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Lvendulan teleported from her home in the Dark Kingdom ruins into the outskirts of downtown Destiny City. Her dragon-like features were exposed to the pale winter light, blue-tinted skin and scaled face catching the sun’s occasional rays, gleaming faintly as if frost had crystallized upon her.

If she had been a normal human the cold air might have been felt; but as she was, the chill went unnoticed. Formerly a summer child with a love of water sports, Laven had become a creature of winter who radiated cold and could now summon ice magic thanks to an artifact she encountered at The Merchant’s museum

Usually, she avoided Destiny City during the day, but as the anniversary of her transformation loomed closer, the confines of her office became suffocating.

It had been years since her life had fractured, leaving her half-youma and wholly trapped between what she had been and what she had become. Projects meant to anchor her sense of purpose while Wolframite was away now mocked her with their incompleteness. Tasks she had estimated would take months stretched into years, unfinished and untouched by the promises of time.

Each failure weighed heavier, a burden that dragged her further into her own isolation.

The snow crunched beneath her boots as she moved aimlessly, the crisp air filling her lungs with every breath as her long tail swept behind her leaving a faint, serpentine trail in the snow. Above her, the sky shimmered strangely, the clouds reflecting patches of sunlight like fractured mirrors. It was beautiful, she supposed, yet a bit unsettling - a reflection of her own self-perception, broken only by the hush of snowflakes and the sudden thud of snow slipping from heavy tree branches.

Time slipped by easily and just as she was about to turn return to the Dark Kingdom, a prickle of energy brushed against her senses, sudden and sharp like a sting of ice. Lavenduan froze. The aura was faint but unmistakable, something she couldn’t ignore since it was unusual to find someone else powered during the day.

She approached at a moderate pace, not so fast that it frightened the White Moon Senshi into fleeing or powering down and hiding somewhere until she gave up and left. “You’re awfully brave…” Lavendulan’s voice cut through the silence when she spotted who the aura belonged to. A figure with dark olive-green hair that faced into a soft sage hue and a uniform that did not quite fit the season they were in.

The compliment lingered uncomfortably in the air.

Lovely? Lavendulan’s head tilted just slightly, the motion matched by the unsettling fluctuation of her pupils, shifting from razor-thin slits to dark, unblinking marbles. Had she been more feline, her ears might have flicked or turned, but her draconic features gave no such tell.

Only Wolframite had ever called her that with genuine intent, and hearing it now, from a White Moon no less, the word felt cheap, a tool meant to soothe her or buy time. Her suspicion tightened its grip, suppressing the faintest flicker of curiosity that might have leaned into a more friendly conversation.

“And you…” she paused, her voice trailing as she stepped closer, the distance between them shrinking until she could see the uncanny similarity in their eyes. “You intrigue me.” Her tone was smooth, as she raised a clawed hand and let the back of her fingers graze his cheek in a gesture that was neither a threat nor a caress but something in between, much like how her aura balanced her short stature.

“What are you…”she asked, her tone sounding distracted when her eyes trailed to the scales she saw on his exposed hips.

[quote="Sara Draconia"

“I know you’re a senshi,” she replied sharply. That much was obvious.

But outsider… What does he mean by that? Her brows furrowed in frustration. Was he toying with her by offering an unsolvable riddle? Maybe he’s come here from another continent. she surmised which was concerning since she was only aware of Senshi being here in Destiny City, everywhere else was under the Negaverse’s control… wasn’t it?

“I’m from here,” Lavendulan replied curtly, offering a non-cryptic simple answer. “Did the other White Moon Senshi do this to you? Did they turn you into this? Or-,” she bit back her next question when she felt her youma instincts begin to creep up with emotions she was not ready to unleash without more questions answered. “Or did you defect and retain your features?” her tone was more calm this time, more conversational and she hoped less interrogative.

Born like this? Lavendulan’s eyes narrowed imperceptively Surely he’s not implying that someone grafted animal DNA to his prior to birth… The thought made her stomach twist; she knew scientists liked to push boundaries and cross the line of what was ethically or morally right.

Even so, her own existence defied the laws of nature yet here she was. “Hard to tell who has it worse,” she commented more to herself than to him, her voice cold and unwavering.

Sure, he could flee. However, with her ability to teleport, he wouldn't get far.

“I know how glamour works,” for a measly two hours she could wander around pretending she was a human again. An activity she partook in less often since becoming a General, preferring to delve into the Rift with Tallulah for research purposes and to indulge her youma tendencies.

Wolframite might even praise her if he knew how much she has been honing her skills, expanding awareness of her surroundings, and learning from more feral beasts how to survive.

She moved around him slowly, circling him while observing the senshi with an almost appraisal-like gaze. As a Captain, she would never have acted so boldly, nor would she have approached so closely, knowing that senshi were far from the ineffectiveness of Lieutenants and Pages. Yet, as a General, despite her short stature, Lavendulan felt no fear of this White Moon and took note of his distinctive features.

