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How was she supposed to phrase this, exactly?

Brielle had been running the encounter over and over in her head, and she still hadn't figured out how she was going to explain it to Alastor. She knew that whatever she came up with wasn't going to be enough of a sound bite to fit in a text message on a senshi phone.

So, she'd invited him out to a particular picnic table, instead, one with a familiar view, with water from a pond lapping gently against the shore a few feet away, and a few wildflowers from the unseasonably warm weather peeking out through the patches of grass under them.

In all of her time since she'd purified, she'd never once spent her own money on food from a fast food restaurant, but today, that had changed. For Devyn's sake, she'd gone inside one of those places, and she'd picked up a bag full of those burgers and fries that he seemed to like so much.

Then, settled in at the table, she waited.

Brielle smiled, too, and waved. It was always good to see Devyn, especially when they were able to have a nice, quieter moment like this.

"I brought you something," she said, by way of greeting, and she slid the bag across the table towards his side, because she certainly was not wanting to eat any of it. She was careful to be gentle and not snag it on the wood, though, because she did want the food to be in decent shape for him.

"I've been all right. A bit laid up with the ribs," which still pulled if she moved at just the wrong angle, but she was certainly in better shape than she'd been last time she'd seen Alastor. "But I'm finally able to get out again, so that's nice, especially with the weather turning."

Spring might have been her favorite season. She'd have hated to miss the flowers.

"I ran into someone interesting the other day. An agent, but she made me think of you."

"I wouldn't say it bodes badly for you," said Brielle, her smile tilting sideways.

She did watch him eat as he spoke, glad that he hadn't been spoiled so much by having decent Earth food that he'd given up on the mildly distasteful ones that he'd seemed to like so much before. Of course she would have figured something else in that case, but the routine was nice, even if other situations were shifting.

They came here. He ate burgers. They talked.

"I wasn't thinking about you because she was Chaos, or anything like that. It was more her situation? She's met one of the-" aliens seemed to be a bit broad of a term, and Brielle squinted as she tried to think of something better.

"Someone who's been alive for a thousand years. A senshi," she said. There was probably a more concise word out there somewhere, a label to go along with the others, like youma, and transcendence, but she'd gotten the point across.

"Anyway, apparently she has the starseed of this woman's dead wife."

Brielle looked over, not wanting to insult Devyn's intelligence by spelling out exactly why this might have brought his situation to mind.

"Not has it as in she stole it," Brielle said, with a quick shake of her head. She could see where that might be the assumption, now that the words were out of her mouth. She was quick to correct, "Has it as in it's hers. She's the reincarnation."

Like Michael, part of her wanted to say, but given the intensely negative reaction he was having to the thought of this agent, she decided to spare him that comparison.

"Apparently they've figured this out, and there are also feelings there or something? It was a bit strange. This woman, this agent, I'd never met was just going on and on about her love life, Devyn."

She couldn't help a small laugh at the situation as she thought about it, in retrospect.

"She was worried she couldn't live up to the senshi's memories, so she was going to try to corrupt her to take away those memories, but I think I talked her out of that one." Cybele's laugh turned bitter.

"I suggested she talk to you instead, actually."

"Your story, I suppose?" said Brielle.

She noticed, of course, that he wasn't laughing with her, that he wasn't smiling. He wasn't even eating. She stared at the wrapper on the table, flattened under the burger, and it felt like something heavy was pressing down on her, too.

She had expected this to be a quick check in, not one of those conversations where it almost seemed that they weren't understanding each other.

She was also realizing, rather quickly, that she hadn't considered the possibility that Alastor hadn't wanted to be involved in this.

"I'm not trying to be flippant," she added, quieter. "I understand how awful Chaos can be, and that even one person can be dangerous," her lips were pressed thin now, and she had the scars to back up her words, "But at the same time, I did like her." She shrugged, although she was almost apologetic as she looked up.

"And at the same time, she seemed sort of," Brielle talked slower now, not wanting to say the wrong thing, "Desperate, but in a way that made me think she was at a turning point. I think we can get through to her. When I told my story, I think it did get through."

Sitting straight for so long was making her side ache, and she shifted slightly on the wooden seat. "I fight hard, Devyn," she said, and she didn't think he'd doubt that. "But I am purified. I know what it's like to be desperate like that, and I'm always looking for people who I think we can save."

The reassurances were helpful, since she was realizing that she'd never talked to Devyn about purification before. She didn't know his opinions on it, his meticulous poker face wasn't helping, and she very much didn't want to make things awkward between them.

For those reasons, it was also helpful that he was interested.

"I don't know her name," admitted Brielle. "She has blue hair, and sort of a octopus or jellyfish suit? Very aquatic. Hard to miss."

"I told her that you were similar to this woman that she was talking about, and that you'd found someone who carried a previous starseed, and that you'd managed to make a relationship work."

She shifted her weight on the bench again, not able to find a comfortable position.

"No details, though. I didn't think it was my place to say. I told her if you wanted to know more that I'd see if you could talk."

"The Negaverse knows that people like you are out there," she said, because if nothing else, she'd had that confirmed after her interaction with the Captain. "I don't know that knowing your history would put more or less of a target on your back. Relationships might," she agreed. "I know the family has been involved in some things."

The night that Beau had died and Ganymede had been captured was burned into her mind, too. She might not have been as deeply tied to the family as some of the others, but she'd liked Beau. His death hadn't been easy for her, especially seeing how it effected the others.

She didn't know the details of what had led to that night, though. She'd only been told at the last minute that there was a captive, and she hadn't asked too many questions, afterwards. There were things to do, then, a missing person to find, and she hadn't wanted to start throwing blame around in the middle of grief and desperation.

She knew, though, that capturing Jet, being connected to a Princess, and having a reputation for housing traitors was plenty reason for the Negaverse to hate them.

"I won't bring it up again if it makes either of you feel better."

She couldn't take the bench anymore. She stood with a grimace. "Sorry," she murmured, one hand resting gently on her side. "I thought I'd be fine to come out today, I've been patrolling some, which should have been worse. These benches are just not doing me any favors."

Although she took a breath so that she could answer his last question. "She was still worried about her own relationship, but she seemed interested. She wanted to see I could ask you to meet her."

"We can walk," said Brielle, who never wanted to admit defeat. Would it be better for her to go lie down? Perhaps. Was she going to say that? No.

Now she just had to keep a straight face so that Devyn didn't start herding her towards her house, all the same. Her house was also full of people who worried about her, and she could use a break from that now and then. She'd grab some pills later. It would be fine.


"I think she'll appreciate that," said Cybele, about the agent. "Your time, regardless of what you say. I appreciate it, too."

She wasn't exactly known for being a diplomat, so the fact that someone believed what she was trying to do enough to go into a unfamiliar situation made her feel better about the endeavor. Now all she could do was hope for the best, hope that they managed to find some common ground. She could hope that the agent could see that the best path for her was not the path with the Negaverse, when she came to the crossroads.

"But, I didn't just come out here to ask a favor. I wanted to see how you were, now that things are slightly less chaotic."