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Cybele hadn't had much reason to come to the university since she graduated. As a civilian, she still came once or twice a year to see shows, but her hunts never really brought her this way. Whatever senshi and knights lived in the dorms seemed to be doing a decent job keeping the area clear. Tonight, things were different. Maybe the beginnings of classes or early due dates were throwing people off. In any case, Cybele had followed an aura, and now she was facing down a large squid creature with far too many teeth.

Maybe they were spines and not teeth. In any case, the youma was covered in them, especially the tentacles. It wasn't very fast at moving around, but it just wouldn't stop whipping those tentacles around so that she could jam her heel into its squishy face. It was good she had come over. This one looked very nasty.

Killing it took a while. First, she had to track down a gutter pipe and rip it off the side of a building. Then, she used that to bat aside the tentacles to give her a clear shot, and then she used her magic to pummel the thing into goo and then to dust. She was fairly certain that a few students walked by, but at least they weren't the gawking kind, and by the time she was finished and standing there panting after making quite a spectacle, a bit scratched up and with her shoes covered in squid slime, they were gone.

While in immediate danger of getting her soul eaten or her face ripped open, it was much harder for Cybele to notice what else was going on around her. Subtle things like auras were especially tricky, and when she stood, breathing heavily over the pile of youma dust, the voice came as a complete shock.

She started and then whirled towards the mouth of the alley, letting the gutter pipe fall to the ground when she recognized the aura as Order. For a moment, she was slack jawed and wide eyed, but she shifted to a smile quickly enough. It still wasn't the best presentation, with her sweat-matted bangs and the splattering of goo across her outfit, but things could have been worse.

Things, she had slowly learned, could almost always be worse.

"Oh, hello," she said. Maybe it was just the fact that she'd been patrolling some with a fourteen year old lately, but it seemed strange seeing someone older than her in senshi clothes, especially a basic. Her clothes were lovely, though, and she seemed put together.

Cybele then glanced back down at the dust, considering the question. "This one is dead, but I wouldn't mind company while I look for more." She didn't feel any in the immediate vicinity, but that didn't always mean much, and safety in numbers would be good for both of them. "I'm Cybele," she said. Her usual curtsy seemed even sillier than normal given the circumstances, so she settled for a simple nod.

Cybele took a moment to properly dust off, sending a layer of powder flurrying to the ground. Youma dust had a tendency to get everywhere, which was a reality she'd gotten used to long ago. She just preferred not to leave a trail. Any stubborn bits could stay until she powered down.

She felt the other's senshi's eyes on her as she went through her routine, post battle motions. She rarely even had new senshi watching her like that, but then again, she usually found new senshi in much calmer situations, or she'd somehow impressed them with how she'd fought. This was different. This was honestly just awkward. This other senshi, Pavo, was everything that Cybele was not. She was graceful, and serene, and clean. Cybele stood up a bit straighter and kept up the smile as well as she could, and she walked away from both the remains and the natural dust buildup in the alley and out into the slightly better lighting of the campus proper.

Rusty. That was different than new, and even without further explanation, it seemed to make sense. Cybele nodded at that, and some of the tension dropped out of her shoulders. She'd been there. Plenty of senshi had, and catching someone up shouldn't be harder than starting from the beginning.

"When I can," she said. "Recently it's been fairly often. I have a complicated relationship with destiny, but I'm the Senshi of the Hunt. This is what I'm built for." Her smile shifted to one side.

She broke eye contact and started walking. There wasn't actually a set patrol route, but she could take Pavo more towards the quad. It was at least more open there, and free of any residual grime. "I can try to catch you up if you'd like," she offered. "I don't know if I'm the best at combat training, but if you have any questions or want to know what's been going on lately I should be able to help."

"Oh?" The Middle East? There was an interested tilt to her head and she gave a small smile. As Cybele fell into step beside the other senshi, she also let herself fall into the comfortable rhythm of small talk. "I haven't really been following what's been going on over there. Last I heard, it was a bit calmer." She squinted. "At least, it hasn't really been on the news. I'm glad you were able to get a break, though. I'm sorry the war here still seems to be going strong."

She thought plenty about the war, of course, but she hadn't ever considered that Destiny city might be one of the most violent places in the world. The fighting stretched on and on with no sign of stopping. Sometimes, she tried to ignore it, too. She pressed her lips together as the guilt started to come. Maybe if she'd fought more, kept the numbers up, done something, people could come home to a safe city.

