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The youma either had a lot in common with those dinosaurs that had started to evolve feathers, or it was just a very deformed bird. Cybele couldn't quite tell as it flitted through the shadows. Maybe it was simply a monster with no animal ties. She was fairly certain it had far too many eyes and a few extra mouths. In any case, while it wasn't the biggest youma she'd seen, it could sort of fly.

It was flittering from tree to tree in this park, occasionally doing a quick flyby to take a snapping bite at her. It was fast, too. By the time Cybele could get close to its tree, it would be off to the next one, leaving her to mutter a curse and keep running in circles after it like an idiot. If she could climb something herself, she could maybe corner it but she wasn't that desperate yet.

Instead, she stopped. "All right, all right," and held out her arms so that her silver ribbons would catch the as much light as they could from the nearest lamp post. She thought she saw its head twist. Hopefully a monstrous dinosaur bird did what most animals did to moving lights and would give chase. "If you want my starseed, you're going to have to come get it," she said in a singsong croon, but her eyes twinkled. At least this was something different.

As Cybele stood there, uncomfortably wiggling her arms around and crossing her fingers that the youma would come to her like a cat to a laser light, another aura popped up in the distance. It was Order, so she didn't pay it much mind as she had other things to deal with at the moment.

On the other hand, she couldn't hep but notice the girl appearing out of the line of trees. It was during her quick glance away that the youma, maybe smarter than the average bird after all, decided that now was the time to go after that shiny senshi with her shinier starseed after all.

It was fast, but Cybele was ready. She brought back a fist, the other senshi seemed to be sneaking up from behind. Everything collided with the somewhat anticlimactic thud of flesh hitting flesh. The youma had been annoying, but it wasn't very big or strong. It gave a muffled shriek and then exploded, lightly showering the two senshi in dust.

That dust, of course, went straight to Cybele's eyes. "Nice work," she said evenly, blinking rapidly to try to get it out of there without making a big deal, even though she couldn't see and it stung. First impressions, she'd found, were important. "And thank you. I'd been chasing that one for about half an hour before you showed up." It wasn't working. She rubbed at her eyes, blinked some more, and finally got a look at the girl in front of her. The first thing that she noticed was that she was young, younger than Warhol had been even, and Cybele was never going to forget how that had ended.
Well. She swallowed and smiled.

"My name is Cybele. I'm the Senshi of the Hunt. It's nice to meet you." She gave a quick curtsy.

After her introduction, Cybele was doing her best to shake the remainder of the dust out of her many, many ribbons. It would go away when she powered down, of course, but she didn't want to be dusty when she was trying to encourage such a young basic senshi.

Although to be honest, Anser didn't seem to need all that much encouragement compared to plenty of the older senshi Cybele had met. Before long she was honking like a goose. Cybele raised an eyebrow for about half a second. Then, she chuckled. Then she started to actually, fully laugh. All the corruptions and tragedies she'd seen were telling her to not get attached, but she couldn't help liking this kid already.

"All right. I'll save my hunting for the Negaverse," she said, still grinning. "Although my magic is actually a boost, so you don't really have to worry about that."

She took a closer look at Anser's cute feathered dress. Thinking of geese didn't immediately bring magical girls to mind, but it seemed like even the strangest spheres always managed to work out somehow. "I wouldn't want to make a goose angry, or a goose senshi angry, for that matter. It's good that we're allies, isn't it?"

She shook out her skirt and sent yet another layer of dust swirling towards the ground. She stared at the small pile that was starting to accumulate between their feet as she said, "I can't say that I would recommend makeovers for youma. Fighting them is really the way to go." She looked back up at the determined girl in front of her and pursed her lips. "Well, as long as you're careful.

Anser's babbling started to hit a more serious note with Cybele, and her grin tightened into a thin lipped smile. "I actually end up on the receiving end of getting hunted more often than you'd think," she said. "Hunting might be my specialty as a senshi, but it's sort of the Negaverse's specialty as an organization." They also specialized in somehow ruining every single public event that the city ever put on, and a few more insidious ways of destroying lives, but on a day to day basis Cybele found their hunting for starseeds and senshi the worst of it. That was probably at least partially a matter of personal pride, she realized.

Regardless, Anser didn't seem to need much convincing that the Negaverse was bad. "So, if anyone tries to hunt you, definitely honk at them," she said, cracking the smile back open. "As you ally, I will very much support you in that." She didn't usually give lighthearted advice, but cheerful and direct had been working so far with this little senshi.

"Honk away at the youma, too. Wreck them. They're all much prettier as dust, I promise. Just try to close your mouth next time. That will help."

She reached down to the pile of dust that had formed from what the two of them had gotten out of their clothes and she took a pinch. She then let it fall back down, glittering in the lamplight.

"Have you fought anything else, Anser? It's not always like this." She looked back at Anser, a look of concern finally starting to show in her face, but she kept up the smile.

