Welcome to Gaia! ::

So you just... patrol? That's it you just kind of... sometimes just... go out and explore the city and maybe you'll find something, maybe you won't? Andromeda still wasn't entirely sure how this worked, and some of it was still difficult to comprehend and believe, but there was a part of her that felt oddly complete. Well, maybe not complete. It still felt like there was something missing, but the last few nights had been the first nights since coming back to the city that she didn't have night terrors.

Tonight she had decided to take a break from leaping roof to roof, which she had to admit was actually really fun, to walk the streets. It was still kind of weird to her to be walking the streets in this... dress. Uniform. Fuku. Whatever they called it.

A car drove by and backfired as it did, but it wasn't until the driver seemed to spook themselves and scrape their car against another in a minor collision that Andromeda stopped in her tracks. Metal scraping against metal, cars colliding, the screech of tires driving away. For a moment her heart stopped and her skin felt cold, the hairs at the back of her neck beginning to prickle and her ribcage feeling too tight around her chest and heart--

What was that?

That was a new thing.

The world had slowed for a moment, but it seemed to come back to reality at double the speed as she whirled around in search of the new sensation that had caught her attention. Andromeda turned from the street to leap up onto a small hut, a nearby closed concession stand for hot dogs and ice cream. It'd be a better vantage point.

Okay. This... this feeling. It didn't feel bad. It felt.. friend? Was that the way to put it?

Oh.

Wait.

Really?

Her brow furrowed as she eyed the boy not too far off in the distance, one who also seemed to be looking for her, she assumed. This was a boy. Like, a small child boy. He had to be like ten or something, there was no way. "Uh... hey there! Hi!" She stepped forward to drop down from the stand's roof, landing gracefully and taking a few steps forward without pause, as if such a maneuver came naturally to her. "You on your own out here?"

Oh, he seemed absolutely precious. Andromeda couldn't help but smile as she ventured closer to the boy, his presence being enough to distract her away from the episode she had nearly had. "You know what, fair enough. It's nice to see someone else, I'm not usually one to walk around this late at night on my own." Her eyes widened slightly as he introduced himself. "Totoro?" Don't say it don't say it don't say it don't say-- "Like the cartoon?!" Damnit, Andromeda. But she looked absolutely delighted by this discovery. Gloved hands came together for tiny little claps of the tips of her fingers, making little sound but enough to convey her joy.

"Oh. Right. I'm V--Andromeda. I'm Andromeda, Senshi of.. Jellyfish." She nodded slowly as she introduced herself in turn, needing a moment to recall it. Her smile softened, her arms moving to hug around her own waist. "That's fair, I can't imagine what you're wearing is terribly comfortable in this heat. I kind of dread when late Autumn and Winter hits. But ah... I'm just.. getting adjusted? I'm very new at this, to be honest. So I'm mostly just getting myself used to.. being Andromeda?" He was so young... did Senshi typically start around his age? How late was she to the game... it was difficult not to feel a little self conscious about it. "I figured doing some simple night patrols might help me get used to the feeling of it all. Luckily so far the only unfortunate encounter I've had has been with some crazy chick called Hestia."

"I wouldn't say I watch many, but I'll never pass up a Studio Ghibli. In fact, I did my audition for my college to A Walk in the Skies from Howl's Moving Castle. Figured it has enough of the main theme to be recognizable, without being 'like every other girl' and also the different sections allowed--" He doesn't care, Andromeda. She suddenly cleared her throat and smiled again.

Andromeda looked down while he spoke of winter to inspect her own fuku. She'd done it several times since that first night, so she was getting rather familiar with the pieces of it. Sensible shoes? Well, thankfully it was July. Her shoes were just fine. "I mean, not like I got to choose how it looked, right?" She chuckled. "This could look pretty cute with a little jacket, huh? I've got a few that could work. Imagine though? If I like, tossed on a casual hoodie over this and that's how I show up to like some big fight with a youma?" Honestly? It could be a vibe.

At his question her eyes widened somewhat, and she managed another smile and a slight shrug. "Hestia is a... I think they said Corrupted Senshi? Black hair, black wings, dressed like a maid. Careful of her, the first thing she did was blind me. The next thing I did was mace her, so I guess we're even. But uh, yeah. I guess I am new to this.." Guess was something of an understatement. "I'm told I'm just a late bloomer. Needed some extra time to cook, apparently. Not sure how I slipped under the radar, but I did leave the city when I graduated high school to go to college, so maybe that threw everybody off. I mean, I guess it makes sense? I've always felt a little... off. I feel better since awakening, so I'm guessing that this was part of my problem?" Her head then tilted a little bit as she looked the boy over. He really was just a kid, huh? If most senshi were teens and he called himself a 'Chibi'... "Can I ask how old you are, Totoro?"

Oh he made a good point. She looked down at her gloved hands, then at her bare arms, and sighed. "I need bare skin for my magic," she lamented with a shake of her head. She then gave a little shrug, smiling a bit. "It was kind of useful, but only about as much as my magic was. I'm still figuring it out, but what I do know is that I have to touch people. You ever been stung by a jellyfish before, Totoro?" It thankfully didn't seem like she was asking as an offer, merely as an inquiry.

