Welcome to Gaia! ::

Please.

Encke didn't need to be asked twice.

Earth was left behind, as were the threatening sightless rats with elongated tongues. The sky was replaced with a different sky further from the sun, with different views of stars and a view of Jupiter that wasn't too far away if he looked. He would have regarded it if he wasn't so busy listening for Pendour, parting from her to look over her and make sure she didn't look too injured. His first priority was making sure she was alright, especially because he had added to it; the second priority was the realization that her uniform looked different than it had--

"Are you alright?"

Just to be certain.

"I'm sorry. Try to avoid using my abilities in close proximity like that because plasma's just this --," he paused, glanced over her dress, and then offered, with a vague laugh, "uncontrollable, powerful thing."

Encke felt like he was stumbling over his own words in his worry.

"I think you upgraded, though, so there's that--"

Her insistence that she wasn't hurt was a relief and he was able to believe her; Pendour's voice was thin, but from the way she was gripping onto him, he got the sense it wasn't because of the pain he had caused. He looked at her arms a bit harder, looked at her face once more, but only once more because soon she was against him and he shifted to hug her instead.

To hear Pendour say that she hated anyone was a surprise, but not one she needed to apologize for. The person she had chosen to hate also wasn't a surprise. They had been nice to him. Put their foot forward and sent off his message to the Sessrumnir she apparently knew.

And for that, he got hit with -- his opposite shoulder burned, and for a moment he was glad Pendour hadn't leaned there -- a whole spear and had some youma dropped on them.

"Can't blame you," he offered, squeezing her lightly to show that he was there. "I haven't dealt with him terribly much, but I also think I hate him."

Starting with the fact that he apparently tried to kill her--

"Do you want to go sit in the garden? We can take in the views of the aphelion. Relaxing."

Well. More relaxing than rats.

The garden wasn't pulling her much away from the nerves and the distance, and Encke remained where he was, offering a squeeze in an attempt to ground her. Knew it was something that helped him, on occasion--

He saw where she was gesturing and immediately went to look, taking in the injury that he had seen before and making the connection of what had happened. Might have cursed himself for not being there, but he kept that to himself, more concerned about her and the way she felt now. She didn't need to elaborate; considering the hints that Jet and she had dropped, he had an idea of what had occurred between them beyond the aforementioned ambush. It was enough hints to solidly place Jet into his hated list.

But there was no point in focusing on that.

"You don't need to apologize," he reinforced, knitting his brows. "Everything of your reactions is understandable. He sounds cruel."

Metallia was cruel. Those who had dedicated themselves to her in their entirety tended to be the same.

It was complicating his feelings on matters. Tried to keep himself from active hostilities until he had been presented with a reason, but--

"It hurts. I'm not gonna lie, but," he offered a lop-sided smile even if she didn't see it, "Nothing that's going to kill me, at least." His shoulder stung a bit, which admittedly was becoming more and more noticeable now that whatever magic Jet had faded off and the adrenaline was easing back. It was definitely bleeding. Probably was going to leave a mark. Honestly, he should probably get that addressed, but he deeply felt the concern for helping her-- "I think you moving to block helped. Are you sure you don't need whatever you have for yourself?"

At her continued insistence, Encke shut his mouth and stopped pressing on the concept, watching her as she separated from him and started to inspect it. Alright. Fighting her on it wasn't going to do him any good --

Wished he should help her somehow, honestly, but there was nothing his abilities could really do other than harm--

Even if it wasn't powerful magic, it did help, and it took some of the edges off enough that he was able to ignore the pain just a bit better. The bleeding eased back, leaving an ugly gash but nothing that was an active danger-- "He did just attempt to run me through but," he offered a lop-sided smile, "he did drop that pretty fast and just left us surrounded by youma. Could have taken those out if I needed to, but that's not the point--"

He ran his opposite hand through his hair.

"It is hard. I've been thinking about that myself," Encke shifted uncomfortably, but tried to stay mostly still so she could do what she needed to do. "Faustite and Basi had a run-in recently -- Vi and I were able to get to him and save him, thankfully, but even then --," he sighed, "And then what happened in November. And this. At what point has someone done too much bad to justify continuing not acting until they act?"

He bit his lip.

"But I think it's also part of what makes us different than them; we have more of a dilemma about it. We can choose to take a more peaceful path. Chaos warps."

It was a strength he admired in Pendour, really.

Honestly, it would have been easy to give up her path, and no one would have necessarily faulted her for it. At least, Encke wouldn't have; he had seen over a decade of the horrors the Negaverse wrought and the horrors they refused to stop. Horrors that had started with a school on a hill that was really just some kind of youma creation camp--

Probably started before then, realistically--

"You're strong, you know that?" He chuckled lightly, meeting her step. "It is really hard to give into that. Especially when it seems that some of them, no matter what, can't let the concept of harming go." Even when Pendour had given Jet what he had wanted, he still lunged. Even when he and Faustite seemed to find an uncomfortable understanding, Faustite still turned around and yanked starseeds and quite nearly killed Encke's husband. Even when families and friendships were destroyed by memory wipes, they still persisted.

