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Richtersveld had no moral quandary about attacking monsters.

As a psychologist, as a doctor who took care of patients, one of her primary mantras was that she would Do No Harm. Doing harm to her fellow man meant that she wasn't doing her job. Those people could need her help. Those people may have needed her help as civilians. Instead of attacking them, it was better to offer her hand and turn her other cheek. Perhaps all they needed was a good conversation, or someone to talk to.

She did not need to allow things that were hurting people to continue to do so, though. If one of these Negaverse Agents was attacking people, she would attack them back, as they were doing harm. And there was even less of a quandary with monsters. So far as she could tell, they contained no humanity, driven only by a desire to kill humans.

And so, she had attacked the monster she came across.

She hadn't noticed the other aura in the vicinity, too focused on taking the monster out, and jumped when the agent spoke to her.

Richtersveld gulped, pulling awkwardly at her collar as she observed the other man approaching her, glancing down her nose at him.

... Wait, was he brandishing a ... scabbard?

Where was the ... sword?

"Maybe we can talk about this?" asked Richtersveld, offering a strained smile. "Instead of you trying to stab me with a nonexistent sword?"

"The youma didn't seem to be capable of talking--"

The protest was cut off as the lieutenant started to advance towards her. Cautiously, she started to back away, taking a look behind her to see if she could find any escape routes. Sadly, it wasn't like any were super obvious...

"Do you plan on cutting me up with a scabbard?" asked Richtersveld, mildly incredulous--did she really want to know how possible it was to do that?--turning her attention back towards the agent. It was then she was rather alarmed to find something charging up towards her face, and she ducked down, attempting to get out of the way of whatever he was planning on doing. If it involved cutting up her face with a scabbard, she wanted no part of it--

She still didn't want to fight him back, though.

It wasn't like he was harming anyone else, only trying to hurt her. And she could take it. There had been a few occasions, earlier in her career, when she had been hit by particularly erratic patients she hadn't known how to handle yet. She deserved it, considering. But it meant that Richtersveld was more than willing to take a few blows.

"Do you often think about ways to kill people more effectively?"

That smile, combined with what he said, would have likely been more disturbing to her if she wasn't naturally so hard to disturb.

Instead, Richtersveld couldn't help herself, going into psychologist mode despite the fact that he was clearly trying to attack her. As he shifted and attempted to swing at her again, Richtersveld asked, "You speak like you've done that before. Does the Negaverse expect you to cut people up?"

Unfortunately, psychoanalyzing her assailant didn't leave her much room to dodge, and the agent managed to smack her in the side with his scabbard of a weapon. She winced, a bit, considering that while it was arguably far less useful than the actual sword would have been, being hit with a scabbard at a relatively high speed still hurt. Richtersveld lifted an arm to rub at her side, but she still didn't make any particular effort to fight back against the agent. Richtersveld didn't see the point.

She could take it.

Richtersveld did take a step or two back, though.

The maybe seemed to be about as good as a yes, considering most people who had definitively not done a thing such as cut people up would have likely said so.

He then added a bit about how he had not had the pleasure of doing so to a woman.

Hm.

Richtersveld frowned.

She knew the Negaverse was cruel. She had suffered a coma at the hands of them, herself. It didn't surprise her that they expected even their most low underlings to behave in such a cruel manner. Did this man actually want to, though? With the way he was acting, with that strange smile, it hinted that he did, but why would he say maybe and not an outright yes if he was truly that cruel? It sounded as if he was trying to dodge around the truth of what he had been expected to do, even if he had admitted it in his very next sentence.

Unfortunately, she didn't exactly give the lieutenant what he wanted, raising an arm, but to splay out her palm to show that she wasn't going to do any harm. "You're free to try that bit of fun if you'd like," offered Richtersveld, voice surprisingly even considering what she was saying, "but I suspect you won't."

She resisted the urge to keel over and clutch at her side again.

Oh, he was definitely dangerous. If he had that ability to reach into her chest like all of the agents seemed to, he was definitely dangerous.

But she had her starseed withdrawn before. Had in fact lived through it before, though she understood that living through having her starseed withdrawn was a rarity. Richtersveld understood now that she had been lucky enough to get hers back before she died. Perhaps she wasn't as afraid as she should have been due to that prior experience, or perhaps she just too foolishly wished to try and help an agent who perhaps on some level seemed to be pretending to want he do what he was doing.

That stalking towards her was definitely convincing, though.

She gulped.

"A game?" She asked, leaning on her back foot to give herself an escape path if she needed one. "What's your game, lieutenant?"

Seemed simple enough.

And simply deadly enough, Richtersveld reminded herself, keeping her weight on her back leg.

If she needed to escape, she definitely needed to be ready. Would she have time to? Would she even notice before his hand sunk into her chest and she found herself frozen there, just like she had the first time, back when she was a civilian and couldn't even defend herself? Of course, she could barely defend herself now. What did she have to defend herself? A terrarium that she hadn't even summoned?

Why would she need to protect herself from him, though? He didn't seem to want to do this. Was he being forced in some way? Would he just yank her starseed to make a point?

Richtersveld worried on her lip for just a moment.

If she was going to reach out to him at all, she needed to trust him, first, even if it was perhaps the riskiest thing she could have done. That was something she had learned well in her years in practice.

"Alright," replied Richtersveld, not letting her voice waver, as she held out her own hand in turn.

Richtersveld's eyes went wide, briefly, when she was yanked closer, but she tried her best to keep calm. This was okay. She'd be okay. She'd be more than okay--

What?

Richtersveld's let her eyes roll down to the lieutenant's hand, and then roll back up to his face, then back to his hand once more. Was this all a ruse to get at her boobs? Very funny. Real good one. Was he going to let go or was he just going to stand there looking like a deer in headlights? Was she going to have to get him off her herself?

He seemed surprised. Had he not expected that to work? Had he intended to actually get at her starseed and missed? Later, Richtersveld--

"Lieutenant!" snapped Richtersveld, with the intention of pulling him out if whatever lusty daze he was in, lifting her arms to attempt to shove him off of and away from her.