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There was a youma lurking that night, something long and lanky, slinky in movement and sharp in claw. It resembled a heinously elongated cat with razor sharp claws like the superhero Wolverine. Sutai had tracked it to the side of the courthouse in which one Judge Alexei worked, and the squire had promised to be diligent in her patrols around the area. She had spotted the creature a block or so away, but it was sneaky - dissolving into the shadows before it could be soundly bashed with a sextant.

The youma had perched itself in an empty stairwell near the employees only entrance to the side of the courthouse. This is where workers could leave to take breaks, or take out the trash to the nearby dumpster. Perhaps the youma felt as though people were still in the building and were less likely to be spotted by others on this side of the building.

...it was then that the door opened and revealed a redhead worker, someone who looked to be quite delicious. With a harrowing shriek, the youma made to pounce on Shiloh and relieve him of his precious starseed. Claws extended, it aimed to carve open the poor boy's chest cavity.

"Oh no you don't!" came a cry, and a small metallic object went hurdling through the air above Shiloh's head, landing square in the youma's face. The sudden loss of momentum sent it to the ground where a positively ridiculous-looking ballerina made to stomp the snot out of it. "No! NO! BAD YOUMA! YOU LEAVE THIS NICE MAN ALONE!"

Stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp kick stomp stomp

The youma then crumbled to dust, being positively flattened against the pavement by the girl's constant jumping on top of it. With a huff, she bent over to pick up and dust off her sextant and turned to the poor boy who was likely scared out of his wits. Sutai began to fuss over him studiously, checking for injuries.

“Oh dear, oh no! Sir, are you okay? Here, let me help you up.” Fussing over people was something Sutai was very good at, and she practically scraped poor shaken Shiloh off the ground and stood him up herself. Her physical capabilities weren’t much when in her civilian state, but as a Squire, she was strong enough to lift a person comfortably. She fussed with his hair, dusted off his shoulders and righted his shirt that had gotten tugged too far to the left. The squire even placed Shiloh’s bag of garbage in the dumpster, returning to him with a glowing smile.

Sutai took a step back and curtsied, as was her custom. “I’m Sutai! I really am sorry, sir. I’m just not as fast as some of the other Squires but I’m so very glad to have caught the beastie in time. He didn’t hurt you, did he? I promised Mister Alexei that I would patrol around the building to make sure no nasties showed up, but this one was so very fast! And… I mean…” Sutai twiddled her thumbs, realizing her promise wasn’t exactly true in the literal sense.

“...I mean, Mister Alexei said oh now don’t you worry about me, we have security guards...” Sutai tried lowering her voice to mimic the older man’s, but it just ended up sounding silly. “...but obviously civilians can only do so much against these nasty beasties, so…” Striking a pose in her tutu, Sutai giggled. “I decided to take matters into my own hands and patrol around here for a while, to keep things safe. Ah… oh, dear, I’m sorry sir, I’m rambling again.”

The squire huffed, disappointed in herself, and absently began fidgeting with her braid. “...anyway! If you need medical assistance, sir, I’ll be sure to take you to the hospital!” With a start, she realized she left her sextant on the ground and hurried to pick it up and dust it off. “Can’t forget this!”

Sutai nodded enthusiastically to Shiloh's question. "Oh! Yes, well.. sort of. I mean... I suppose Mister Alexei is more of an acquaintance but... he stopped me on the street after I tried to bonk this criminal, you see." The Squire patted her sextant lovingly, knowing she tried her best as far as that petty thief was concerned. "And he asked me some questions and I told him, honestly! And I was concerned about his safety and that's when he said, oh no now don't you worry about me, security guards and such."

The squire huffed again, tutu bouncing slightly with the movement. "Anyway, you are not just a janitor, Sir! You are doing a very important service. I can't imagine Mister Alexei could get any work done in a messy environment! So you're very helpful too, yes indeed."

She giggled, shifting her weight from leg to leg merrily. "Oh! Yes indeed, I am a squire, I was a page when I first started. Have you heard of us?"

It was then that Shiloh summoned a small oar and Sutai's eyes went wide. She squealed and attached herself to Shiloh, giving the poor boy a sudden hug. "You're one too?! Oh that is wonderful news! What is your name? I want to know allll about it!"

Sutai slapped her hands against her cheek in shock. "You found your weapon in the trash?! Oh dear, someone did not know what wonderful item they just carelessly threw away! How could they do that??" She seemed quite astonished that something as precious and ancient as Shiloh's--Susquehanna's-- oar could be tossed aside like so much garbage! But considering his occupation, it made some sense. "...but, it is quite fortuitous that you happened to find it, Mister Sus-que-hanna!"

The squire tripped over the syllables making up the Page's name, but she would get the hang of it with more practice. "Susquehanna is a lovely name for a lovely Page. It's so very nice to meet you!"

She couldn't help herself and simply fussed over the Page, fluffing his hat and patting his shoulders. "You are SO CUTE."

Ah, but newly-minted Pages must be trained and educated and taught to fight and kept safe! It would be Sutai's solemn duty to provide such a service to Susquehanna, and it sounded like he could use her abilities. "Oh, Mister Susquehanna, if you ever want to learn more about what's going on, I can be like... um... ah!"

Sutai stuck a pose, finger pointed in the air. "I can be Teacher Sutai! I can keep you safe and train you and make sure you don't get hurt and you know what's going on! We can both protect Mister Alexei. How does that sound??"

"Oh, yes, yes indeed! You can learn to protect him, and other people in the building too! Pages don't have magic yet, because they are still in training, but you can still things with your oar!"

Sutai nodded fervently. It was the way she learned when she first awakened under the guidance of Pomona and Polaris. She had to learn to wield her weapon as such, and had to learn to run and jump and defeat evil without relying on magic. "I had a brass telescope when I started, and then it changed into this sextant when the universe thought it was time for me to learn to use magic. Oh! And there's your Wonder to visit, and space travel, and training to do... so much! So much!"

It sounded overwhelming, but Sutai seemed more excited about these new prospects than anxious. "Ah! It's too much for one night, I think, especially after almost being eaten and all..." The Squire quieted, fidgeting with her tutu in a non-verbal apology. "How's about we exchange numbers and I can take you back inside? Or I can take you home! Honestly, you should probably rest after all this. If Mister Alexei needs someone to vouch for you, he knows me!"

She struck another pose.

Without hesitation, Sutai produced her civilian cellphone and handed it to Shiloh with the “contacts” page open and ready for new information. “I know… some knights have these neat rings that they get from their Wonder, but I don’t have one yet. Soon, though! But umm… until then, I just use my cellphone. Besides, then you can text me whenever you want! And vice versa. Hee hee!”

The Squire bounced in place for a few moments, smile beaming directly at the shy janitor. “Yes, you cannot forget to say goodnight to Mister Alexei. Why don’t we both go? I can let him know that there was a very terrible monster nearby and that you could probably use a shorter shift to go home and recover. It was a great ordeal! I should patrol around here more often if the youma are going to pop up like that. I’d hate for something serious to happen to someone who works here! It’s good that you have a security guard, but they can’t do much against youma...” The justice system was so important for the proper running of the city, as far as Sutai was concerned. Yes, the members of Order did their best, by and large, to keep the city safe. But without the judiciary system in place, Chaos would reign in more ways than one.

Sutai giggled at Shiloh when he mentioned posing when he greeted people. “Only if you want to! I just… I get so excited, I can’t really help it~? But of course I will be your friend. Someday, when you’re ready, we can go to your Wonder so you can learn aaaallll about what it’s like to be a Knight!”

((I think this might be a good wrapping point. How about you?))