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The night was young still. Warm air lingered, or perhaps it only felt like it after half hour, nearly forty-five minutes fighting off two feral youma. Their intelligence was startling especially with how they had herded her away using flanking tactics. However, in the end, it was her chaining static shock that had inevitably done them in but not before one of them has managed to clamp its jaw around her forearm.

Youma dust swirled around her feet as a new, third signature, feathered the edge of her senses and began to approach her cautiously. Adrenaline still courses through her veins despite the injuries as the sensation of static still tingled her fingertips. If they wanted a fight Sidouer was ready, there was still enough magic in her for one last battle.

However, when he finally spoke Sidouer was abruptly taken aback by his comment and in truth wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. The man appeared to be older than she, taller even but that could have also been due to his high-heels. An odd choice of attire but, like her, he likely had no choice in the matter either.

“What do you want?” she asked after some time. Her voice was neither angry nor scared. If anything warry yet curious. The last time someone of his rank decided to approach her one on one, she had hip thrown the corrupt across a parking lot and left him prone on the ground after failing to heed her warning. While she would prefer to avoid another similar situation Sidouer was not inclined to be the one to walk away.

She studied him carefully as he approached her warily. Alpersite had every reason to be cautious if not fearful of her. Although she was not an eternal, yet, she could be just as terrifyingly dangerous if the situation called for it.

“Sidouer,” She replied. There was a lot of power in know another's name, but at this point in the game, the Senshi of Static really didn’t care who knew it anymore. Youma has been, and always will be, her primary target. Everyone else was just in the way of that goal.

“I take it those youma weren’t here on your orders then?” One eyebrow raised curiously. She suspected that his arrival had been purely happenstance in that his timing was rather coincidental.

There was hesitation in her movements when she finally decided, against her better judgment, to hold her wounded arm out for him to bandage. It was a kind enough gesture even though she was aware of the fact that once he powered down so too would the ruffled piece of fabric. Not that she was really concerned. So long as she didn’t end up going to the hospital Sidouer had the option of reaching out to Acrucis to heal this bite; at least she assumed it would be in her abilities to mend.

With an eyebrow raised in mild amusement, Sidouer remained silent as he continued to speak. Either this was an elaborate facade or he was truly nervous to be his close to her with how the topic changed so rapidly only to end on something as unusual as quilting. If it wasn’t that they were powered up, it probably would have made her genuinely laugh but not in a mocking way.

To be fair though, she couldn’t really blame him for his reaction to her. While Sidouer had never really taken herself as being particularly intimidating. Despite being wounded, she was, afterall, notably stronger than the Lieutenant, denoted by their difference is aura’s mostly. Nonetheless she did not feel particularly inclined to let her guard down just yet.

“Thank you,” she replied after some time.

Feeling uneasy by being touched any longer than necessary, Sidouer withdrew her arm so that her hand could rest against her chest rather than her side. “I am sorry to hear about your brother.” People went missing in Destiny City almost every day which is why she had reprised her role in this war to dusting the monsters that spawned from Negaspace or the Rift.

“Did this General of yours at least explain to you how joining his ranks would aid you in finding him?” She was at least aware that in higher ranks the agents, and their corrupts, had the ability to teleport “Did he tell you to capture one of us for interrogation? Or perhaps suggest that he use one of their youma creatures.” Monsters she mentally added despite knowing that there were few who had a fairly human body. “To try and sniff him out?” She asked as if they were supposed to function like search and rescue animals which she knew to be completely false with how they terrorized the city and its inhabitants.

Sidouer drew in a deep breath, closed her eyes and exhaled slowly before turning her attention back on to the Lieutenant. “Youma are a difficult thing to explain. They are monsters, or creatures, that can take on a variety of different forms and come in a multitude of sizes. The first I ever encountered was a globular mass that traveled by way of sewer lines. My aura drew it out of hiding via a storm drain. It was the most disgusting, and unfortunate, battle of my life to date.” So much so that she had thrown up at least three times once the fight had been won; once because of how unprepared and yet lucky she had been, twice because of the wretched smell that permeated her uniform after being hit with a geyser of waste.

“They have auras that oppose my own; similar to yours, but different.” Surely he could feel how at odds they were; like magnets wanting to push away from each other, there was an inexplicable wrongness to being so close and yet she made no move to leave.

“However, while you have the common sense to think twice about engaging in a fight or conversation, they do not speak and tend to act on feral instinct.” At least the was the case for every youma she had encountered in all the years she had been hunting them. “Of the ones I’ve encountered, very few have had a human-like form. Most have been some sort of beast; hounds, bats, arachnids… The most terrifying I had ever seen was a dragon that fought indiscriminately against both your comrades and mine alike.” Nobody was safe in that battle.

“As for a direction, the most I can offer you is knowledge on what to expect. What you do with that knowledge is your own decision; I can’t make that for you.” She paused for a few moments. Jade-pink eyes locked with those of an almost periwinkle color as she waited for the information she had already given him to sink in.

At his touch she recoiled backwards in a bit of surprise. “Sidouer,” she corrected him. With her uninjured hand she reached up to rub away the tingling sensation the brush of his fingertips had left behind.

There had been a few people in the past that had tried giving her that nickname but for some reason it just didn’t sit right with her. There was one girl on her track team back in highschool, Sidney, that went by that name and while they were more like friendly rivals for a year before the girl gave up. Either way, while it wasn’t a particularly masculine sounding name, it just wasn’t one she associated herself with.

“I honestly don’t think anyone came away from that battle unscthed. However, any injuries I sustained came from a General instead.” Short blond haired b*****d. At least she was able to shock the s**t out of him before they made a tactical retreat; unfortunately one of her comrade’s was also hit in the attack.

“While I hope your brother is somewhere safe, you should go into this knowing that there is a chance, like yourself, he may be a part of this war. If the time comes you will have to make the hard decision on what to do if it turns out he is not on your side.” One, or both, of them would be in a dangerous position that would result in partial, if not full, memory loss should one of them switch sides. A similar thing had happened to Persephone, which had been a heartbreaking revelation to find out.

Sidouer’s eyes drifted downward to an arbitrary spot on the ground almost as if she was ashamed of her harshness towards the Lieutenant. “I hope the General follows through on his promise and helps you find your brother.”

As adrenaline from the youma battle began to ebb the dull throb in her arm had progressively shifted to a sharp pain that she was having difficulty ignoring. “You seem like a genuinely nice person, just make sure you don’t get taken advantage of by putting your trust in the wrong people.”

“One last piece of advice I can give you is to proceed with caution Alpersite,” Sidouer gently warned him. “Not everyone you approach will be open to conversation.” She was under no illusion that White Moon Senshi or the Knights were righteous by any means. Both sides had their faults and there were a few she knew who would rather strike first then risk being lured into a trap, or worse, taken hostage.