Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cybele had found the squire curled up on a park bench, wrapped in her long skirt and staring in awe up at the moon or something. She hadn't stirred, even though she must have felt the unmistakable aura of a corrupt eternal in the area. She didn't even turn to look at Cybele until she was right there, and then she just sort of stared, looking a little confused.

That was all right. Cybele enjoyed the hunt, and sometimes she found herself craving the adrenaline of battle, but she wouldn't say no to easy prey, especially easy prey that had as much value to it as this girl did.

"Hi," the squire eventually mumbled, but Cybele did not pay that much mind. She was slightly concerned with the small item she had summoned and was fiddling with. She could see the girl's scars clearly now. She'd obviously survived something before. Still, Cybele could manage magic or any attacks that came. She reached out a hand and began to drain energy.

Pendour had noticed the aura in the distance while she'd sat in the park, waiting to see if one of the agents she'd been in contact with would be back to talk again. She could tell it was one of those broken senshi, but that was okay. She could talk to them, too. It was someone powerful, and she tried to look as soft and non-threatening as possible as they approached. She kept her ocarina on hand, just in case. She had her tricks if she needed them.

Although, she did find herself staring when she finally got a look at the senshi. She thought that she recognized Cybele, from the training event that had gone wrong, and that had some implications that made her stomach turn. She had to bite her lip to keep from saying something about how they'd broken her.

That was the kind of thing that people found insulting. That was the kind of thing that made them hurt you.

"Are they asking you for energy?" she asked, instead, when Cybele reached out and she saw something bright coming off of her skin, like mist. "You can have some of mine. Just, um, not too much, okay?" She began to scoot towards the edge of the bench, in case she had to run for it, but she was already beginning to feel a little tired.

Cybele didn't pay her words any mind. She was staying still enough, and that was what mattered. It was about time she started bringing back things of more value. She wondered what the new General Sylvite would like more between a starseed and another recruit.

She could think about that once the girl was unconscious.

At the sound of someone calling her name, Cybele turned to look over her shoulder and went oddly still. In that small moment, Pendour shifted too, squinting backwards into the shadows until she caught a glimpse of a familiar red outfit. The sight of Alya made her stomach twist and twist even tighter. While it could help, maybe, to have someone else here, she still felt like things were a few seconds away from going all awful and she didn't want him to have to watch.

She did sidle from her park bench while Cybele stared, but although she tried to slip around the senshi, Cybele was faster, and she made it all of three feet before she felt fingers tighten around her wrist.

Cybele glanced from squire to senshi, gaze impassive. "I'm working," she said, tone flat. "We both know I'm well past the point of trouble."

The squire tugged gently at her grip, and in response, Cybele held her even tighter, digging fingernails into joints and tendons until she started to whimper. She did not drain any more for now, though. Let the girl squirm a bit. Maybe that would show this senshi that whoever he saw when he looked at her was very dead.

The entire time, she kept her gaze locked with his. "Leave, or I will assume you are interfering and whatever limited mercy I can offer you will be over."

Her free hand curled into a fist.

There was something in the senshi's words, in his face. Magic? It did not feel like magic, but it tugged at something in Cybele's chest all the same. Still, he walked closer when she had told him to leave, and that would not do. Her gaze hardened. "The prey does not wrong the hunter," she said.

Pendour had done her best to stay silent, even as Cybele's nails drew blood, but she did make a small, concerned noise at that. Alya seemed to have some kind of leverage here that she didn't want to interrupt, but it was becoming clearer that Cybele was too broken to hear him.

"It's okay," she managed, through gritted teeth, to her friend. "You don't have-"

Cybele twisted her arm until she screamed to get her to stop talking, then shoved her to the ground, out of the way.

"You refuse to understand, don't you?" she asked, and let out a breath slowly, shaking her head. "Fine. I suppose it was always going to come to this."

He was out of the range of her Eternal magic, which left one option. Closing the last of the distance between them, she swung out in a punch.

Cybele stopped. It was not just because she suddenly found her arms pinned to her side.

It was also because of the warmth.

In the six months or so of her life that she could remember, Cybele had never been hugged, even like this, and for a moment she simply froze, blinking slowly.