He was ten, huh? Andromeda was quiet a moment, looking contemplative as her gaze drifted off to one side and her head tilted a little. She plopped down to sit on a bench she'd been standing near, and her lips pursed. Imagine if she had been awakened on time, she would have been around his age. "Maybe when you're thirteen? You know, officially a teenager and all that. Is... your magic not super cooperative either, if you know that mine isn't?" Finally her gaze turned back to Totoro, her brows raised high.

"Hm? Oh, no. Both." She held her arms out in front of her. "So a jellyfish sting, depending on the jelly, can be pretty bad. Like, you know those tiny little mostly clear white ones? That'll hurt, but not so bad. You'll get over it with some water, preferably warm or straight from the ocean, you know? But then there are others, like the man o' war or the box jellyfish? Enough to kill a person. My magic, right now? It's kind of like... in between the most minor and worst of it. But I have to touch my skin to theirs, or whatever they have that qualifies as skin, I guess. Usually what I do right now is I take off my gloves and I grab onto them. Otherwise it's a little more awkward than it already is." A pause, and then she sighed and shrugged. "Or, well, it's how it should go. So far I've not really done much of anything except get called weak and then responded by punching her in the face. I don't know, I'm not really a violent person, so it's kind of weird for me to get stuck with magic that I have to get up in someone's face and be aggressive, you know?"

Andromeda settled her hands behind her on the bench and leaned back a bit, lifting her own legs to swing them up and down as she turned her gaze up toward the sky. "Maybe it'd be easier if I'd been awakened sooner? To be honest, once the dust had settled I was kind of... angry. I don't suppose you've seen The Last Unicorn?" She passed a glance Totoro's way, smiling a bit. "One of the characters has a total crash out when she sees the unicorn for the first time. She gets upset because she's an old woman who's been through a whole lifetime of suffering, and now she's seeing a unicorn when she's no longer a pure young maiden like the unicorn is meant to symbolize. That was kind of my thoughts. Where were you when my parents died? Where were you when I was suffering their loss? When I was having night terrors about monsters and panic attacks and all the therapists could say was 'oh it's probably just anxiety'." She huffed a slight chuckle and looked back up to the sky. She shook her head, pressing her lips together in a thin line for a moment. "Sorry, didn't mean to unload on you like that. I've kind of been holding it in. What's it been like for you? You've been doing this longer than I have, but you're so young?"

Her brow raised, eyes widening a bit. Oh! If he made something sensitive to her attack, even if she wasn't able to get it to be as effective as it should be, that could help wonders. Andromeda hummed thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. Yeah... yeah, actually! That could work! "Not a bad idea! We could give it a try, if you want. It's a little late at this point, but I think we could take some time to see if we find anything before either of us gets tired!"

He told his mother? Andromeda fell into a thoughtful expression as he explained his situation, her gaze drifting off to look toward the distance at nothing in particular. It made sense for it. But she was also current Nan and Papa's caretaker. Should they tell them? Would it be a good idea, or would it just stress them out? Uff... that was a hard choice. She had assumed it was kind of like a superhero movie where it was better off if it was a secret for their safety. The apology pulled her from her thoughts, bringing her back to Totoro with a brief look of surprise that settled into a gentle smile. "I was nine," she said quietly, "it was um... you know that bridge over there? Given your age you've probably only ever known it as being under construction?" She gestured off toward the bridge in question. Just a bridge over a large river that had collapsed fourteen years ago for reasons no safety inspector, building inspector, or architect could ever figure out. The closest they had ever gotten was that something had impacted with the bridge, but the only things they could find were the cars that had ended up in the river and parts of the bridge itself. It was eventually turned into one of those paranormal unsolved mysteries that intrigued some, but likely haunted Andromeda. "We were one of the cars on that bridge when it collapsed. Mom and Dad made sure my brother and I got out of the car, but they weren't so lucky themselves." Her jaw quivered a moment, but she was quick to reign herself in. Totoro didn't need her whole sad story.

Instead her smile brightened a bit, even if it didn't quite match her eyes just yet. "Your mom sounds like a smart person. And I don't disagree. But you'll get to a point in life where sometimes, during the quiet moments, you can't help but fall into 'what if' moments. Like, what if this event had gone differently what could my life be like now. I've fallen victim to it more than a few times. Though I do like where I am now... even with this." She pat her poofy skirt with a chuckle. "It's just something to get adjusted to."

Andromeda hummed thoughtfully as she stood up from the bench, patting at her poofy skirt again to brush off any dirt or dust from the outdoor furniture. "If it helps, it's... hm... it's like... maybe what you could imagine walking on the moon is like, but with gravity? Unfortunately, Andromeda is... it was a lot. It was like seeing my home that I'd only left for five minutes and come home to completely destroyed." Her brow furrowed and her lips pressed briefly into a tight line before she sighed and shook her head. "It was a little overwhelming. I wonder what the world of Totoro is like though, hm? It's probably pretty cool." Her smile brightened at that. Was it maybe like an enchanted forest or something? That would probably be really nice.

She lifted her arms to stretch them over her head, raising her shoulders to also stretch her back. "Well, if we've got a half hour, we should get going. And if we don't find anything tonight, there's always next time!" Andromeda waited for him to prepare himself before she began walking again, feeling much better than when she had started her patrol alone.