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"Cybele!"

This felt fortuitous.

Viatrix was out that night on a mission, one she wasn't telling her bonded about until after the work was done. She knew that Encke and Nectaris had both decided that perhaps they needed a few buddies nearby just in case things found a way to go to hell, but she needed some people with a harder stance. The two of them were just trying to keep some friends close; Viatrix was trying to keep some friends close, too, but she needed some people who were not necessarily determined that it would probably be okay. Encke, Nectaris, even the warier ones like Basiluzzo--all of them, in her opinion, were stepping into a scene that would be dangerous by default.

She didn't trust it. She didn't trust that everything would go off without a hitch. She didn't trust that the people she had bonded with wouldn't just end up dead, and that she wouldn't have to find a way to bodily grab Stromboli so he didn't find a way to charge into the Negaverse and be next.

She was just a Mauvian. She just had a head beam, much to her ire. But what she did have besides that?

Connections.

"How are you doing?" asked she, not launching straight into her concerns nevertheless. Viatrix had restored Cybele's power. Whether Cybele was officially hers or not, Viatrix considered her as one. The news could wait a moment; she wanted to know how Anser's bestie and one of her charges was doing.

All right: something that was not ideal but at least implied some measure of being okay. It was good enough for Viatrix. Obviously she'd like to hear that Cybele was estatic, but she understood its rarity both from where he lived and their usual importing business.

"I'm glad you're all right." She paused, before adding, with a small giggle, "Well, I'd be the most glad if you were entirely good, but I am glad you're doing well enough to be able to say all right." Viatrix moved to boosh Cybele lightly in the leg before moving to rotate around her, humming happily at being to see her and also just the luck of it all. She knew she would find just who she needed!

She purred happily, sitting back and looking up at Cybele.

"Anser's doing great! As determined to destroy chaos as ever, of course. She barely passed her mid-terms but," Viatrix sighed, "Anser would be fine just flunking out of school and doing her space stuff, let's be real. And I'm okay too."

Okay had been chosen for a reason, though, and she let out a sigh of her own, stress sneaking around her usual optimism to be more obvious. "Well. I am a bit worried."

Viatrix, to be honest, couldn't quite understand why other Mauvians found this undignified. Perhaps she was just ... how would Anser say it? A ho for attention? She was a bit, to be honest, but physical affection not only helped her feel better, but it usually helped her charges and their friends feel better too. It was kinda a win/win.

... Cybele was right, and Viatrix agreed. She just wished going to college wasn't such a wallet drain. If Anser was being expected to go, Viatrix wished she would do her best to not flunk out. "She does really enjoy being a barista! I support her all the way, I just worry because life and school is so dang expensive..."

But, to be honest, she worried about a lot of things.

At least, so long as it had to do with her charges.

Like what she was talking to Cybele about, for one. "Yeah. Uh, long and short of it I guess. Faustite--you know the guy--approached Encke about ridding himself of the youma because I guess it's eating him alive. That uh, kinda sucks, but," it was Faustite, and she didn't trust the guy she had to stop from crushing Basiluzzo's neck any further than she could throw him. "He's Faustite. A couple of my charges have kinda gotten a reason to be suspicious and I'm worried their suspicions are right. Like, even if he's for real, chaos isn't gonna want him gone and we'll see that, right? Or maybe he's planning something ..."

For a cat, she shared a lot of Encke's fidgeting.

"Trying to make sure no one gets in too much trouble."

At Cybele's words, Viatrix sighed quietly and shook her head. "Glad you're okay, after all that," because she was, but what was Faustite up to? Encke had implied, when they had talked, that Faustite did not intend to stay in the Negaverse. He had tried to leave before. That seemed to track with what Cybele was saying, even if Faustite followed that up with torturing Cybele for some damn reason...

She really didn't trust him.

Viatrix wanted to. She did. She wanted to believe him at his words that he at least wanted to be rid of the youma, but the people who were important to her were starting to worry that he was up to something. If they were worried, she was definitely worried. That was her job.

Her job wasn't only to be merry, but, "I guess I'm worried because there's this extra place they're not finding out about until the date is closer. And ... that feels like danger to me. I could tell you about that location, and you could stay hidden until something happens? Or if nothing happens and he really does purify, then we witnessed something amazing and you can leave like nothing happened."

She nodded firmly.

"There's a couple others Encke has reached out to. I can probably invite you in to that little group just to keep you in the loop."

"You're getting better, then," responded Viatrix, averting her eyes as a way to show her concern and the fact that maybe okay was the wrong word. She had been tortured by the very person they were talking about. It wasn't a good thing.

It was actually why she found coming to Cybele fortunate, though. As a Mauvian, she could see what was entered in the database. If anyone knew of the danger involved in this arrangement, it was no doubt someone else who had suffered by his hand. Her family was taking a somewhat realistic but still optimistic bend that had her angling in the other direction.

"Thank you."

And talking to someone else who got it helped.

"Absolutely. Maybe I can practice some aura-masking so we can get the jump on them--"