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Encke was relieved.

Over the past few days, he had done nothing but run into chaotic auras, getting himself into fight after fight. To feel no chaotic aura on the horizon was nice. It probably meant they were elsewhere in the city, but perhaps he had chased them out of this area for now. If he had managed to get one night of peace, that would be enough.

(One night of peace, for everyone except the man whose starseed had been taken, and the woman who was with him, who probably would be horrified by what she had been witness to for years, and no peace for that woman who was likely still in the hospital--)

Encke coughed. His lungs still hurt.

It didn't seem that there were no auras out tonight, though. Encke felt, with surprise, a very clear and obvious hum of what was likely a high level senshi -- higher level than him for sure -- cutting through his senses. He turned towards the source, curious, especially once he felt it coming closer to him.

Oh.

She glowed, like he did. Her markings seemed more extensive than his. Did they stretch up her entire side?

Was the aura that was practically screaming at him signal a --

Transcendent Senshi somehow managed to sound more pretentious than just "Transcendence" did. He was impressed.

"Encke," offered Encke, in response, raising a hand, because there was no point in not giving his name. Encke's lips curved into a grin. "No need for formal titles." Please. Did that mean his full title was technically Transcendent Senshi Super Sailor Encke of Plasma? That was a mouth full...

"And you?" He paused. She was clearly trying to get his attention for a reason. Maybe he should ask for elaboration. "Can I help with something?"

One moment she was in front of him, calling his name as Transcendent Senshi. The next moment, she was right in his face, touching a hand to his cheek.

He was fairly sure some of the glowing from around his eyes was lighting up her hand.

A few years ago, Encke might have locked up at being touched by a stranger, but several years of professional acting and also some professional help caused him to keep cool, even if his brow quirked as he watched her. What exactly was she up to? "Great. Transcendent senshi sounds a little ... pretentious anyway, doesn't it?" Who even came up with that name? She seemed like she had been transcendent for longer than him, maybe she knew--

Encke's thought processes slammed to a halt as he noticed that Methone--that was her name, he caught that after a few more seconds--was turning his face this way and that. After a second or so, Encke's thoughts came back online, and his shoulders relaxed. She seemed to be taking a look at his forehead, if he was following her eyes correctly. (She was really close.) The symbol of his comet had branded itself there. Well, he figured it was the symbol of his comet; it seemed to strongly resemble the general symbol for comets from his internet research, so he was fairly sure that was what it was.

"Ah, if by early on you mean at super level, yeah... I've been a senshi for a while."

His grin was a bit sheepish at that admission.

Of course, it didn't stay that way for long. Encke always enjoyed a flirt, and the sheepishness cracked into a wide grin when she remarked that he was handsome. "I try to be. You're quite beautiful yourself." She was, honestly. Her uniform didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination, but that didn't particularly matter. He was fairly sure her form would have been pretty even if it was covered from head to toe like some of those knights were-- "But yeah, I know about transcendence. Sorta. I mean, I know what I've gathered from talking to Scholomance."

Would that name ring a bell with her?

"He's doing some research on it. But yeah, I've figured out I seem to have more energy and I can also go visit Encke more often, which is pretty awesome."

He paused.

"And I know that I'm glowing like some kind of light stick..."

Encke winked when she noted her appreciation, because of course he did.

"Sounds like I'm a bit of a rarity so far as these transcendent types go, eh?" Encke had figured what happened to him was rare, especially considering the fact that people seemed to be actively researching it, but he hadn't realized just how rare until he talked to people about it more. It seemed being second level made it even rarer. He had to wonder if it was at all related to his age as a senshi, which she thankfully didn't seem to comment on. It was rather hard to admit how long he had been a senshi, especially considering he still seemed to be a super--

Ah, so Methone did know Scholomance. Maybe he'd have to ask Scholomance later what the connection was. It'd be nice to have a better idea of who knew who on the Order side. He had learned networking was a valuable skill a long time ago in his industry...

Since there was a connection there, he decided to fill in a bit further, so far as he could seeing as he wasn't actually Scholomance. He might have tapped his chin if she wasn't caressing his arms, but as it was, he pursed his lips. "Not sure if he's trying to transcend himself. He's in the data collection phase at the moment."

Hopefully he could find some useful data for all of them.

-- Wait, he hadn't heard anything of giving his energy before.

"Really? I can do that?"

He supposed he felt highly energetic as it was, moreso than he had before he had transcended. Maybe it was possible to expel that energy in ways other than just exercising more and visiting his homeworld? Not that Encke minded having a lot of energy, but the idea that he could do something healing for others, especially after he had witnessed so much hurt in the past few days--

Could he have provided his energy to the woman that piped part-monster had taken energy from?

It was possible he had boosted powers too, from the sound of it. He had no idea how he would find out which one he had. He hadn't noticed any significant difference in his powers, though...

"We're a little obvious out here," offered Encke, with a laugh. "But could you ... show me? How would I do that?"

Even basic senshi? He supposed if he could transcend, it might be theoretically possible for a first level senshi to transcend. That was curious. Had it happened before? Could it happen?

Did they need to be at first-level even longer than he had been?

