Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shikora glanced up from her work, looking out a window.

The sun was setting. If her siblings was here, they'd be berating her. Go home, they'd say. You've done enough for the day. Go have a social life, even.

It was like they were right next to her, even if they were back in California.

Normally, Shikora ignored the sounds of her siblings nagging her within her own head, but she decided that, for once, maybe she'd listen to their advice. She plucked up her phone, tapped out a "Happy now?" message to her siblings, because of course they'd understand, and packed her things up to go. She had no more patients today. There would be time to sort through more paperwork tomorrow.

There was always time to sort through more paperwork.

It took a few minutes, but soon, she was stepping outside of her practice and fishing out a key to lock the door behind her. At least it was nice out. Shikora could appreciate how fresh and warm the breeze felt, especially considering how cold it had been recently. For April, the weather had not been terribly pleasant.

She thought she saw something move up above, and her eyes flickered up to the side nervously, but she took a deep breath. Nothing was there, nothing was there...

It had been years, she needed to stop being paranoid already.

Shikora sighed, tucking her key into her purse. It was fine. She just needed to start walking.

Shikora turned around, grasping onto her purse strap with one hand, and started to walk.

Just in time for someone to fall rather suddenly, from above, in front of her.

Shikora couldn't help the squeak that escaped from her lips as she jumped back, instantly going into a defensive mode. She grabbed her purse with both hands and shoved it over her heart defensively, not sure if it would actually accomplish anything, but figuring that an extra layer of defense may stop hands from going where they humanly should not.

She let out some pants, eyes wide.

Her heart rate soon slowed, though, and she dropped her guard when the person in front of her actually greeted her. She took another moment to look over his garb, and realized he did not seem to have the same dark sickly military garb that struck fear into her heart. He was wearing ... armor? It was different. It looked like he accidentally escaped from one of those festivals where people acted like they lived in the European Middle Ages on purpose.

"Ah, it's," she breathed, an awkward smile on her face, "okay. I'm fine."

He didn't seem interested in grabbing into her chest, so she instantly moved into her motherly mode, cautiously moving to take a closer look at his legs. She presumed he had lost his balance, somehow. Perhaps she had seen someone on the roof. "Are you alright? Do you need some help?"

He was following her? At that, her brows shot up for a moment, but she didn't question him aloud. Instead, she was more internally confused. Why was a man in literal shining armor following her around to make sure she got anywhere safely?

Was he an alternative to those chest-diamond-grabby types?

Camelot? "You mean like, Knights of the Round Table Camelot?" asked Shikora, her tone mildly incredulous. Camelot was a place, wasn't it? Not a person? And never mind that-- why he was he dressed like a medieval knight calling himself Camelot? Was he alright? Shikora supposed she had already seen and experienced stranger, and Camelot, if that was his real name, warned that he probably seemed more insane than he actually was, but...

Hm.

Make no assumptions was the best route, and Shikora cleared her throat.

"You did startle me," Shikora smiled sheepishly, rubbing at her neck with her free hand. "But you didn't put me into a coma or anything, so I think I'll be okay. What... what are you?"

At least he was acknowledging she was skeptical. Because she was.

Why on Earth was someone running around naming themselves after the Knights of the Round Table's Castle Camelot? And ... the place Camelot? She shifted, for a moment, and almost gave into the instinct to defensively cross her arms, but she didn't, keeping herself in an open posture.

Well, besides for her hands tightly holding her purse in front of her hips.

A ... knight. She guessed that fit the name. But what he was saying, things in the city that were very dangerous. She knew that. She had ... been in a coma, for similar reasons. She had also been through a mirror. She had seen large spiders and had to help a man run away with her when she had made the mistake of going to a Halloween Gala (she was still pretty sure he was trying to impress her, but--). Shikora was unfortunately familiar with the fact that this city was dangerous.

Hell, it was part of the reason why she had even moved here.

"I know this place is dangerous, you don't need to tell me twice." Shikora offered a sad smile, in return. Her posture relaxed just that bit further, and she swung her purse back over her shoulder. He clearly wasn't a threat to her. "I," she cleared her throat, "have some experience with the gang war going on here. I've been pulled into a mirror. I've seen some," a cough, "extraordinarily large spiders."

That was the best way to describe it.

"It's a supernatural gang war, I guess. But you're different. I haven't seen a Knight before."

At least, not that she could recall.

"Only seen those military-types up close."

At the mention of not being able to wake up, Shikora shifted, perhaps making it obvious that much was true.

What perhaps made it even more obvious was the fact that she pulled at her collar, and murmured a, "Yeah." She pointed to her chest once Camelot stopped talking, circling the middle with her finger. "I know what it's like to not wake up. I'm not sure why I did wake up, honestly. They took something from me. I assume I have it back, now."

She had to, right? There was no way she'd be standing otherwise.

Shikora remembered waking up from her coma. She remembered that her parents and her siblings had flown in from California just to make sure she was alright. They were fairly sure that they were flying in so they could plan her funeral. Who knew that she was actually going to wake up? There was no sign that she would, from what she understood, and her vitals kept dropping--

She cleared her throat.

"I am in one piece, yes. And I can reach out to others, and help out. Having a deeper understanding of what's happening here helps me as a psychologist." She fidgeted slightly. Shikora didn't like talking about what had happened to her, because her primary concerns were the needs of others, but it legitimately sounded like Camelot was a good guy. He was here to protect them, and he was talking about what happened to people in the city. She could tell him what happened. Maybe he could explain more.

And, also, hearing that there was a safe haven of sorts was nice. Maybe she could let some of her patients know. "I'll have to remember that, the library. I assume you work there?"

Could he even tell her that?

She supposed it would be odd for one of these knights to work anywhere, but she assumed they were not a knight at all times. Right? Perhaps they were. She supposed she had never actually asked.

Not that she had ever had the chance to...

Shikora might need to see if it was possible to research that aspect, but either way, if he kept regular patrols at the library, it was likely a safer place than most spots. She would keep that in mind if any of her patients seemed to be particularly traumatized by the fight in the city. Perhaps she could give them some safer places to be, at least at some times of the day.

While she didn't mind talking to him, it seemed that Camelot was about ready to take himself back to the sky. She smiled sheepishly, replying, "Don't worry about it," as she shifted her bag once again to get herself back ready for her walk. She supposed it probably was about time to head back home, at least. Maybe she could actually make some food for herself...

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Camelot. Perhaps we'll cross paths again?"

It sounded like crossing paths with him might not be the best thing, considering he was there to protect them from bad things, but perhaps his presence would keep those of that dark military away.

And that wasn't so bad.