After that, she stiffened, muscles coiling tight under the restraint. There was a thought somewhere in the back of her mind about how he was wearing slippers that did not look to offer much protection while she had her sharp silver heels, but it was a thought she did not act on.

"She's gone, all right? She's gone," she whispered, voice softer but still tense. She leaned backwards far enough so that she could look into his eyes. "I don't even know your name."

The sooner that everyone could accept that the old Cybele was dead, the easier that it would be.

Around Pendour, the light shifted, taking on a water-dappled, slightly blue quality. Her Aspect gave her a little extra grace, enough to make her way to her feet and over to Alya without stumbling, despite the fact that she felt heavy as a stone from lack of energy.

Perhaps he was giving her a chance to escape, but she wasn't about to abandon him in the middle of a speech about friendship, of all things. She was stubborn in her own gentle way. She laid a delicate hand on his shoulder.

If he was going to be there for Cybele, she was going to be there for him.

Cybele looked at him, looked at Alya, for another long, drawn out moment. She glanced towards the knight, too, who was also looking at her with a gaze that was almost soft.

She was certainly outnumbered here, even if they were both doing everything except properly attacking.

"You do not want to know me now," she insisted, although there was no way to be sure about that. She'd tried to kill his friend, and yet here he was, hugging her. "You are kindness. I am everything you fight against."

She tried to pull away, although there wasn't much aggression to it. Looking at the two of them, some of the fight had gone out of her.

"And even if that does not bother you, I cannot be your friend. I-" she paused, blowing out a breath slowly through almost sealed lips. "I am sorry."

The knight was still staring at her, sadly. "I'll leave," said Cybele. "I'll leave you be, all right, but that's all I can offer."

It was clear she was not getting any Negaverse work done with these two on her.

All of Cybele's movements were drawn out. Conflicted. Hesitant. This was no different. She watched Alya for a moment more, but eventually she stepped back and teleported off without another word.

Pendour's Aspect flickered and faded, and the panicked energy that had been keeping her going seemed to leave with it. Her grip on his shoulder went from a comforting, butterfly light thing to heavy as her feet went unsteady under her. She wasn't sure how much she'd been drained.

"That was beautiful, what you said," she whispered, although there was a heaviness to her voice, too.

Yes, it was catching up to her all at once. The world spun. Pendour rested her forehead on the back of Alya's shoulder, too, and she closed her eyes, which maybe helped a little.

"Are you okay?" she asked, even as she tried to stay upright.

"Um, I don't know if all right is the word for it," said Pendour, softly. She opened her eyes again as she felt Alya's arm around her, and she glanced down to assess the damage.

Her shoulder burned dimly, although not quite so much that she was worried about it being broken, or dislocated. She could see flecks of red towards her wrist from the senshi's fingernails. All that felt fuzzy, though, and far away.

"But my soul's here, so that's something. Um, thank you," she said, and meant it, even if her words sounded far away, too.

Talking was difficult enough. Walking more than a few feet seemed terribly intimidating. "Do you think you can help me home? Here." With effort, she called her iPhone from subspace, opened the Maps app, and tapped her address from the list to get directions there. She handed it over, then collapsed against Alya again.

"I haven't been in one piece in a while, so you don't have to worry about that," she whispered. It was dark for her and she knew it, but maybe her filter had been drained, too.

It was so much easier not to be on her feet right now. Pendour rested her head against Alya's chest and let her eyes drift shut again. "I know," she murmured. She could hear his heartbeat from here. His heart didn't sound broken, or scarred, just maybe a little fast, but there might have been pain hiding somewhere in there anyway.

"I'm so, so sorry about your friend," she said, and looped the arm that wasn't bleeding around his shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. Softly, she patted his back.

She powered down without saying anything, her sleek ballgown shifting into a simpler, flowy, shirt and skirt. It was only the Negaverse who couldn't know her identity. Alya was her friend.

"I think I can walk if you want to power down, too," she said. "I might just need to lean on you a little, or have you wake me up if I start to stumble. I hope that's okay."

It wasn't so far to the apartment now, anyway.