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Gravina was nervous.

What would Camelot be like? Would he know? Would he sense that something was wrong with Gravina?

He had to do this.

He had to meet Camelot, despite his fears. Despite no longer being a youma, the instinctive and primal terror of anything remotely resembling a royal. Even those on the side of Chaos made youma not ordered into subservience to skitter away and hide, knowing their eternal death could come at any moment from the royal's hands. Gravina unknowingly reached up to scratch his shoulder, a leftover from his days in the dark. His skin itched at the mere thought of being near someone as powerful as Camelot.

Still, he had to press on. Taking slow, calming breaths, forcing himself to take longer strides towards the meeting place, Gravina tried not to let his anxiety be too apparent. Keeping his fingers intertwined and placed against his chest prevented the Cosmos Knight from pulling on his uniform. Finally spotting Sherwood in the distance, Gravina steadied his thoughts. It's now or never.

"H-hi, Sherwood..."

Well, that didn't sound too confident.

"Hey Gravina."

Her warm smile was sure and calm with her usual boisterous edge to it. She had never been a calm person, her playful personality often winning out over peace and quiet. It had rubbed some people wrong in the past but she hoped for his sake that this time it was reassuring. She knew that Camelot was a nice guy and that he was probably going to like the other knight. Anyway, she wasn't worried about it.

When he appeared her grin widened, moving to pounce him with a warm hug.

"Papa Camelot!"

She giggled, smiling at him. He always had this warm air around him that reminded her of fresh baked cookies. It was a weird connection, but one she'd always made nonetheless. When he looked to her friend she stepped back, gesturing toward the other knight.

"This is Gravina. He's a new friend."

Camelot chuckled and hugged Sherwood tightly in return, always glad to see her doing well. It was rare for her to be in a bad mood, at least as far as he knew from their interactions. He was not expecting her friend to panic as he did, though, blinking in surprise as the young knight went skittering behind a tree. He arched an eyebrow, hearing the soft chant of fear.

Dust him?

Camelot was unable to transform into another stage, like the Royal Senshi could do. They had their Eternal forms available to them, but Camelot was stuck with his massive aura and intimidating rank. He did the best he could, offering what comfort and reassurances he was able to when people seemed uncomfortable around him, but this was a little different. He powered down, waving his hand at Sherwood to indicate that he was not offended by what happened. They were alone out here, and he was not concerned with his identity being a secret to other knights.

"It's okay, Gravina," Tony said. "I'm sorry if I startled you." He approached slowly, holding his hands up as he approached. "I'm just an old man, nothing to fear. I've no intention of hurting you. You're safe."

Gravina's face was buried in his hands, his shoulders shaking quietly until Camelot's massive, pure aura had disappeared. Whispering to himself, it took a few near-silent moment before the Cosmos Knight realized the immediate danger had passed. Lifting his face from his hands, blue eyes laid upon an older man and a lovely young lady where Camelot and Sherwood had been standing. Both looked confused and concerned.

Sniffing, Gravina cleared his throat and tried to fix up his uniform. "I... I'm sorry, I just..."

Should he tell? Surely Camelot would be safe to tell, and Sherwood too. The last thing Gravina wanted was for either of them to be in danger by associating with him. His arms wrapped around himself for a moment. "...I just... I'm still scared of... of exceptionally powerful people, no matter who they are, except for Mom. Cosmos, I mean. Um... when I was... part of the Negaverse, I... lived in the Rift, and... well, people like you, Papa Camelot, you... you got rid of us."

The knight of Cosmos swallowed hard.

"Permanently. I guess... I guess I... s-still fear that." Eyes cast downward, Gravina's shoulders slumped and he looked utterly ashamed.

"A youma? You were a youma?"

Youma used to be...people?

That set off a spiral of thought that sent her reeling. She'd dusted no few youma in her time and it was paralyzing to think that those were people, people that might have been saved and transformed back into people that had lives and families and dreams of their own. She let out a weak sound, her face absolutely falling at the thought of it. She felt guilty for what she'd done, always thinking it was just what she was supposed to do.

Then she realized Gravina might think that she was frowning because of him and immediately forced herself to brighten, staying powered down as she watched the two of them together.

"You're not a youma anymore. You're my friend," she offered. "You've got me to help you."

Well, geeze. How come he got knelt to? Papa'd never done that pledging stuff for her. Though, he had saved her life from Painite once so maybe it evened out that way. Besides, she wasn't the one terrified and kind of half way behind a tree.