"Fear more than?" asked Encke, wondering why she was cutting herself off. Why did she fear Scholomance not becoming transcendent? His knowledge of transcendence was admittedly still rather limited, although not as limited as it had been, it seemed. Was there something more to all of this that he wasn't aware of? Well, besides for the whole energy transfer part--

Encke watched as she took his hands and laced her fingers with his. He kept quiet for the moment, following the motion of their entwined hands to her face and watching as something seemed to change -- oh. Her forehead was glowing brighter, now. Were the rest of her markings glowing too? He glanced downwards, attempting to get a look at her leg, where he had seen the star pattern snaking its way up. The pattern was pretty, admittedly. His was a little less patterned and more blocks of brightness, but the pattern suited Methone well--

Oh.

The warmth filled out from his fingertips, coursing through his body. It felt like he had just taken a sip of ramen broth out of a pot on the oven. He closed his eyes and let it soak in, for a moment.

His chuckle was warm when he replied to her, eyes fluttering open. "I do, actually," in case it wasn't obvious already by the oddly blissful expression on his face. He could see the comparison to having a good night with someone. Too bad he couldn't tell Richard much about what happened here. Maybe he could find some way to --

Stop it.

"That's," he laughed, unable to think of another word but, "amazing." Methone implied he could do that too, if that was the ability he had been given, but he didn't know how to even approach that. Just focus on it, she said?

"Should I try seeing if that's what I got?"

He didn't want to just ... shove energy back at her. It felt amazing but that also sounded kind of weird.

It took a few moments to put it together, but when he did, Encke's expression suddenly changed to one of surprise.

Wait, what did she just imply?

Encke let it toss over in his head a little bit, as she explained how he could perhaps try to transfer energy himself. It meant that perhaps he wasn't paying one hundred percent attention, but he got the jist of what she was saying -- pretend he was passing a sun to Methone. He could do that.

But he also avoided corruption?

That seemed to be what she was implying. It sounded like she wasn't certain it was a complete block, but she said that it was 'harder' for them to be corrupted. Just the idea that it could be harder to be --

Something flashed in his mind for a moment. He buried it down with a gulp.

Focus, Encke. There was no point in tormenting himself.

"So, like a bright power within me? Sounds a little cheesy," remarked Encke, with a laugh. It wasn't mocking, though -- if he could legitimately do what Methone just did, cheesy or not, that was amazing. Perhaps he could actually do things to help instead of just ... constantly ... hurting.

Not that the Negaverse didn't need the constant hurt... but he'd like to help civilians. He'd like to help allies. If he could do that in ways beyond burning his enemies--

Encke squeezed her hands slightly, and closed his eyes.

It took a moment for him to seek out what the power was inside him. The first thing he thought of was his comet, and its tall spires that shot electricity from one building to another. He thought of The Fountain, which was flowing now. He thought of the way energy flowed on his planet, even if it wasn't this kind of bright, warm energy. Could he tap into that?

It surprised him when his hands felt warm. It surprised him even more when he was able to look to Methone, and will that warmth to leave his fingers.

When she reacted to it, Encke's wonderment changed over to excitement. He did manage to give her energy. It certainly felt like he had. He felt what felt like a piece of something inside him moving towards her.

He could actually do more.

He could.

"Not at all," replied Encke, with a laugh. As intimate as it was, especially considering their still joined hands, Encke couldn't be happier. Any hesitance that he had occasionally with close contact--as much as that had been muffled over the years--had been diminished to nothing. The idea that he could actually help someone who had been harmed by Chaos with something from himself, instead of just endlessly chasing down Chaos agents...

Perhaps now, he could restore energy to a fallen civilian so they could run while he actually chased down the Chaos agent. Maybe he could permanently chase them away.

... Permanently chasing them had implications he didn't like, so he would move on from that.

"That was pretty cool, actually," replied Encke, looking back at their hands. "It felt like electricity, kind of? I guess that makes sense, my sphere is plasma, but ... It felt like a warm spark that flowed through my body, into my fingers, and then it vanished. It seems it went into you." He couldn't help winking, because of course he didn't. It seemed appropriate.

He paused, and continued. "I've noticed that, actually. Ever since I transcended, it seems like so much on my comet has come alive, you know? There's actually water flowing on my comet now. Water. Can you believe that?" ... Probably. Most living beings seemed to need water. But comets that had any traces of water on them just had them in the form of ice, not actual flowing water. It seemed to mostly be flowing out of The Fountain, but still.

It was flowing.

Admittedly, he didn't expect to be whisked away to someone else's homeworld tonight, but it would be hard to find a complaint from Encke.

He loved space.

It was good that Methone let go of his hand, because he would have wandered off anyway. He wanted to look around. He wanted to breathe in the air -- it smelled like something he would have smelled when he was on an on-site set at a beach. Was Methone a beach planet? Of course, he smelled the jungle too, and it created the feeling of a relaxing beach.

It was beautiful.

"I don't mind at all," murmured Encke, almost reverent. (He really loved space, okay.) He wandered over to one of the nearby trees, looking up to observe it. She said there were fruits and vegetables on her planet. Encke wasn't sure he had any of that, or at least anything he recognized as fruits and vegetables. He did have plants, though. Maybe he should try eating some of them? He didn't exactly want to poison himself... "There's plants on my comet too," offered Encke, with a grin, turning over his shoulder. "There's this really cool flower that has glowing bulbs?"

His comet was just bursting back to life, but it seemed Methone's had burst back to life. He loved it. It felt like ... felt like a vacation resort, almost. The images he could see reminded him of one. "Seems like a paradise here."

It felt like a resort someone might go to in South America, what with the rainforest and the beaches going on. Well, maybe except for the aurora. That was definitely different than what would be able to be seen in most parts of South America.

But this wasn't South America, it was Methone.