turned off along with the radio while Marlo remained fixed on Arkady. Elzo however just bent down, carefully picking up the remains of his beer bottle.
"Better?" Elzo asked, glaring at the guest, mostly as his beer had been broken out of his own anger issues.

Marlo's action was a stark difference to his brother, his arm wrapping around Arkady to give her something between a hug and a good pat on the shoulder.
"You changed." He said, fingers gently combing through her hair. "And I no longer see the person I knew. But I have to know about who you have become." He didn't know how to assure her of things. He was bad at comfort.

"Why are you afraid to go?"

Elzo kept up his angry glare for a short while, relaxing once he'd disposed of the glass and thrown a towel on the wet spot. "Elzo-"
"Fine." He whined, actually beginning to clean it.

"...Huh." Marlo's tone was surprised, while Elzo voiced the thoughts. "If it sings then it is reaching out to you. If it was corrupt you would sense it in how it sang I'd think." The towel stinking of beer the elder looked down at the pair.
"Castor, my world, doesn't sing persay, but it speaks without words. It lets me know when the seasons change, when the tides are in and out. It lets me know things without.. saying it."
"Much like how he and I can talk without words. Sibling understanding in a sense." Marlo chimed in after.

"However this woman- Humans shouldn't be there, not without your permission. It's possible that while corrupt, something invaded and has yet to be purged. If your wonder is any thing like a senshi's world, then if you sense it's hate, it 'badness' then your wonder likely is seeking your help." Marlo brushed a lock of hair from her face. "You were corrupt and have lost more than your memories. To be ashamed of what you do not know is pointless. You have been through more than others, and it is not this shame that should define you but really how you handle this."

Elzo grinned. "Aw, Marlo, and you said you weren't trying to seduce her? Cute."
Marlo scowled as Elzo smirked. "Tell me red- are you afraid to fight?"

"Uh-huh." Was how Elzo answered her, clearly unimpressed. "look Red-"
"She has a name." Marlo hissed, growing tired.

"Look." Elzo said a bit firmer. "For one thing, you just shared the idetity of a senshi with us. What if Gunn was our enemy. With what you just said I could google her, and kill her. And it would be your fault."
"Elzo for ******** the ******** up Marlo." Elzo's tone had snapped from casual, to curt, to firm. A second of the pair staring each other down and then the focus shifted back to Arkady.

"Never speak opening of other senshi's identities. Knights either. For each person you tell, anticipate they will tell two others. Then those two tell two more- eventually it can trickle down, eventually, it can get someone killed or worse." Corrupt went unsaid.

"Something lingers at your wonder and is a threat?" He hissed. "Wipe it out. Remove it and never let it back in. It wants you to wait? Wait. Don't ignore your gut. You're scared? Marlo is scared for you. You probably have no idea but he's about as physical and affectionate as a cactus. For him to bring you here, touch you willingly and offer you his own brand of piss s**t support?"
"Elzo jesus-"
"I know my brother Avalon. I know him better than anyone of this god forsaken rock they call earth. What doesn't scare him is how you fight- It's how easily you share your secrets. How each time you open that pretty mouth how utterly and sickeningly vulnerable you are. To fight is good and fair, but as you talk more and more I see weakness. I see cracks that our enemies will use against you. You can't think of yourself as prey. You think of yourself as a predator. You fear that woman?" Elzo grinned. "Then remove her."

Marlo coughed. "Are you done Lord Dramatics?"
"For now." Elzo shrugged, moving back towards the kitchen.

Marlo just shook his head. "....Unfortunately he IS right." He began. "I'm worried. Very worried. You were someone I considered a friend, one whom was steadfast and resolute. For you to say you were scared- it scares me. Because that is not the same woman who would stare me down over coffee and defeat me each time in battleship with deadly precision. You are someone who is greater than you are now." He looked her dead in the eye.
"I know you are not weak. And to see you weak, to see you vulnerable even if by something out of your control? I will be damned if I allow it to remain unaddressed."

Elzo just came back with glasses and a bottle of whiskey.
"Figure we might need it. Ask Avalon, and I'll give you what a centuries old lifetime has to offer for an answer. My war maker sees you as his friend?" He lifted his glass. "Then so will I."