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The days since the warehouse had been full of bad dreams and nightmares. Shahar wandered the streets looking for her next fix, and when Shahar was done or denied, it was Titanite that followed out the door, stalking and perusing her prey, knowing what she could do to fix it all and make the nightmares go away and unwilling to do it. She sought human methods.

She buried her daylight hours in the gym, taking advantage of the membership Leucite had obtained for her and kickboxing herself into an exhausted lather. She spent her nights unable to sleep, her body beyond the point where she should be sleeping well and her mind still on the white-haired little girl and the burning oil.

Her flesh still bore the marks, and it seemed her soul as well.

She thought it was the fact it was a child that did it. With her family being close to her heart, if not her body, it could have been... It would have made sense if...

Her last hit burned her mind like the oil still burned under her skin, and she wrapped her arms around herself, sucking in gulps of air. Cold, bracing, and still not enough.

Titanite was surprised to feel the acid brush of an Order aura against her own; she had been paying little enough attention to where she was, and found herself.... somewhere. She'd never actually been to this area, she didn't think. It would mean an adventure or powering down and calling an Uber. The idea of going on a solo adventure frightened her less than the idea of a car ride with a total stranger, which was a rather odd sensation for her. But how could she trust herself with a stranger when everything felt trigger-thin?

Naturally, trigger-thin temper meant following the sensation of magic, following the aura. If she was going on an adventure, she'd go on it with someone who could potentially try and beat her up, or magically sit on her if she started misbehaving. Or maybe it would be a good way to work off some of that excess energy with someone who could take a few hits from little old Titan(ite).

She moved with purpose, and maybe a little excitement- Order was usually an interesting bunch. Some sparred with her, some ran from her, some liked to stick their tongues in her mouth. One thing was that it was never boring, and she went home with a lot less unwanted bruises than when she met up with Chaos. As she came in sight of the Order member, she made sure to keep her hands visible, her posture open.

Don't run~

"I am here," Titan waved to the Order member who appeared, female by the looks and sound of it, her own gloved hand glinting in the evening lights. "Good to meet you, Meru, Page of Cosmos." she bounced out on her toes, almost six feet of exhaustion-and-Chaos-driven energy. "Or at least a hello. I am Titanite."

Her head tilted as the Page demanded that she attack her, and not civilians. "I- I was not attack- are you asking me to fight with you?" there was genuine confusion on her face for a moment before she shrugged.

"If you want to spar, you could have just asked. I am always willing to play!" it was the only warning Meru of Cosmos would get before Titanite was moving at her, bouncing cheerfully in and sweeping out with a leg to test the page's guard.

It would be the best distraction from her wearisome introspection, and perhaps she and this Meru would be able to have a little fun.

Wait, What? it was lucky for the Page that she got her arm up to block the Captain's kick- but it was a point of interest to the Negaverse agent that she guard was almost immediately dropped to rub at her arm. Tsk. Titanite considered for a moment, and then gave the Page a simple instruction. "Do not drop your guard." her voice was patient, but firm. "If you drop your guard, you get hurt."

She was not moving to attack, but shifted her position, now considering the Page, looking every inch of her over not with Shahar's eyes of I would tap that and not think twice, but as a teacher might a student. Analytical. Considering. her lips quirked again. "That was quite necessary, Meru of Cosmos. You told me to attack you," she pointed out. "I thought that meant that you were ready to play."

The Page was still rubbing her arm. Titanite swept out with a foot, attempting to try and take the girl off of her feet. She did not strike out with a fist- more like a playground bully, watching to see what their rival may do in response.

The Page got away from the kick by the skin of her teeth, and Titanite clicked again when the girl went to rub at her leg, reaching out with a hand aimed for the center of the girl's chest, pulling her own strike about a foot from flesh. "Do not drop your guard," she repeated to the page. "I am from the Negaverse. I am your enemy."

Though how many enemies taught chibis to punch, and sparred and laughed with Order members? How many agents were like her, who would rather see a force well-equipped to fight back against the hunger of their Queen? How many were not part of the Negaverse because they believed in it, but because they were afraid of it?

Meru of Cosmos had learned at least a starting position, but she looked to lack a fear of what could happen. She let her guard down. A guise, perhaps? Or she was new to the side of Order?

"Have you been trained?" the Captain asked, dropping her hand after a moment. Letting her shoulders slump, her spine slouch. Not relaxing, but coiling. A snake, preparing to extend, preparing to strike. Would the smaller woman recognize the danger? "What have you been told about my kind?"

About Chaos.

"Whoever taught you, taught you s**t." There was a reason Titanite was not in politics. "If you do not want to hurt people, then stay off the streets. You will only get yourself and those you try to protect with a feeble challenge killed."

She considered the woman for a moment, what she had seen and learned about the girl, and Meru came up desperately wanting. She issued hasty challenges from fear, but if there had been a civilian in danger? And Titanite had been another enemy? Meru would have only been a pretty addition to her starseed count for the night.

"It is not pathetic, if you are not making yourself a combatant. This?" she gestured up and down the woman's body, clearly trying to get across the fact Meru was powered- "This is not a game. People die. If you do not wish to hurt people, then use whoever you are as a civilian to make your statements."

This is not a game, she said, but here she was, colluding with Order. Perhaps she should take her own advice.

"You are making yourself a target without being equipped or willing to be anything more dangerous than a target-painted civilian. You have power, and it is your responsibility to use it as needed, not to play at pacifism when you are a soldier in a war."

Shahar had been held away from the battles of the streets in Cairo. There had been politics there that went far beyond Order and Chaos, and trod on politics, religion, social station, and so much more on a level that the streets here did not.

This girl spoke of it like death was somehow a victory, like bloodless surrender was preferable to scratching and biting out survival. Like Titanite not killing her meant that no one else would. Like fighting was a chore instead of a necessity when for some, their very lives were at stake

Shahar had been kickboxing for more than 15 years. She was training in the amateur circuit for MMA. And she was more than 6' tall, and magically geared to be stronger than a senshi. Stronger than someone below her in rank.

"You had better hope you get stronger. You will need to be very strong if you are unwilling to protect people with all your ability." And then she laughed. "You are right, however. You will go nowhere. You refuse to spar, you refuse to train, then your strength will be a waste, little Meru."

There was no malice, only heavy disappointment and regret. "Let us hope you continue to get lucky."

For Shahar's life had taught her that if you were unwilling to work and fight, you were relying on luck, and the winds of fate.

She shifted on her heel, preparing to teleport away.

A whole team, Meru said, but there was no team with her tonight. It was just one person with no backup, willing and eager to be the weak link, so that when her team came, it was weakened and vulnerable by the loss of that member.

Titanite shifted, her brow furrowing. She couldn't understand how this was in any way a strength, but she supposed it was not her business. Instead, she gave the Page a thin-lipped smile over her shoulder, and slipped away from sight, reappearing in her living room and powering down.

She had a Call of Duty date tonight, it seemed- her walk had done little to soothe her, but she no longer wanted to be in the cold.