Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hopeite loved the sounds of the city. The clamor of lives crushed together, fighting for life and air... that monstrous struggle for life personified. Lives beneath her snuffed out and blinked into existence, flickering like the stars above her. The strongest of lights overpowered the weaker, absorbing them to grow in power and strength. Everything always came back to that one brutal ideal. Nature had a way of creating the most perfect version of itself, and that one perfect incarnation was always born of blood and fear. Hopeite reveled in the glorious microcosm of her city as it screamed it's cacophonous symphony into the abyss above. Some cried in victory, others for help. No one would receive an answer.

The wind that swept up the facade of the building Hopeite perched on carried with it the electric shock of Order. Hopeite opened her eyes only partially and took one long drag on her cigarette. Now that was interesting. One of them had never sought her out before. She blew the smoke back out into the wind, considering her options. She could be mistaken, and the child was just on their way somewhere else. In which case there would be no reason to draw attention to herself. Child thought this senshi may be, they were clearly stronger than Hopeite was. Even with adulthood on her side, she would be no match for their magic. Not with her little cigarette.

And then the senshi spoke.

Hopeite was still for a moment, taking a long, leisurely drag on her cigarette as she waited for... something. For the senshi to get bored and leave... or attack. Soemthing. When it was clear that she would do neither, Hopeite flicked the ashes from her perpetually lit cigarette and stood and turned to face her. Her motions were deliberate, measured, and above all, confident.

"Alright," she drawled, laying the cigarette on the raised barrier of the rooftop. "Let's do this I suppose. What are you, Senshi of... sprinkles? Hail it down on me baby, get it over with."

Hopeite watched Harmonia quietly, almost sizing the senshi up. She looked her up and down several times, keeping her expression as neutral as possible as she did so. What was this Senshi's end game? What was she trying to gain from this course of action? Was she trying to lure Hopeite in a false sense of security, only to strike when her guard was down? That wasn't going to happen. She may have had phenomenal cosmic power on her side, but magic ran out and children got tired. All Hopeite would have to do was outlast her, and then use her size and age to her advantage. Or was she in it for the long con? Gathering intel to use against her and her team? Maybe was she the distraction for an ambush by a stronger, older senshi? Usually, Hopeite was very good at figuring out people's agendas but this one... she was either very good or she was very stupid.

Stupid. She was very very stupid.

So that was why Hopeite could not sense an agenda. There wasn't one. She sat back against the barrier with a sigh, slightly disappointed that she didn't get the fight that she wanted. Curious... she had never been a particularly violent person. But this uniform... this magical cigarette that never seemed to burn up or go out... they did something to her. Created some growling creature deep within herself that she didn't understand. And even now it snarled deep within her, pulling at her muscles and tendons to get her to move. She tried to placate their demands by lifting the cigarette to her lips once more to fill her lungs with smoke, but it only somewhat worked.

“You want to talk,” she drawled lazily, blowing the smoke out around her words. “That’s a first. Well alright then. Talk.”

She didn't like to fight? How on earth did she get to be the rank that she was if she didn't like to fight? It was... unnatural. The only explanation that Hopeite could come up with was that no one stronger than Harmonia had come along to gobble her up. Well... at least not yet. It was only a matter of time before nature took it's course and did away with her. She smiled wickedly around her cigarette at the thought. Poor sweet child. The world had no room for people like her. The weak, the mild, the unassuming. All would pass in their time, crushed by power. Harmonia was no different.

Hopeite blew a long thin stream of smoke out before she answered, "oh it was just peachy, doll, thanks for asking. How about yours?"

Hopeite wasn't much for small talk, but she may as well schmooze this little girl. Maybe she would have something interesting to say. Something useful. Hopeite mind still worked to find this girl's end game, however. She stretched her senses to see if there were any order signatures lurking nearby... hell, they may even be civilians, waiting to power up when the moment was right. How many could Hopeite overpower? She would have to run...

School age... maybe 16. Definitely around 16 judging by the burgeoning need for independence. Only child... family well enough off to be able to have a horse and keep their child riding and probably also competing, based on the tidbit about training. She might go to HITS but... students at that school didn't usually procrastinate. Certaily not St. Magdelena's, this girl was anything and everything but trouble. Crystal or Meadowview, but Hopeite's judgement.

"Horseback, hmm," Hopeite blew another vein of smoke away from Harmonia to avoid any annoying coughing. "You family must be comfortable enough to keep you in that hobby. All I ever did was piano. And I hated every second of it." Not a total lie. Truth be told she hadn't really cared one way or another for piano. It was her mother's half-hearted attempt to keep her off the streets... even thought that wasn't really a threat... she tried to keep the irritation at the memory from her face, but failed, and instead masked it behind her hand as she inhaled yet again. Good thing this smoke never went out...

