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He'd taken the long way home, looping around enough places to leave an inconsistent trail before powering down once confirming he was alone. He pulled out his cell to check his location and whether or not he could get home in a reasonable time or if he should just make arrangements with Lyft or Uber.

In the end, Uber won out.

Arin thanked the driver as he slid out of the car, passing the guy in the front a tip. He checked to make sure he had his phone and keys before heading upstairs to rejoin his fiancee-- his fiancee-- in their apartment.

The door was locked behind him as he toed his shoes off, tucking them just off to the side of the door. He shrugged out of his coat, glancing over to where Luc sat on the couch before following the soft glow of the computer screen. He leaned over the back of the couch, brushing a light kiss to his lover's temple. "Made it home in once piece."

"I didn't get into a physical fight, if that's what you mean by 'uneventful'." He laughed softly as he reached over, running his fingers through Luc's hair before standing straight. During the ride home he'd thought about how to broach this conversation; what the best way to tell Luc about how his night had gone would be.

The final answer as that there was no 'best way' and no matter what happened it wouldn't be 'simple'. He'd put himself in danger; exposed his past to someone who could be a very real threat. He could have left his name out of things; could have left the claim of being a former Negaverse officer empty, but right there in that moment he'd felt it more important that she know.

Sighing, Arin slid around to the other side of the couch, dropping down onto the cushions beside his lover. He looked to Luc for a moment as he closed his eyes, running his fingers back through chunky locks of silver hair. "I crossed paths with a General tonight-- Not one that we've met before, but she was wearing an amulet with the symbol of Corvus on it."

"She approached me." He hadn't exactly been hiding, using his knight magic to create a beacon in the night to draw anyone to him. He'd wanted some form of communication, had half expected a confrontation...

"She asked me if I knew that there were monsters and things that go bump in the night and I let her know that I used to be one." He made a soft sound caught somewhere between an unimpressed laugh and a snort, hand coming down to rest atop Lucien's. "I told her that Corvus was a mutual friend of ours and that I couldn't imagine she was all too happy to have had something of hers taken, unless it was given freely. It-- She said that C had traded the charm for her starseed, and that didn't sound like something she would have done either. It had to have happened before the s**t-show with that Nega team."

The pieces weren't all there and try as he might he couldn't grasp them enough to put them together. It didn't matter in the long run when it had happened, or that it had happened at all. The pendant had been a sign that opened lines of communication that he might not have had otherwise and that was the important part.

"She wanted to know whether or not I'd been forced to stray from the Negaverse, so I told her that it didn't work that way. I don't know why I told her as much as I did. I thought I was getting through to her." He drew in a breath, letting it out as a deep sigh as he drew his hand away from his lover's. "She's got a starseed that she wears on her belt. It's like I thought if I could get through to her there would be a chance to save both of them."

"It doesn't always work that way, Luc. I can't just drag one of you along to tag along with me when I go out looking for late night conversations with Negaverse officers. They can pick up on auras just like we can." If one of them sensed something was off it could turn a whole situation to s**t within seconds. There were so many lines that he couldn't take the risk of crossing in the dangerous game he played.

"Sumi or Eta would be the best to bring along. You can't sense either of them until you're right on top of them, but they've got important things to do as well." Arin puffed out another frustrated huff of air, running his fingers through his hair before rising to his feet to pace across the living room. Generals were supposed to be more certain. They were supposed to be the monsters that went bump in the night; terrors that roamed the streets looking for those they could corrupt. Maybe the one he'd crossed paths with had been like that at one point. Maybe she still was, deep down, but something about her had seemed so conflicted that he couldn't just let it go.

"I don't have a way of finding any of them again after talking to them. We can't communicate between factions..." It turned into a matter of hoping that they found him, good or bad. It was why he had to make sure that he was recognizable if this was how he was going to live the powered side of his life. "How can we make a difference if we can't get through to them?"

"They're not threatening but you know just as well as I do that either of them would be a risk to have around with a General." It would be a liability that he couldn't afford and a risk he wasn't willing to take. If something happened to either of them because he had a moment of irresponsibility while trying to get through to someone...

Arin paused, lifting a hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose before rubbing at his face. As his hand dropped back down to his side he looked across the room to his lover. "I know that it's not me versus them, Luc. I know that I'm not alone and I promise that I'm not trying to do this alone, but..." He didn't know how to go about explaining to his fiancee what he felt or why. The conversation tonight could have gone drastically different if he hadn't been alone. It could have gone much worse.

"I've got my signet ring upgraded now. I can reach out to you, to any of you, if I'm in trouble. I wasn't in trouble tonight..." Tonight just had a chance of causing trouble in the future.

"I can't promise you that, Luc. You know I won't make a promise to you that I can't keep." There was no way for him to guarantee that he would always have someone with him when he powered up. He could agree to try. He could make more of an effort to, but he couldn't make that promise.

"I don't go out alone often. Haven't much really since that first run-in with Arachne when he clocked me and you got worried about it." He wandered back across the living room, pausing in front of his lover. He reached down, running his fingers gently back through Luc's hair. "I love you. I know that doesn't solve everything, but I do, and I don't do this, any of this, to make you worry."

He leaned down, brushing his lips to the center of Luc's forehead. He leaned back, looking his lover for a moment before drawing the other man to his feet with the hold he'd taken on his hands. "Sweetheart, we're going to have to set a date first... Decide on a venue, hire a band... And who are we going to get to be our photographer?" His tone remained teasingly soft, words peppered with gentle kisses to the other man's lips in brief pauses.

"Do you have any work that you need to finish up? Or can I keep finding ways to distract you?"