“If you’re not from here, where are you from then?” She asked, studying his slitted eyes and pointed ears. But what intrigued her the most were the scales visible on his hips. Similar to the ones on her shoulders but more delicate looking.

Lavendulan’s clawed hand reached out instinctively, then hesitated before pulling back abruptly; her youma nature biting back at her human curiosity.

Subtle as it was, with their close proximity it was difficult to miss the shiver that raced through him.

Her lips pursed into a thin line, partially puzzled and kind of annoyed. She knew that her skin and hands were cold, yet she hadn’t touched him, and her aura of cold.. She had learned to control it long enough ago to know it was not active. If he’s from Chang’E then that must also mean that is his name. Lavendulan didn’t remember who told her that, probably Wolframite at some point; Agents were named after minerals, Senshi were named after celestial bodies be it moons, stars or planets, and Knights were named after locations otherwise called Wonders.

Laven hummed, then took a step back. Her arms folded over her chest as she looked up at the sun rising in the east. Clouds dappled the sky leaving a smattering of sunspots around them. The way they moved struck her as something odd, yet familiar. They moved, swayed even, like the coming and going of a tide; reflecting light back down on them as if they were standing beneath the ocean.

Despite how beautiful the horizon looked, it did not hold her attention over long before her glacial blue eyes settled on him again. “Chang’E, is it? If you’re cold I can take you someplace else.” She offer him a blanket but she had no need for such things in her subspace pocket. A sleeping bag yes for when she ventured into the Rift, but unfortunately that was not with her right now. “But there are more questions I have for you. So decide if you want to continue this conversation here or elsewhere.”

Lovely?

Lavendulan’s expression remained relatively blank save for a few subtle shifts; the slow blinks, ever so slight tilt of her head to the side, eyes narrowed but not in anger as her pupils fluctuated ever so slightly. Surely she misheard him, only one person had ever called her that and it wasn’t by someone who was affiliated with the White Moon Senshi or their Knights. While creative in their names for her, none were ever kind.

Still, it was enough to make her pause and forget where she was going to take him. It took a moment to recover, but once she was able to compose herself, Lavendulan shook her head. “My name doesn’t matter. It’s unlikely we will cross paths again after today, so there’s no point in remembering it.”

“However,” Lavendulan paused in careful consideration of her next words. “If you manage to satiate my curiosity then I may give it to you before I leave…”

Here she’d offered to take him someplace warmer, yet the first place that came to mine was atop a building. While it is true there would be more open sun spots, there would be no shield from the wind at such heights. Second to that was the caves near the reservoir. It offered shelter from prying eyes and shield from the cold winter air, but it was also dark unless glowworms were active, and damp which was probably worse than where they were now.

Lavendulan hated to admit it, but she had been so far removed from her life as a human that she couldn’t think of a better place to go; especially since powering down and going to a cafe was most definitely out of the question.

“There is a cabin I can take you to. Though… if it is occupied we’ll have to find a place outside to talk.” It was a small Air B&B she had gone to once years ago. Not the one where she had been turned into a Half-Youma near a lake. But this one was by a river that she would visit in the summer to find treasures that had fallen out of the pockets of people who went inter tubing or kayaking.

“It’s your decision. Stay here, or take a chance.”

“You’re an enigma,” she stated simply. “Beyond that, you’ve done nothing to offend me.” If anything, she was struggling with the war going on between her human and youma natures. One felt intrigued, perhaps fascinated, but certainly contained an eagerness to learn more. While the other felt a level of mistrust, wariness, a predator ready to pounce… agitated, yes that was a better word to describe it. Not because of anything he’d done or said, but simply because he exhisted.

“I just don’t make it a habit to wander around Destiny City without reason.” While quotas were often reason enough, she couldn’t fulfill those during the day and would rather spend her time working on a research project or venture into the Rift.

Her glacial blue eyes traveled from the red tassel that hung from his tiara down to his outstretched hand and it was there she hesitated. Lavendulan wasn’t sure how to react to this level of trust he extended to her. A gesture of kindness that felt unexplainably foreign with how infrequent she engaged with anyone from the other factions. If anything, her rank alone should have sent him running, but he seemed to believe her when she offered to take him to a safe place instead of back to the Dark Kingdom.

“I offer no apology, teleporting is unkind to anyone not used to the sensation of quick travel,” she warned before carefully taking hold of his hand. Though chilled, his was still warmer than hers.

Laven waited a moment, giving him a chance to change his mind or pull away before focusing on the cabin she and Wolframite had stayed at years ago. Outside of city limits, surrounded by trees and other dense foliage, where the only sounds to be heard were from birds chattering among themselves or the hushed fall of snow from heavy