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Mistral... didn't really patrol. It wasn't her thing. She didn't like being outside and vulnerable. Even with Mendel at her side, faithful as ever, she just--it was too risky. Anyone and everyone could put her right back in the hospital, and when the only person on Earth she was on speaking terms with was Babylon, that wasn't a good place to be.

She sighed and clucked her tongue at Mendel. They had a long way to go before they could sleep, even if they were finally on the backloop. She longed for the Negaverse's ability to teleport. There was no way she could corrupt, though. The future Babylon had told her of was quite clear in that the power required to corrupt her would also kill her in moments. Maybe somehow... she'd once learned how to block a Negaverser's ability to teleport. Perhaps she could replicate the feat. Somehow. Someway.

So caught up in her ruminations, Mistral didn't even notice the senshi aura she was approaching. Once she caught sight of him, though, recognition--of what he was, if not of him personally--came instantly. "Sorry," she said, ever-wary. She remembered how her death had come at the hands of her fellows in Order. "We're just passing through. Unless you need something. That isn't my guts."

Who knew? She'd done reprehensible things in this lifetime, too.

"A lot of people want my guts," she said, a little embarrassed by her grammatical flaw. "I'm the only person who needs them, as far as I know." She combed her bangs back out of her face, and sighed. "My name is Mistral. This is my dog. You can call him Dog."

Mendel really needed a secret identity, too. She'd get to work on that as soon as she could. "I made something with the intention to help the other Knights. It killed almost everyone I asked to help me finish it. I'm... not very popular." Future dreams didn't matter, but she couldn't forget Bifrost's note or Sarras's cold eyes. "For explicable reasons, I think."

She looked at him through her bangs, which had promptly fallen back into her face. "So you must be new to this, I suppose. I don't know how far knowledge of... what I did... has spread."

Mendel wuffed out what might have been a greeting or might have been dismissal. He was not a talkative dog, but that was part of why Mistral loved him so much. It was easy to work while her dog was around. "It wasn't very fun, no," she said, which was an understatement. Everything was an understatement when it came to the disaster that her arrogance had caused. She'd thought her work was too important to wait for her to comb through everything, hadn't been willing to sacrifice a little of her own health, and people died. That was the part that stuck with her, the fear of her own pain that had spurred the whole thing on. Knowledge had its price, but she could've paid in a different coin.

"We're a rare breed," she said, wanly. True, she'd mostly met other knights, but she tended to seek those signatures out if she wanted company. Or, she had before, now she sort of. Didn't. It was easier to stay cloistered in the labyrinth, Mendel at her side, Babylon sometimes visiting her--easier. Better. "I'm fine. I wasn't harmed." She gestured to her service dog. "The injuries necessitating Dog predate that by about a year and a half."

She looked around for a bench or something, but eventually gave up and settled on the sidewalk, her back against a building and her feet out in front of her, the Mercury sigils on the toes glinting back at her. "Where did you go, when you left? Did you transform at all?... I hear that the Negaverse owns most everywhere else. This is the only combated space in the world." She paused. Mendel trotted over to Aegir and snuffled at the senshi's hands. "So they say. He's looking for treats, if he's bothering you, tell him no and he'll stop."

Mistral nodded. "I don't transform much," she said. "I'm not well, you see. Before I even became a knight, I wasn't well." She shrugged. "That's why Mendel is around. He's a good dog. Maybe too friendly, but I don't mind. He keeps the monsters away."

Mendel didn't seem particularly upset by the lack of treats. He wandered amiably over to Mistral's side and settled down, ears pricked forward attentively.

"It's brave of you to put yourself on the line for others that way," she said. "I enjoy surviving too much to do it myself. Even like this, I'm still weaker than most civilians."

"I'm fairly sure there's a cliche line about bravery not being the absence of fear," said Mistral, "but I am sure that, since it's cliche, you know it and I don't need to repeat it?" She smiled at Aegir, shoulders relaxing just a little bit. "Dog is pretty good creep detection and repellant. Haven't met much that he can't kick the a** of."

Mendel's tongue lolled out of his mouth, and his affable pose did nothing to hide the fact that his teeth were plenty big, and probably sharp to boot. Mistral patted him on the paw. "Mmm," she said. "It's pretty ******** sick, the way the magic doesn't check if we can even do anything with it before cursing us with it."

"I know of a girl who awoke when she was twelve and died less than a year later," confirmed Mistral, solemnly. "Of course, she was a Zodiac, and they do not stay dead."

She sighed. "I have never met a senshi who awakened after the age of twenty-one," she said. She laid a hand over Mendel's collar, gently, and eyed Aegir's costume. It was... very very skimpy, yes. A leotard and a sash? No thank you. "If I had your costume, I would never transform," she said, rolling her eyes. "No one deserves to see what's under all this." Mistral plucked at the half-skirt with her fingers. In the future, she'd worn this same outfit. With a cape, but still...

Mistral said, "I have noticed that the magic does seem to make allowances for personal preference. My friend's girlfriend's uniform changes sometimes." From a tunic to a long jacket to no jacket--it didn't seem to make much sense, but Avalon never questioned it, so neither did Mistral. "If you are uncomfortable in it, perhaps something can be done on your homeworld?"

"Believe me, I'm looking into it," said Mistral with a hollow laugh. "I know knights can awaken into their forties, but I've never met a senshi older than..." She paused. How old was Oenone? "Twenty-six? I don't know much more than that." She fiddled with the golden coins on her sash, shrugging.

Visiting his homeworld had been a good idea. She smiled, a little smugly, and then apropos of nothing at all, yawned. "I should head home," she said. "Work in the morning. Will you be alright?"