Two years was a long time but didn't quite feel like it. Cybele couldn't quite remember where the lines were. "We attacked the Negaverse a while ago. A creature showed up and helped us break into their castle. We killed at least one of their leaders, I think two, and we barely got out, but we crippled them for a bit. We won. It's possible," she said, still calm but with a spark of hard determination behind her eyes. "That's the biggest thing that's happened that I remember. I haven't heard of anything that's happened since." She'd been in and out enough that it was possible, though. "They've bounced back, now. They're still sabotaging events fairly regularly. There was a circus over the summer. They used illusion magic."

She frowned at that. "That was new."

Pavo might have been missing information on the finer points of the recent war, but she clearly wasn't clueless. It made Cybele wonder what her job had been overseas. She'd met a few soldiers, and this woman didn't quite talk like them, but she still asked clear questions about leadership rather than the magic and the spectacle of it all.

That was the side of things that Cybele didn't think about as much, and she was silent for a moment as she thought about it. "I haven't heard of any of their leaders being around the city since then, at least the General-Kings and Queens. They've got huge auras. You can usually tell. They could be up in the castle, though. It seems fairly likely, since we can't get in there. They're being more defensive, now, on the administration side of things."

Then again, she hadn't exactly seen Laurelite prancing the streets back when she'd first awakened, either. She pressed her lips tight but didn't amend her statement. The attack had done something, and Pavo deserved hope. "As far as what I have seen, they don't seem so much more organized than we are. That used to be one of their big selling points," she said, looking over her shoulder to make sure the other woman was following. "Structure, leadership, power, that sort of thing, but it seems like they're mostly out on their own just like us."

If she actually talked to someone about joining the Negaverse now, she wondered what they would say. She didn't think she'd have the patience to find out. Anyone silvertounged enough to tempt fresh faced senshi was going to very quickly meet the business end of her fists.

"They attack public events in groups, sometimes. That must take more organization, and they've been using new techniques. Illusion was the one I saw," she continued. "If you're returning to the city, even if you're not coming out too much at night, you've got to be ready for that kind of thing. Other than that, I'm trying to get some training in."

Cybele's main strategy with civilians was to keep them as far away from both the Negaverse and Order as much as possible, but Pavo did have a point, so she thought for a moment.

"That's harder," she said. "I'd say be wary of anyone in dark clothes that seem off, but you can't really get more specific than that. Their outfits aren't as strange as senshis', and once they start flashing weapons, it's too late." She tried to consider anything more specific. There were business suits, now that she thought about it. There were a lot of business suits, a lot of square silhouettes, a lot of stripes, and sometimes things that were stranger, like war paint.

"Uniforms," she said, nodding to herself. "They have uniforms you can learn to pick out, which I would recommend. Other than that, it's really just the basic safety tips. Be alert. Stick together, but be careful in crowds. Really, don't go out at night if you can possibly help it."

Something about that hit her the wrong way even as she said it. They were getting to the more scenic part of campus now, where dark corners and youma dust gave way to old trees and nicely manicured if slightly off-season lawns. She slowed and took a moment to actually look around. There were still no other auras nearby, and that was the only thing that let her relax even a little. The soft lighting, probably designed for safety, and the grand architecture did not help at all. It wouldn't stop many youma. It certainly woudln't stop an agent.

"But if people start staying in, the Negaverse will start breaking into houses," she said, and then she stopped short just a few inches from where the grass started, her brows knitting as a realization settled over her. "Teleporting," she said, voice flat. "Teleporting into houses." That realization was not going to help her sleep later.

It wasn't exactly comfortable talking about the power and tactics of the Negaverse, or thinking up new ways that they could hurt people, but at least that was an uncomfortable that Cybele was used to. The Negaverse had been just as terrifying and just as disgusting for years. That was why Cybele came out at night to kill things. She shook off the dread in order to look around, and saw that there were a few students around. That was what made her tense up, her jaw and shoulders going tight ever-so-visibly.

She did not love being judged by people for trying to save their lives. She turned to Pavo instead, watching her stoicism turn into something a little more hopeless. Rather than the teleporting or the Negaverse's strength, however, she seemed very caught up on the civilian aspect of all this. Cybele wasn't quite sure how to react. It wasn't like Pavo was the helpless one.

"It's a lot," she agreed, pursing her lips and then forcing them into a half-smile. "But look at it this way: we're the ones who can stop them. You, too. You're one of the ones that can help." That felt like a bit much even for a pep talk. Cybele let the smile drop. "At least, that's what we have to hold on to, and if you need help, I'll be around."

On that note, she watched Pavo pull a real phone out of her skirt and almost winced, less because of the age of it and more because something deep inside her didn't like the idea of people learning her real name. She summoned her senshi phone instead. "Oh, if you think about it, you should be able to summon a senshi phone that does it all automatically," she said. Her phone buzzed lightly, and then she saw Sailor Pavo added to her contacts.