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There was not much to do in the cellar.

Every few hours, Cybele would give the door a few kicks just in case it had weakened somehow over time. She would eat a piece of fruit when the hunger got so intense that she could barely stand it. She slept when her eyelids grew heavy.

The rest of the time, she watched things. She watched the door, wondering if someone would find them, or if the monster would ever open it and give them a chance to slip out. Sometimes, she watched drops of water trickling down the walls. Of course, she watched the people, too. They were mostly just sleeping and eating and staring at the walls the same way that she was, but it still felt important to know just who she was sharing this small space with.

At one point, she spotted a familiar face, and she made her way over. "Hello," she said, and then paused, eyebrows knitting. "I never caught your name, did I?" They'd been more focused on the metal disk than on each other when they'd met before. "You ended up here, as well?"

It was difficult to quite make out in the darkness, but, yes. He was doing push-ups. Cybele did raise an eyebrow at that, although it was not out of judgement. Keeping up one's strength was one way to feel a bit more normal, and any endorphins that someone could find here would be welcome ones.

It just made the bruises in her low back hurt that much more to watch him. They complained every time she so much as shifted, and although she pushed through it for her occasional attempts at escape, she did not think that she would be exercising any time soon.

"Nice to meet you, Captain Geocronite," she said in a practiced tone. She even smiled, although it may not have been particularly visible in the darkness. "I'm Cybele, of The Hunt." The Corrupt and Eternal went unsaid. That had been obvious enough at their first meeting.

She glanced up towards the trapdoor, her practiced smile fading. "Yes. After we met, I did not find anything else that seemed useful for getting us out of here. It was only seeming more and more clear that it was the monster keeping us here, so I went to kill it." She swallowed and shifted a bit so her back had more support. "I lost that fight."

"My magic sort of helps people focus in on their quarry," she said. At least, something in her gut told her that that was what it was meant to do. It certainly made everything feel crisp and crystal clear when she used it on herself, and it made her faster, but she hadn't had the chance to use it on an actual hunt yet.

The monster had been too quick.

"I have an attack, as well. Arrows." She mimed drawing the string of a bow back to her ear. "It wasn't enough to break the door, though. I tried." Her voice went a bit flat at that. She hadn't defeated the monster. She hadn't defeated the door. All that was left to do was sit and wait to find out why it was that they'd been kept alive. Cybele didn't hate being down here, the way others seemed to, but she did find herself wishing that she'd been more useful.

There was a moment of silence after his second question. "I'm not sure," she said, slowly. "I lost my memory and identity when I was brought over." Her tone was still matter-of-fact, the same as when she'd been talking about her magic. "That was only about a month before we ended up here, and I spent a lot of that time settling in, in the barracks. I was starting to go out into the city a little more. I found some cats, once, in an alleyway. They were very sick."

They'd been all skin and bones, and yet they'd come up to her mewling as if they were asking for help. That had been one of the few things she'd seen so far that had really made her heart melt. "I think I'd like to find a way to help them," she said, a bit quieter. "But I'm also very open to suggestions on things to do."

"We each have our pros and cons," said Cybele, in a tone of voice that suggested that she was reciting something that had been explained to her. "My magic is useful, but it does not last very long. I only get one shot with the arrows, and then it is back to my fists. You get solid steel."

Not that it would hold her back. The Order senshi and the knights did not have steel weapons, or the ability to take starseeds. She could take them down with her fists if she needed to. Still, at the mention of knives, she glanced back towards the trapdoor that had been occupied most of her thoughts for the past hours. "Carpenter knives, you said? Can they cut through wood?"

It was a shame that no one in the cellar had brought a saw.

It wasn't a given that they'd ever make it out of here to see kittens again, but Cybele let herself nod. "I think I'd like to foster them. I was doing a little research on it. There's Trap-Neuter-Release, too." She looked back over to him at the mention of camping, although she did not react to the mention of either one or two tents. "That sounds interesting. I do think I like the woods."

She shifted a bit, wincing as the motion hit her back. "And yes, I lost my memory. I was told it almost always happens when corrupting people who have some amount of power. I was only brought over about a month before we ended up here, so there hasn't been too much time to re-learn."

At least it seemed like here, nobody quite seemed to know what was going on, making it a bit more of a level playing field.

Cybele gave a low, frustrated sigh. "You're right," she said. "Pounding at the door with dull knives for hours would be neither practical or subtle. Although if we run out of food, or if things get otherwise desperate, it may still be our best option." Until then, she would try her best at being patient. She supposed staring at the walls here was not so different from staring at the walls in the barracks.

"I wouldn't curse the universe so quickly," she added, with a smile that was meant to be comforting. "Even dull knives will give your enemies something to think about, and you don't have to worry about bruising your knuckles. Also, your next promotion should bring something even better."

Cybele could not remember a time when she wasn't as strong as she was now, but she had a decent idea of how the ranks worked.

Although her thoughts on that, and even on the simpler things, like cat rescue, were cut short by his question about her corruption.

She simply blinked at his exclamation. Then, she looked down at her hands, and at her dark skirts, now even darker in the shadows. "Is it such a surprise?" she asked, keeping her own voice low, barely above a whisper, as she glanced around to make sure they hadn't caught too much attention. "From what I've been told, it was quite a production. An ambush." Casually, she began to pick some dirt from her fingernails, although her lips were pressed together tightly. "Although it may have been over-exaggerated. From what I can tell, the one who I've been talking to likes her stories."

Something did stir inside of her chest at his last question, although she did not think too deeply about it. Her face was blank as she said, "The person I used to be did not agree. She defied the Negaverse, but she is dead in all the ways that matter." Cybele shrugged and ran a hand across the black fabric.

"I do not mind serving."

Cybele tilted her head in the darkness as she listened to the story from a different perspective. "Oh. She wasn't exaggerating," she murmured, in a tone that suggested she would not have been surprised either way. Sylvite danced around the word corruption, but she'd explained the ambush and that Cybele had once been a powerful enemy.

She shifted slightly before adding, "I don't think it's right, but I don't think it's wrong, either. Perhaps the part of me that cared about such things is the part of me that died." Her gaze flicked to the walls of their prison, certainly something that wasn't right by most standards, and yet it was the place where they had found themselves. "Anyway, it is a war. These things happen."

There was little emotion in her voice as she continued to look at their surroundings. A bit more mist began to drift through the door above. She watched it curl down towards them.

"I was claimed. I am aware that I am just a tool of the Negaverse, but that also means that they should take care of me while I am of use to them." It was a deal she could accept, although it wasn't much use while they were still trapped here.

She said nothing about reporting him. That did not matter unless they made it out alive, and a few seconds later, as the fog rolled in farther, nothing mattered at all. Unconsciousness claimed her.