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Encke's patrol that day had been relatively quiet.

Relatively, of course, was just that: he had initially powered up because he felt the ghost of a chill down his back he had long since associated with the sense of youma. Encke powered up, chased that down, and dusted the youma associated with the feeling. It had been quiet, afterward, and he was partially enjoying his walk, partially on high alert in case there were any sensations that were going to disrupt that peaceful walk. Certain generals, for one -- apparent new general-kings for another --

Needless to say, the sensation of an Order basic senshi instead was not only a relief but welcomed. He stayed put with a friendly smile on his face, letting her approach him.

Encke lifted his hand in a wave as she jumped down.

"Hey!" He couldn't necessarily guess her sphere from her outfit, but the general style of it reminded him of Keiko, a bit--similar influences, at least, minus the fluff. Her hair was long like Basiluzzo's. Maybe he should introduce them so they could exchange haircare tips-- Well, he shouldn't get ahead of himself, he was introducing a lot of people to other people lately--

Viatrix would be pleased, he was making a network.

"Transcendent Eternal Encke of Plasma here! You? And how long have you been awakened?"

He saw her bow and, to be polite, returned it, bowing at the waist toward her. "And a pleasure to meet you too, Izanami of Cremation."

The fact that she had been a senshi for a little over a year and was still a basic felt familiar to him. Of course, he had the misfortune of awakening in the middle of his mental fog, which was a considerably different reason to hold him back than the typical civilian responsibilities, but-- "That's alright. I didn't awaken and quickly become a super either. I was mostly just checking to get an idea of how much you might know." To be honest, he had gone from super to eternal considerably quicker than he had gone from basic to super, but that was neither here nor there.

Like her, he had other priorities to manage.

And as a basic, his main priority hadn't been the patrol but the time at his homeworld, which had ultimately granted other benefits--

"Ah, stars, me?" Encke leaned back, counting on his fingers for a moment as he considered the time before and the time after, when the time of awareness of youma as a civilian separated from when he was a senshi-- 2011. That sounded right. s**t, had he really passed that eleven-year mark? He supposed he was going to turn thirty in a month. "About eleven years? It's been a long time. I've been in this war, albeit unawakened, since 2009."

So far as he could tell, he was one of the few on their side who had been around that long who was still active or had managed to avoid--. He knew Metis and Scylla, knew of Asphodel-- "I mean, if you're looking for a history lesson," Encke's smile was sheepish, "I can definitely help with that."

It was true that Encke couldn't have possibly known every name that was in the war -- considering how long it had gone on, there was no way he could have known everyone who came in and out. Encke did know a considerable amount of people, though, and one of those names was familiar. His eyes lit up in recognition at, "Julienne! How is she doing? She's the one who promoted me to eternal." A promotion he was still very happy with, even if Viatrix was still a bit salty that another cat had helped him along all of his major promotions.

She shouldn't have been missing so long then--

(Viatrix still insisted she needed her beauty sleep and maybe Encke should have waited a bit.)

He didn't recognize the name Monoceros, but he did recognize the Negaverse taking people, and he frowned at the news. "I didn't know Monoceros, but I'm sorry to hear the Negaverse took him. They've taken a lot of people lately, especially at the battle at the generators, if you were there." He was convinced at least someone he knew had been taken there at this point. It had been too long without an answer, and it only left two possibilities in his experience: either someone's body had passed, or their mind as they knew it had. "I hope he's able to be brought back."

She sounded awed when she realized just how long he had been involved -- eleven years awoken was a lot, thirteen years of awareness even moreso. His sheepish smile remained until she said she would be very interested, and something in his body relaxed. "Absolutely. If you want to hear, I can tell you all the major battles and events as I remember them. It's a lot, though, if you want to sit down?"

He clocked a nearby picnic table and motioned for her to follow him if she was willing. It was in an area without much lighting at this time of day, but being something of a walking glowstick himself, he was hardly concerned.

So Julienne was stressed... that was concerning. She had always seemed so chipper when he had seen her, so it sounded like something might have been up. Perhaps it might have just been everything that had happened lately, but on that same note, perhaps she had lost people who were important to her in that? "Maybe I'll check in on her," even if he was fairly sure Viatrix would probably get a bit jealous if she heard he was speaking to other cats, as it were--

As they sat at the picnic table, Encke offered her a bright grin. "Yes. Not us individually," so few of them could, "but the royals among us and Cosmos can. We can also help them in the cases of youma and half-youma, I believe, if we form courts." He said I believe, but he knew it from experience. Princess Chronos assisted by the Zodiac Court saved him. It was something he wished he could offer in turn-- "But beyond the direct ways, we can also put the idea in their head. Encourage them. Be there for them. Offer a landing net when they leave, because they will be isolated from everything they knew and likely will forget massive pieces of their memory."

He had experiences with all pieces of that. Sedna had forgotten her civilian life. Nectaris had forgotten her powered life but also had been so deep into Chaos that it seemed she had forgotten much of her civilian life, too. Or perhaps it was the circumstances?