"I was an only child too. I get that. My mother was endlessly obsessed with keeping me on the straight and narrow. I didn't really care what road I was on, as long as she left me alone." Not a single lie there. Even now her mother continually nagged her about her prayers and her attendance to whatever church or this lady's society. Hopeite didn't generally listen when her mother went on those tangents. "Now she only has her cats lives to micromanage, poor little shits."

Did anything fun happen. Hopeite worked at a children's book store. Fun was her middle ******** name.

"Fun..." careful not to give too much away. Anyone could have an overbearing mother with cats. Not everyone owned and worked in Story Time Children's Book Store. "We got a shipment in at work, so I spent the day shelving. It sounds boring but I enjoy it. It's repetitive and once I get into a groove I can focus on other things. So I guess... yes?"

Hopeite nearly bit through the filter at the sudden outburst from the girl. Surprise made it difficult to hide the sneer, though she tried her best.

"It was boring," she said simply. "I'm all for order and patterns, but sitting endlessly doing the same thing... that's monotony. So it's not so much organizing that I enjoy as I do putting things in order." Was that the same thing? Something in Hopeite thought that maybe it wasn't but... it certainly did sound like it was the same thing. Finally she shrugged and took another long drag on her cigarette before blowing smoke rings as she thought about her next answer. Did she ever want siblings? To be perfectly honest, the thought had never occurred to Hopeite. At least not in a long time. Had she before? Certainly not now, she didn't. One more person to take care of.

"I prefer to be alone," she said simply in answer. "I had friends with little siblings and older. It was just... constant noise. I'd go crazy." One of the benefits of being an only child -- silence. "And I never was very good at sharing."

And then the scout had a moment. The gust of wind mussed Hopeite's hair, but a few flicks of her free hand fixed that. Harmony seemed to be struggling, however. Wardrobe malfunctions must be common her with kind, Hopeite mused. Broken pumps, flipped up skirts, busted bustiers. What kind of magic decided that in order to be a sailor scout they all had to be so scantily clad?

"It's almost like whatever phenomenal cosmic powers thrust you into this war didn't want you to win," she mused, sardonic glee twinkling in her eyes. It made her thankful for her own sensible uniform.

"I finished my quota for collecting energy, so I came up here to smoke before I go home." It was as much a simple statement as it was a test. Hopeite relaxed into the concrete parapet with practiced ease, leaning out into thin air as she inhaled the last of her cigarette before flicking it away. She could always summon it back when she craved it again. Instead, she wanted Harmonia's reaction to her admission of guilt. Harmonia seemed endlessly optimistic about people, a weakness that Hopeite meant to learn more about.

And then the girl started waxing philosophic. Hopeite had to fight herself not to groan. Oh for the love of -- "People wage war because we need to. Have you ever read Heart of Darkness? It's a good read, and I do recommend it. Kurtz, it turns out, had it all figured out. He went into the jungle because he wanted to live life as the gods intended. In merciless, unadulterated, unapologetic brutality. He wanted to be a god. He wanted to murder and maim and use as he saw fit. So he did. It's the same for us, sweet cheeks." She stood again and crossed the space between herself and Harmonia. "We're all monsters. That bullshit your leaders fed you about stars in your hearts and the greater good. That's all it is. Bullshit. People wage war because in the end humanity only wants to bathe in blood and violence. War gives us an excuse to do that.

"I've been around long enough to figure that out. We were put on earth to find new and exciting ways to hurt each other. And then we die. Either by someone else's hands or the hands of time, it doesn't matter. We toil, we suffer, and we expire."

Averse to confrontation, huh? Hopeite smiled wryly and mussed Harmonia's hair. In that moment, something inside of Hopeite raised its head. She couldn't place its name, but it was slimy and nasty and mean. It smiled with wickedly pointed teeth and waited patiently for her to call it forward. Hopeite said nothing as it coiled inside of her gut, stretching out languidly and then turning back in on itself. What could that strange sensation be?

"It doesn't matter what you think where there's a war on, honey. All that matters is what you do. Besides, you'll be blooded soon enough. Every soldier is eventually baptized in enemy blood. That's the nature of things."

And she knew that Harmonia would believe what she believed right up until the bitter, bloody, screaming end. That slimy terrible thing inside of her whispered that fact to her insidiously, curling itself around Hopeite's heart. What was that thing that attached itself to her? What did it want?