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The events of the last few days had been ... a lot.

A contact by Caedus, an attempt at corruption in a park leading to fires and children and a literal impaling, teleportation into space to help a man rid his comet of an infestation that had lasted on it for generations - well, there was a part of Encke that was relieved that, when he powered up for his typical patrol, the press of chaotic energies or the alerts on his phone were decidedly lacking. Perhaps everyone had opted to take a break.

Well, not everyone.

As Encke walked, he noticed a faint chaotic aura and altered his trajectory; even if they were just a lieutenant, it was best he interfere before said lieutenant decided it was a good idea to withdraw energy or take starseeds from the regular civilians of Destiny City.

He paused.

Wait ...

"You feel that?"

How the hell was his wisp follower supposed to know that...

That wasn't a Negaverse aura. He could pluck out where the auras he sensed felt slightly different; the auras of the Dark Mirror also felt chaotic but they were a little bit off in a way he couldn't quite describe. It lessened his inclination to immediately go on the defensive, relaxing his shoulders as he continued to pursue the aura anyway. Best to check on them. Still chaotic in origin. Therefore, perhaps, problematic in origin.

He hadn't expected to see a face that struck some level of familiarity, some level of very recent familiarity.

"Hey," offered Encke, approaching the dark mirror senshi, but keeping a small distance in case his transcendent eternal aura might make her uncomfortable. "Are you doing alright? I know the other day was, ah," he rubbed the back of his neck, "a lot."

Oh, good, he didn't instantly strike fear into her heart. To see her relax brought a bit more relaxation into his form too, though he did keep the small distance between them. Nothing personal, necessarily, but he was aware that a transcendent eternal Order aura would likely feel like a lot to a Dark Mirror first stage senshi. No need to scare her off...

Of course, compared to the other day, probably felt like nothing.

"Good to see you're still around, too," he offered, hopefully, resting his arms behind his back and shuffling because staying still was very much an impossibility. "I think that general was determined to set the whole park ablaze."

Probably did to at least some degree. Encke hadn't stuck around to find out what blaze Faustite had left in his tracks, though Anser told him later on that apparently she was fighting his underling. And also saw fire in the distance. Not... really what he would have preferred to hear. When she had told him she had spotted a general that was literally on fire, Encke was mostly just glad that Anser hadn't somehow ended up dead in the process. Still, a thought that haunted him, the way Faustite had drained his husband to--

"Glad to hear you're doing okay. Get the sense you're newer to this, right?" His smile was gentle. Sad. "I wish I could tell you it gets easier, but it doesn't."

If she wasn't decked in black, he might've offered to take her back to his place so they could sit down and talk about it all for a bit, but even if she was Dark Mirror and not Negaverse, there was still that unreachable divide between them.

"Seems like that all happened due to a general wanting to force a squire onto their side."

The Dark Mirror were, in a way, a middle faction -- still of Chaos, which made Encke still wary of them, but the way they treated Chaos felt different. He rarely had to interfere due to involuntary energy draining with them, and there was also a stark lack of turning people into monsters and starseed hunting. Made things a bit easier to not open with hostilities.

In some ways, felt like they had a common enemy.

"I appreciate that," Encke's cheeks flushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'd prefer to see everyone stay alive, eh?" Well, there were a rare few exceptions to that, but that was neither here nor there. Perhaps it could be argued that the general of flames was one of them, but even then, he arguably had the chance to extinguish his flames and his morality would never let him breach that barrier--

It was fortunate that Destiny City was a big enough city that he couldn't have put two-and-two together with that little information even if he wanted to, and yet, he was never quite able to stop himself from being equally as cautious with someone of Chaos. "Ah, at least you're not brand new, but probably one of the first times dealing with that s**t." He bit his lip; not an ideal introduction, but perhaps if it turned someone else against the Negaverse-- "I consider myself fortunate in that I have very offensive abilities, but those also come with drawbacks. Not so much anymore, but - senshi of plasma. That s**t used to burn me as much as everyone else I burned."

That had hurt.

In some ways, he thought it would have been easier if they all got weapons, but he liked the ability to stay distant his magic provided him if needed.

"Don't think so. Caer Sidi was the one who sent the distress call, and I think she got out okay." Encke didn't know her by face, necessarily, but the squire who had been standing near the general had managed to flee, so he made the reasonable assumption that she had escaped. It was the only one that sat comfortably in his gut after all that; he had to believe she had made it out after all that. He had seen the whole battlefield, though, had seen what the battle had wrought with the body ran through at a distance-- "I don't think it was a total loss for them, though."

Not with that death.

He shuddered.

Encke nodded in confirmation. "I can't tell if I've built up a sort of magical resistance or if it was just a part of getting stronger, but I'll take it either way."

He still quite acutely remembered the times when he'd be fighting someone else in close range and have to activate his magic to give himself the advantage back. He grew used to having to wince and flinch through his own magic and the pain it provided, but it wasn't something that he was terribly inclined to go through again.

