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Mag Mell had not ventured far from the members of the senshi team he patrolled with since the night Corvus had transcended. Many realizations were had that evening, including the most important one: they were stronger together. It was much better if they worked in tandem with one another, pairing off, partnering up... Whatever anyone wanted to call it, it was safer if they didn't go alone.

It was also harder to have conversations with Negaverse officers. It was harder to present oneself as someone who wasn't a threat to them; to come off as a player from the opposite team who just wanted to have a chat.

Part of who Mag Mell viewed himself as, beyond a Knight of Cosmos, was a communicator-- ideally a converter. He wanted to reach out Negaverse officers and let them know that there were other options. When it came to paths they could choose and they didn't have to be sucked in by the Negaverse. It was possible and he was proof of that.

Of course, on the subject of proof, he only had so much that he was once a Negaverse officer. He had his name, a mineral call signal that he had once answered to, and he had his medals, proof of his years of service and the rank he had achieved... But who was to say he was telling the truth? That he had not just stolen that name and those medals?

The Cosmos Knight sighed softly as he continued his pass around the park, idly turning one of his cards in his hand. From time to time he would channel a flicker of energy into it, just enough to send out a shining flash as the energy released. Each gleam was brief, no more than the sun would make glinting off of metal in daylight. Daylight was hours past, but that did not keep him from trying to be a beacon of light in the night.

"That I am." He said with a smile every bit as warm and bright as the glow that had been emanating from the card. He tucked the card back into his sash for safe keeping, sweeping his cloak filled with shimmering threads made to look like a sea of stars behind him only to bow with a flourish. "Mag Mell, Knight of Cosmos at your service. Provided you-- Oh."

He paused as he glanced up just in time to see her thumb brush over something. With the distance between them and the dark of the night, nevermind the darkness of the object itself, it was hard to tell for certain, but... If he squinted a bit as he straightened out, moving slowly in order to keep his eyes at that level for just a bit longer, he could almost make out a very familiar symbol.

"I am well aware that there are monsters and things that go bump in the night-- I used to be one of them." He straightened himself out slowly, keeping his eyes on the woman before him as he did so. She was a General, that much he could tell from the energy signature she gave off, and she had to be a strong one if she'd managed to snag a trinket from Corvus... Assuming the cabochon charm belonged to her.

"Then a little bird-- a mutual friend of ours, I'll hazard a guess, given that charm you've got there-- helped me find my way back onto the path I was meant to be on. I owe her my life, and I am going to assume she was none too pleased that you took that from her." He spoke with amusement and made no movement to attack, simply imagining how irritated Corvus must have been. From time to time irritating her was still one of his favorite habits, although that was certainly more a perk of being a childhood friend of hers in civilian form.

"Unless she gave it to you freely, in which case I'm sorry for the assumption."

He should have taken her threats more seriously, and maybe he would have if there wasn't something missing from the nature of them. She seemed far too worn, to beaten to be much of a threat-- not that he didn't think she was one when at her best, only that she was not one to him now.

"Knowing Corvus as I do, she would not have gone willingly and I happen to know firsthand how much of a punch she packs." He brought his hand up, rubbing at his jaw as though to sympathize. It had been some time since Corvus had clocked him, but the General needn't know that and he had little need to continue egging her on-- at least not with Corvus.

He reached up slowly so as to not startle her with any sudden movement, flipping his cloak back off of his shoulder to reveal the two medals he bore on his chest. Two stars rested above four bars; he'd been a Captain with four years in the Negaverse under his belt, so close to that fifth bar...

"I've started to believe that things happen for a reason. I am telling you such a thing because it's something you need to hear, or maybe it's something I need to say. That you're listening to me means that there's a small part of you that's curious." His shoulders lifted in a shrug, the smile on his face more bright and gentle than it had any right to be. Mag Mell was charming, if anything; a bit of a flirt even on the worst days.

"It doesn't work that way-- leaving the Negaverse. They, we, can't force anyone. It has to be your choice. It was my choice. I can't tell you how I felt as Captain Richterite, but I know that my civilian life was miserable. I was alone so often that my heart ached and there wasn't much that I took joy in.... Any of that sound familiar?"

... I can't ever fathom leaving the Negaverse. Leaving my home.

Her words struck a chord within him and for a moment it felt as though something were gripping at his chest. The pain of it almost took his breath away, a part of him responding to something that he had once felt. His memories of Richterite were gone, but he knew how much the Negaverse had meant to Rikard Colby; how important it had been to have somewhere that he felt like he belonged.

"If it would make you to feel better to believe that I pilfered these medals to wear as trophies, much like the baubles that dangle from your belt,so be it. I know the truth of my words. I know how good it felt to belong to something special. I remember that it was one of the few things I looked forward to when I was struggling to make it through the day as a civilian." It had been so hard after Lysander had left. One more person gone. The thought was there and then it vanished, chased away by the thought of the warmth of his fiance's smile.

"Captain Richterite died of complications suffered as a result of head trauma received during a failed mission in which he was the commanding officer. He left behind no one who would remember him.... And he had no regrets." He met her braveness with honesty, a softened smile and sad eyes.

"I wish I could tell you what it felt like to have that weight lifted off of me, to finally be myself. There is no darkness shadowing my every thought, no fear hiding in the shadows. I joined the Negaverse because I wanted a family, because I needed to belong.... And do you know what I found in leaving?" He spun his signet ring slowly on his finger, an idle fidget in place of fondling the cards he had tucked into his belt. "I found the warmth of a true home. There's no second guessing and no one gets left behind."

If he was on her list, so be it. If he'd just invited the fight to come to him, that's what he had always expected. He couldn't just sit around and hide anymore. It would be a disservice to everything that he had gone through to get where he now was.

"It's hardly a secret if I wear it on my chest, is it? It's an invitation-- to find me, to fight me, to talk. Think on that as you ponder your trophies, General."

At that moment Mag Mell, Knight of Cosmos should have been frightened. He should be concerned that the General who stood before him would come through with her threat. He should be worried that she would rally troops and hunt him down.

He wasn't.

Mag Mell knew in the deepest part of his heart that no matter what happened, no matter what the threat, he would not face it alone. He had Arsinoe and Corvus and the start of the Court that was forming around them. He had Celsus and the Knights of the Phoenix Order. He had a place where he belonged. He had a family.

"That's where you're wrong, General. There is escape and one day, when you're ready to find your own I'll be here waiting. We can return that starseed to Cosmos together and see about setting right the scales. All you've gotta do is let me know when." He said simply with a confident smile that turned into a lightly teasing smirk despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Or you can attack me now. Your choice."