Welcome to Gaia! ::

Some of the students had already finished with their exams and work loads for the semester, and a small handful, the really lucky ones, had taken the last exams they'd ever had to. Baikal was one of the few, and had been in great spirits since the weight of the classes had been completely lifted off his shoulders. He was still going to have to apply that knowledge and get a better job than the part time wage he pulled in from the thrift store he currently worked at, but...

There was plenty of time to worry about that later. For now, he was going to enjoy the illusion of freedom.

Part of that freedom meant being able to power up and patrol with some measure of consistency again. He missed the added strength and speed, the spontaneity, the thrills that came from a random run in in the night. Bars were fun, but since waking as a page, they just couldn't really compete.

He didn't notice the other knight nearby, yet. But no doubt they noticed him as he made his way across the rooftops of a few of the centrally located student dorms.

He felt the intensity of the strong aura before he heard the voice, which was all that kept him from startling at the greeting. Slowing to a stop, Baikal did a quick search of the dark to find the owner of the voice before raising a hand in greeting, features pulled in pleasant curiosity. "Hello yourself."

If Baikal stuck out, this knight wasn't much better in white jacket and the bows. He looked as if he'd stepped out of the Victorian era, sort of. All prim and polished with a hint of something that wasn't at home in parties in ballrooms.

"Ganymede, right?" He had seen one or two in the past when they'd gathered in mass, but Baikal hadn't met any of them official. Until now, he supposed.

Platinum brows arched, perplexed by that oddly ominous introduction. And I thought Hydor seemed salty about the whole powered thing. Except this wasn't that exactly, this seemed different. Not an issue with the powers or the war itself, but something else.

He glanced down at himself at the question, and smiled as he shook his head. "Naw, Mercury. More Tron, less Nutcracker ballet." Or that was how Baikal saw it, at least.

"Not so far. Hopefully it stays that way." It'd be nice to not have to go chasing after youma in this heat.

Baikal chuckled. "Well, you aren't wrong. We're both wintery, on a whole." It was just the secondary aesthetic that varied between them. Polaris seemed more classical militaristic, and Mercury was very rooted in science and technology.

The smile faded off at the comment of youmas being past knights, and he as half inclined to ask what the other knight meant by that. Except he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

"A few, I suppose. There was this fast ******** youma the other day that looked like a cross between a lizard and some speedy insect." His lips twitched at the memory. That beasty had been a challenge to bring down. "Met another page. She rushed in to give me a hand with it."

That creeping sense of overall wrong Baikal had gotten upon first introductions had lingered, bubbling up higher and higher the more this other knight talked, and finally boiled over at that last so casual question. The page blinked at him, startled.

It wasn't that he wasn't aware that there were individuals in the war willing to capture, torment, or kill. He'd seen it first hand at prison. It was how blasé they seemed to be about it. Like it was nothing, meant nothing.

"No." None of the fights he'd gotten into were that bad. Most ended perfectly amicably. "No, there's been no need for that."

Gevaudan was reminding the page rather unpleasantly of Thraen.

Baikal could feel the hairs starting to stand up along the back of his neck and had his arms been bare it'd be standing up there as well. Everything this Knight said was just...off. Wrong. Off putting.

He watched, stony featured, as the Ganymede knight summoned a rather impressive meteor hammer that clanged loudly as it hit the pavement at their feet. As he brought that cool gaze up again he drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly before holding out his hand to summon his snowball.

"I don't seem to be properly equipped for war." It wasn't as if he were naive to what was going on. He'd just chosen not to take a hard stand one way or another. Things weren't black and white, and he wasn't going to attack unprompted, and sure as hell wasn't out for blood.

Fingers tensed around the packed snow and the chilly ball crumbled, falling from his hand in pieces.

Baikal blinked, frowning at the other knight. "I don't know you." Which was the truth. "But I won't say some of the things you're saying don't make me uneasy."