Mourning Brides? -- ah, mourningbrides, the flower. He admittedly wasn't terribly familiar with the flower, but he did know a lot of flowers had associations. He tapped his chin, offered, thoughtfully, "Could try intentionally using it on someone and see if they can suss out what it might be doing to them? It doesn't sound like yours is an offensive attack, so a bit different than me doing the same."

He knew her next question was inevitable, and he sighed. He shifted.

No point in lying to her.

"Not," he sighed, "every time."

What a terribly grim thing to say.

"Violence follows the Negaverse everywhere they go." He wasn't going to mince words there. "Sometimes it's just a forced corruption or two. Sometimes it's just some bad injuries. But I've seen more far more death than I would have ever wanted."

What he wanted was no death, but...

Encke seemed relieved that she had people who would be willing to let her test it on them. Good. She had a team. He wasn't sure if he should be hoping for unity on the side of the Dark Mirror, but they hadn't caused the same sort of significant problems of other Chaos and he didn't innately want the worst for people. He liked Ariadne.

"Good," was what he offered in response to that. "Should help for sure. Then you can find good ways to use it."

But indeed, not important to the moment.

She caught his message and he saw the ways her shoulders drooped. He couldn't really make it better; to attempt to do so would be lying. Mincing words was useless in this scenario.

He held one arm with the other as he explained fully because he saw no reason for dishonesty but also hated the reality of it, "Identity loss. Coming to our side - you'll usually hear that as purification - comes with a new civilian identity and also, if coming from the Negaverse, memory loss," hadn't enough experience with the Dark Mirror to speak to it being the same for them. "Usually one side of your life, either your life as an agent or your life as a civilian. And we can't just take people. Have to want to."

... Probably would have made this war a lot easier, admittedly...

"Going to the Negaverse is different. Much the same if you opt to switch, I suppose." Babel had recognized him easily, even as Kosmochlor. "When they take you, when they make you join their side," he let go of his arm and gestured to his head, "total memory loss. It's like an erasure. Won't remember who you were, what you were, anything like that - just where you are at that moment and maybe some spotty pieces here and there. They rip your entire being from you and give you a new one. And sometimes when they push too far, you become a youma."

It was one of the things that scared him the most. Didn't want to see any of his friends or family have their starseeds consumed. Didn't want to see any of his friends or family turned into her monstrous servants. Didn't want to see any of his friends or family have their lives ripped from them and just become a ghost of their former self.

"I'll admit, I don't have too much experience with Dark Mirror who have switched sides, so I'm not entirely sure if everything is the same for, say, if one of you," not presuming her, though it would certainly make this conversation easier, "opted to purify. I assume the identity change stays either way. A protective measure."

It was a lot to absorb. Had been a lot for Encke to absorb.

... Of course, he had a rude awakening to the whole thing considering how he had originally found out about the Negaverse, about the monsters that wandered the streets of Destiny City -

Encke leaned back, listening to her as she first asked if anyone ever had and then realized perhaps she had been close to someone who had. The person who brought her in - her sister, that could explain why she had been dodgy about initially naming who that was.

"It does." He offered, quietly, as he crossed his arms under his chest and looked down for a moment. It was never an easy ask. Babel purposefully abandoned her life as Babel to gain her new life as Kosmochlor. Sometimes, it wasn't an ask at all. That was how Stillwaterite had been -- forced to the Negaverse, came back again as Sedna. "Take pieces of you, I mean. Some swaps and types of swaps take more from you than others. It's why sideswaps are a hard choice." He glanced back toward her.

"Honestly, wouldn't be surprised at all if she sideswapped. It'd explain the sudden disappearance, the lack of mourning, and the way your sister avoids mention of her. She might know the truth. And your sister's ex-fiancée, as it were, may well still be alive."

And her sister hadn't wanted to talk about it.

If she had abandoned her betrothed, it probably felt like a betrayal.

"It's not out of nowhere at all. And it's a fair consideration to make. Family's important to me too. Or, well," his expression dropped for a moment, before it picked back up into something encouraging, "my found family, anyway."

Encke's smile got a bit stronger. "For those who had a choice," because some of those who went to the Negaverse did not, "it's a hard decision to make. Those things became pieces of the equation - can you leave your old life behind? Is it worth doing to protect them? Is it worth doing because you need to get away from the control of the Negaverse, or from some other control in your life? Is it worth doing to no longer drain energy, or in the case of the Negaverse, take starseeds? Is it worth doing because you want to do things like - go to space, for example," space had always been a focus of his, and that became obvious with a fond laugh that he soon buried under the more thoughtful,

"And are those pros ultimately worth the cons?"

He wasn't sure what he would have done if he and Richard were in the Negaverse. Logically, he knew he would have left. Hopefully, he believed that Richard would have come along.

"The choice is ultimately up to you, but," not to imply that she was considering purification, but it felt right to say, "if you were to ever decide that the pros are worth the cons, I'm here."