Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was.

Encke was naturally suspicious of any new shop these days, and considering Destiny City's history and present, he was fairly sure he had good reason to be. Even if it wasn't the case, he was usually convinced that any new establishment was just another operation from the Negaverse, and it kept him at a distance from new things even when they were absolutely harmless. He'd let a thousand other people try the newest place out before he even considered stepping foot inside. But the shop of Starlight Cookies and Moonlight Milk seemed relatively harmless, at least. It was just cookies. And milk. A friend had gone and hadn't turned up dead or with their starseed missing--

It was enough to convince him, hesitantly, to buy one of the cookies. He hadn't eaten it yet, but he did carry it with him as he patrolled, pondering if he should eat it. Would he fall asleep as it took his energy? Would he simply not wake up if he ate it?

Would the Negaverse know where he was if he did?

The sensation of a much smaller aura was enough to distract him from his thoughts, and at this time of night, Encke decided it was probably in his best interest to check out who that was. He approached the aura cautiously, waving a glowing hand once he was close enough. "Ahoy there!"

The way she looked at him made Encke make the almost immediate assumption that this was another newbie who didn't know anything about transcendent senshi. He wasn't terribly surprised; there were more of them around than there had been when he became one, but they still weren't necessarily common knowledge. How new was she" Had she even met an Eternal senshi yet?

He supposed a cookie break was as good of an excuse as any to catch someone up. Taking a sweet break might put someone in a good enough mood to deal with some of the more grim realities of their lives, anyway. Did he really want to eat one of these cookies, though? Was there any guarantee that they weren't some magical energy-draining cookies? Sure, his friend had been fine, but that didn't mean Encke hadn't just missed something. And perhaps a few of the cookies had been fine to lull the rest of everyone else into a false sense of security.

Maybe he was just being ridiculous. To be honest, he'd rather be ridiculous than risk the deaths of either himself or this new senshi in front of him. And if she was going to eat them anyway, perhaps if he was there, if there were any negative or Negaverse-related side effects, he could also head them off.

He was being ridiculous. Calm down, Encke. Nothing to fear from a few cookies from a mysterious new shop that had opened up out of nowhere--

"Sure! Could always use some nutrition on patrol." And he didn't feel any Negaverse agents or youma nearby. Hopefully, these cookies weren't some kind of signal--

He wished his paranoia didn't follow him so closely, but he couldn't quite let it go. He would, however, cautiously take a cookie, optimistic that these would be fine.

Or, well, trying to be optimistic, anyway--