Getting a pep talk from someone who you were supposed to be the one mentoring was a bit of a new experience. Cybele wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it was rather cute. She found herself smiling. However, she was also getting more and more concerned about Anser's nonchalance towards the Negaverse.

Cybele's mouth opened slightly in recognition when the younger girl mentioned the circus. She nodded along as she went on about the various details, thinking to herself all the while. The circus hadn't been very long ago, and she wasn't talking about anything that had happened since then, so her instinct had been right, and this girl was new.

"I was at the circus," she said. "You're right, it was weird, even by Negaverse standards." The carnage there seemed to be at least getting through to Anser, which was probably good in some ways, but it wasn't easy seeing someone she was starting to like get upset. Her own expression stayed calm and logical. "They're not usually much for illusions. That's the first time anything like that had happened in the six years that I've been around, unless I missed something." While that was very possible, as when Cybele came out at all, she tended to hunt youma rather than information on Negaverse attacks, she was a bit unnerved at the thought that they could be starting to get more tricks up their sleeves. Her lips curled a little as she continued. "Last time they took over a carnival, I got thrown off of a roller coaster, for example," she said. "Then everyone was very into setting things on fire for awhile, sometimes senshi, too."

She stopped her brief reminiscing and managed a smile. "I don't recommend fire, by the way. Honking, yes. Wrecking, yes. Hunting, yes. Fire just tends to, um, backfire." She paused then, not sure how to be serious without getting too scary. "So, I'm serious about being careful, all right? Things can get rough." Also, Cybele really, really did not want to loose anymore fresh faced young allies.

"Teams are good for that. Allies are good for that," she said, continuing to spout off advice that she had never once taken back when she was a basic. Then, she gave a proper smile again. "And yes, I do think we make a pretty great team. Oh, I know!" She summoned her cell phone and held it up, a questioning look in her eyes.

And then, Anser was excited about how long she'd been a senshi. Cybele looked straight down at the grass, a blush very quickly starting to creep across her cheeks. It wasn't even that she was feeling old. Well, mostly. It was a bit unnerving that Anser almost looked like a child even though she herself couldn't have been that much older when she first was awakened, but that was an existential crisis she could deal with later. Being seen as an experienced veteran was really wasn't sitting right. She wasn't even an eternal, she ended up being the one hunted more often than not, and she'd barely ever managed to actually save anyone.

Anser was being sweet about it, though. So, so sweet. "Well, off and on," Cybele mumbled, waving a hand and looking for a change of subject. Fire. All right.

"In theory, fire can be useful. It can be a distraction, and it can keep people in or out of places." She returned to a more lighthearted smile. "Basically, it can seem like a good idea at the time."

It seemed like the other senshi was much more interested in the phones, though, which was mildly concerning. There was a half formed thought about technology obsessed teenagers floating across Cybele's mind, but to be fair having someone to call on was probably much more important than lengthy talks about tactics that thankfully seemed to have died down. Still, hopefully at least some of the danger talk had gotten through her skull.

At least she was enthusiastic about teaming up and being allies. Her energy was contagious. Cybele grinned. "Of course! That sounds lovely! Let's see..." She squinted at her phone, looking through the apps, which were not labeled for some reason. She tapped on the one with a face on it, and in a flash, Anser's information showed up on her phone. "All right," she said, turning her screen to show Anser. "This makes it official!"

It was always a nice feeling to meet someone who was still in the honeymoon phase of discovering this magical world, especially when they were bold and bright eyed. Cybele didn't always believe their optimism, especially if they were claiming that she was powerful or smart or that kind of thing just because she had been around for long enough to have mostly figured out what was going on. It still made her happy, though. She kept up the grin. It was sort of nice to have someone falling head over heels at the thought of being your friend.

She gritted her teeth at the button mashing, suddenly realizing that she hadn't had a chance to explain the phone's strange, magical features, but everything seemed to work out all right. It looked like Anser's enthusiasm on its own wasn't enough to get them whisked off to space. Her own phone wasn't buzzing with a distress signal that would bring a crowd to their location. They'd just been registered as contacts. Cybele exhaled. That was at least a little bit reassuring. The fact that the girl seemed to have been listening was even better. Her smile widened.

"See, you're getting it! These sorts of things are the same as anything else. Work smarter, not harder." She shifted her weight back and forth, not sure if that was the right snippet of advice the end on here. "Or smarter and harder. The stakes out here are high, so being smart is important for keeping you safe... and for making things easier for you."

Anser's strong feelings about fighting the Negaverse so early on were a rare find, and they might even help keep her alive. Cybele didn't want to discourage that to much.

"For example, teaming up to corner a youma is easier than chasing it for an hour," she said.

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on any auras that might be nearby, but it seemed they had dealt with the only problem in this park. "All right," she said. "It doesn't seem like anything else is around, so I think I'm going to head out. Again, good job tonight!" She started to turn around and then stopped.

"Oh, and call me if you want to wreck anything," she finished with a bit of a sparkle in her eyes.