As Encke settled, he rocked and shifted back and forth a few times before finally settling on tapping his fingers against the wood of the picnic table. "I'm willing to talk as long as you're willing to listen, honestly. I've been in this so long it's hard to remember a life without the war. Would like that to be useful to our side, right?" He felt like a grizzled war veteran. Maybe he was destined to take that role on film eventually--

"My knowledge of Chaos begins back in 2009. Have you heard of that closed-off place up on the hill that they still guard to some degree to this day? It used to be a place called Barren Pines--a school. The first sign of the power the Negaverse held is that they could own these important places without question. While they were behind many places after that," to the point where Encke often refused to go to anywhere new until it had been at least a year, but he wasn't going to pass Izanami his paranoia, "there, they turned the students into monsters."

It was becoming easier to say that.

Maybe it'd start to become easier to tell people he was one of them.

It sounded like she was taking in the ways they could help people on the other side and help get them back and that was good. While he knew people who took a much more scorched earth approach--his sister was one of them, and honestly he couldn't necessarily blame the people who took that approach, considering everything he saw--he thought the answer laid somewhere in the middle. They could help these people if they wanted help.

Even if it took time.

"It is," he agreed, quietly, glancing to the side. It had been terrifying. His fingers tapped a bit faster for a moment before he took a deep breath and brought it back in. "The official word is an organ ring, but honestly, oftentimes those official words are inaccurate. People dying of fire was oft a fire set by the Negaverse to clean up, mass comas are usually related to starseeding or other events..." He let out another sigh. "Dozens of students died permanently, some were saved by the Zodiacs, a group of senshi who we don't see around much anymore."

And from there, he continued, summarizing what he remembered and what he had absorbed from talking to enough people as well as he could. He mentioned the events of Tartaros, which led to much of the city being in a deep coma due to a nightmare that spread across the city. He mentioned the Surrounding, an event he only tangentially heard of, where many Chronos knights and Dark Mirrors awoke. He talked about the advent of the Dark Mirror, and the strange dream that seemed to haunt several of them. He spoke warmly of the arrival of Caedus and how he had helped them invade the Negaverse and take starseeds and a piece of the Code they held from them, and how that connected to the aliens that had recently arrived. He spoke of how the Dark Mirror's Mirrorscape had taken them all in.

He talked about more minor operations of the Negaverse, galas, carnivals, theatres, balls, taken-over abandoned buildings, places that they had reused as draining operations, or places to take starseeds. Encke mentioned that the events during the holidays seemed to repeat themselves but had no known link to Chaos.

He took a deep breath, fidgeting increasing.

"Is that everything? Maybe all the major hits--"

It painted a picture of the Negaverse as a consistent problem that showed no real sign of relenting.

It looked like all he had said had managed to galvanize her.

That was good. Maybe this was what his side needed. So many of the newer members of Order didn't know what was behind the fight. As Asphodel had implied in his entry in the database, the Negaverse had gotten to the point where they were trying to clean up their past. They were trying to make themselves more palatable, even among the evil.

And with some people, he worried that it was working.

A general having an interest in a senshi was normally alarming, but a consistent confrontation with a basic was especially alarming. Encke stood up a little straighter, taking a deep breath and preparing himself to ask who the general was--and he was still curious, but she moved into asking him a question that spoke to something he was considerably passionate about, and his expression switched from something that was concerned to something that seemed a bit more excited.

"Yes."

He held out his arms, his fidgeting stopping as he allowed her to look at the markings along his fingers and upper arms.

"It's called transcendence. Gaining it grants your starseed protection from the Negaverse. And I can speak to it," his lips lifted, "I've had multiple attempts on taking my starseed that were foiled by the protection. It prevents corruption too since they can't even get their hands on it in the first place." He wiggled his fingers. "And as a bonus, you get to glow. You gain the ability to share your energy with others, too, so you can help restore anyone who has had their energy drained -- or in a few, rarer cases, I've met a couple of transcendents who have more magic."

Pendour and Anser were the only two that came to mind, but he was sure there were more...

"It requires growing and developing a bond with your homeworld."

Hearing that she would like to pursue that delighted him, and he might have shown that with a bit of a happy bounce in his seat.

"I thought the same of my own homeworld," Encke admitted, as he drew his hand back toward himself. "Back when I first started going to my homeworld, it seemed like a place where I could go where I could just feel peace." It was a place that he could go to where all the noise would stop. The Negaverse and its army of youma couldn't get him up there, and all he had to think about was how he brought this fascinating place back to its former glory.

Without the people, it was hard for him to fully do that, but he felt closer than he could have ever felt possible.

"Specific is a hard one." Encke pondered it, glancing upward. "Probably. The people I've observed getting transcendence, myself included, usually find something in their work or exploration of the homeworld or wonder that makes that place happy or feel more complete. I turned back on the cometwide electricity." And looking at him, perhaps that made sense. "A knight I know cleared up their cove and allowed the waterfall to flow again. Another senshi I knew completed a traditional ritual done by all senshi of her planet before they were allowed to step into their power."

Encke finally glanced back toward Izanami, leaning in a bit. "If you keep working on and going to your homeworld, whatever it is will become clearer, I think."

He hadn't known that his comet wanted electricity back until that one fateful day he had gone, after all.

... Couldn't imagine his world without it now, though.