The concept that she mentioned, though, made his brows rise in interest. "Considering how strong their message seems to be, as warped as it is, that's a good idea. Poke holes in it. Make them think about different perspectives. Something like what we can do one-on-one to someone who might be interested in purifying but perhaps at a bigger scale..."

He was brainstorming already.

"What were you thinking?"

Encke was relieved she believed him.

Strength was a complicated thing. It wasn't just lifting weights and being able to win in fights. It was being able to keep to one's principles and morals even despite pressure to do otherwise. It was being kind in the face of those who wanted nothing but violence and death. And, to Encke, that was one of the things Pendour embodied.

It was interesting to hear her say that she didn't think Jet was too far gone, considering. "My shoulder will heal," he offered, resisting the temptation to reach up and rub it. All that would do would make it itchy-- "I'm just glad we made it out of there. Maybe if we run into him again, he might jump less quickly to violence."

Hard to say if he would, though. He seemed determined to protect someone. Even if everyone on that side was misguided, determination to protect could absolutely lead someone to violence, Chaos or not. Chaos was just likely to make that reaction worse.

It wasn't a bad idea to research other places that had problems with paramilitaries, and Encke nodded in interest as they stepped into the garden. His eyes darted around for a moment, clocking a few of the glowing bees in the distance. "Just riffing, here... things like anonymous social media accounts that talk about Order, what we have, what Chaos does. Pamphlets about what Chaos does to the mind. Talk about what those of Chaos look like and how to avoid them. Maybe we could even mention something of where the monsters come from."

Encke had discovered by talking to people like the Bells that The Negaverse Makes Monsters was a fairly compelling argument.

"Pamphlets that we could hand out to those who want to purify would be good too. Resources, places they can go, maybe if any of the royals would be willing to be mentioned as a potential contact..."

He paused, before adding, with a quiet laugh, "Not to get carried away. That's a good plan, definitely a nonviolent way of resistance."

Pendour unfortunately wasn't wrong; every ounce of progress he thought he had with Faustite felt like it was reversed the next time he met him. One time, they were talking philosophy of protecting one's enemy. Another time, they worked together to help put the final blows on a monster, together. The next time, Faustite had kicked Basiluzzo's starseed down an alleyway.

"Two steps forward, one step back," he murmured, seeming to agree with her. He hadn't even met anyone who was so easily convinced. Stillwaterite, now Sedna, was someone he had arguably worked with for a while before she came to him and told him she was purifying. Geocronite still seemed to be a project, at current, but he was also one that Pendour was familiar with. "But vengeance is a motivation I understand."

It was one he was fairly sure Anser partially operated on.

It was also worth noting his sister was unstoppable.

He would have continued on with his social media theories--he wondered if he could safely utilize his acting clout for it or if he'd just make himself too much of a target--if it wasn't for Pendour's comment, and he looked at the same thing she looked at. The smile spread on his face, lighting up his eyes as he went in for a hug and a squeeze before she even asked for one. "You are!" he then backed up to get a better look. "I noticed a bit earlier, but I figured it was better to deal with more pressing things first--"

A small flattered flush spread across freckled cheeks as he reached up to rub his neck. "Can't just say it's me. I mean, glad I'm helping, but," he winked, "the amount of work you've done is why you're a Knight, now. You deserve it."

He paused, considered, and then added, "This'll give you more room to work, too. Should have a bigger magic pool now. More calming vibes. Even more considering the transcendence." And less of vengeance-driven a*****e generals snarking on her ocarina-playing, he hoped--

Encke gave a delighted laugh when she lifted him and twirled him, a sensation he wasn't necessarily used to from anyone but Basiluzzo but not a sensation he'd complain about. He might have even kicked his legs out for a moment before she set him back down, snickering all the while.

Knowing that perhaps she'd prefer to stay closer, Encke didn't make any moves to put any significant distance between them. Felt better, anyway.

Knowing that she was there helped him too.

"Understandable, considering what was happening at the time," he cleared his throat and shook his head out of the thoughts. "Anyway. I think it will. Knights generally have more magic to work with," occasionally more powerful magic too, he noticed, but he also didn't know a whole lot of knights as they grew -- mostly seemed to have a tendency of meeting ones that were already knights -- "And I think it's a lot like staging up for a senshi. Your starseed is ready to handle that power, so."

He paused, pondered, and let his expression break into a grin. "Ah, speaking of handling things." In the vaguest sense, now when he thought about it, his brain making connections between things that were only tangentially related-- "I think my comet's also handling some new things. Would you like to see?"

Encke hoped it would brighten her mood just that much further.

And maybe living worlds could be something that could be added to the anti-propaganda.