Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first night since his world had turned upside down that Declan was staying at his mother's place in the city seemed like a good enough time as any to power up for the very first time. At least without someone forcing him to. His hand went to his chest, now, palm over his beating heart that now was speeding up just a little bit at the thought of bringing out that pen and using it. He was certain it wouldn't hurt like the actual awakening had, or else no one would want to do it at all, right? That wasn't productive for, unlike the other factions, he had a more important quota to fill than just patrolling the city like an officer looking for trouble. As it was a brand new week, he should probably be getting on that. Whether it was right or not, what his side was doing, didn't really matter to him. He had been picked for this side and this side he would do his damned hardest to please.

After dropping off his school bag at his mother's place and making sure she knew he'd be out, he grabbed the small bag he took with him everywhere, on the pretense that he was just going somewhere out in the fresh air to read. He knew from past experience his bag would be fine when he changed, as his schoolbag was the same as before. Anything on his person seemed to just not exist for the time he was Herschel until he decided to change back. How convenient.

Finding a quiet corner, Declan powered up, emerging from behind a building as Herschel. He was thankful his fuku wasn't very eye-catching. It was strange, for sure, but it wasn't so strange as to be given more than a glance by the civilians walking past him. For a moment, he just watched them before slipping back into the shadows, using the back of the building to instead vault himself up onto the roof, standing far enough off the edge so as not to be seen by anyone directly below. There was still a few hours of daylight left. Perhaps he should have done this in full dark. He felt so exposed.

And silly, with this sudden growth of hair. His own hair was never more than halfway down his back. This...This was all the way down to the floor and than some! It was ridiculous. And made no sense why it did that. He hoped it was just the one time, maybe a side-effect of the traumatic awakening he had. Obviously it was not.

He sighed and slung the braid over his shoulder so it was less on the ground, leaning his shoulder against the little box that was the rooftop entrance down into the building, arms crossed. And waited for darkness to fall.

Herschel was absently swinging the braid back and forth from one of his hands, the tip just grazing the ground with each new turn, the bell on the end making a little jingle with each turn of his wrist, when he felt something. He froze, the braid slowly coming to a stop as his head instantly moved towards where he knew there was someone. Someone that didn't feel chaotic, as much as that didn't make sense to him even as he was feeling and thinking it. Since this was his first time powering up, he'd not been able to feel these before. But a part of him just knew this wasn't someone from his side. So it seemed this may be his first battle. And so soon since he was awoken. He could run, though he knew this person could just match him in speed and follow his aura if they really were spoiling for a fight. What he felt wasn't telling him they were a rank higher than him. Unless he tried to be crafty in his escape, picking more difficult routes. Or using his attack to get a headstart.

And so it would have been a Corrupted Senshi in a fighting stance, fists raised, that would be the first thing the other Senshi would see upon finding him. A much more expected sight than what Herschel got.

"What?" Blinking a few times, refusing to lower his fists in case of trickery, Herschel just simply stared at the very brightly colored other Senshi before finding his voice once more. "How....Am I?" Now, he was a fresh recruit into the Negaverse. But even he knew this wasn't usually how you greeted the enemy. It had to be a trick to make him lower his guard! Well, he wasn't going to fall for it! He wasn't going to make the first move, either.

Or was this woman equally as new to their side as he was?

Well, this was even more confusing. Trying to be friendly? With the enemy? Was that even allowed or were the other Factions just way more relaxed than his own? He was sure if he were caught just talking to the enemy, he'd face the consequences of it. If he were to judge by what they required of him to do to meet a certain quota, he wasn't exactly on the typically "good side." But than, he knew very little about what were considered to be the enemy. It could turn out, his side was the least "evil" of the bunch.

Herschel raised an eyebrow at the other Senshi, fists still raised at chest level, but his shoulders relaxed a little bit, releasing some of the tension so his spine was straighter than it'd been before.

"Friendly?" he repeated, sounding like a giant moron just repeating back everything someone else was saying. Given that he was 6'2" and broad, he bet he was giving off very stereotypical "brawns but no brains" right now. Did he care? Not one bit. People judged him regardless, especially when they learned his age. That seemed to go along with the territory of being a teenager.

"Why would you be friendly to me?"

When no attack still came, Herschel lowered his fists down to his sides, but kept them clenched. He was brand new to this, he had absolutely no reason to believe if she was telling the truth or not. He didn't really know anyone else besides his brief encounter with Axinite. Having only been a Senshi for a few days, how could he even be expected to know many on his own side, let alone the others. They could be prone to tricks for all he knew.

So, okay. She wanted to talk. He'd allow her to talk. He'd remain on guard just in case the talking turned into something else. He'd no doubt she'd met more dangerous people then him. He already felt like a pussycat of a Nega, avoiding every enemy signature he felt while he patrolled the city for potential candidates to get energy from. What did the other factions even do? Maybe this was a good opportunity to learn more about this strange world he'd suddenly been thrown into.

Herschel flexed the fingers on both hands, rolling the tension out of his shoulders. He didn't like feeling so tensed up and ready to spring. He was usually more relaxed than this.

"Okay. Talking is fine, I suppose." What did one even talk about to other Senshi? It was difficult enough trying to talk to others his age at school or on the street when he was just Declan. His brother Markas never seemed to have any problems at all. He even had a loyal group of friends who would sometimes be at the ranch while he was outside doing chores. "Was there something on your mind?" There certainly was on his. Like the fact her forehead seemed fully intact, she didn't have the cracked hole like his did. That was strange, he assumed all Senshi did.