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It was late.

The sun had already set nearly two hours ago, and yet the temperature outside was uncomfortably warm. The air itself was thick with humidity, making Vauxite feel all the more uncomfortable while waiting for his sister to arrive.

He’d found a place to sit, one of those hostile benches the city had installed so that it would be supremely uncomfortable if anyone were to try to lie down on it. A deterrent for the homeless to keep the park clean, but otherwise an inconvenience.

If he’d known Markeb was going to be late, he would have found a tree to rest against instead. But that would just make it more inconvenient for her to find him since this place was close enough to a mirror without giving away its location.

Vauxite tried to not be irritated with her since she was normally well organized and kept things like this in her digital planner. Regardless, it was already 13 minutes past the time they were going to patrol together. She had 8 minutes to arrive before he was going home to take care of his dog, Riley

He sighed as he shifted to a more comfortable position, one foot resting on the bench, his knee raised just enough for him to hook an arm over it. His aura glitched in erratic patterns, flickering around him like a virus, a distortion meant to confuse anyone foolish enough to try and sneak on him.

Which would have been ill-advised

Vauxite didn’t even flinch when the weapon came hurdling toward him. From where he sat, he knew it was likely going to miss him. Even if it did manage to brush against his cheek or smack his head, he’d already sensed that the officer was another lieutenant, making it unlikely the flimsy thing would actually hurt anything except perhaps his own pride.

The cheap trinkets they handed out as weapons were barely worth carrying. Honesty, a decent seized rock would have been more effective.

His eyes narrowed at the offending object that now lay on the ground beside him before turning his attention to the man who had shouted at him as if he were some cockroach skittering across a restaurant kitchen, begging to be stepped on.

Vauxite didn’t rise. He merely stretched out a hand, and with a passing thought, his own weapons were summoned.

One eyebrow raised in a high in wordless curiosity, though whether from surprise or simple interest was impossible to tell. However, the rest of his expression remained perfectly composed as he kept his eyes trained on the other man.

“Do you often attack comrades before introducing yourself?” He’d sensed the man's aura, albeit very briefly, before his mind had fully registered what the other lieutenant had shouted.

Somewhere in there was a question. Maybe more than one, but he’d stopped listing after he was asked his name.

“Vauxite,” he replied. “As for what it looks like, I have no idea.”

His aura settled into something more stable, less white noise or static-like, since it seemed like that was what was making him uncomfortable.

“Sounds like you're awfully good at finding trouble.” The aura he described sounded much like his sister's, who is a Dark Mirror Senshi, but the magic wasn't one Vauxite was familiar with.

“Who is your General, and why didn't they send someone from your team to patrol with you?” The anxiousness in the Lieutenant's voice, and rushed yet animated way of speaking, coupled with his haphazard way of attack first, then ask questions, made it seem like he was a new recruit.

Although he could be wrong in that assumption, considering they were the same rank, the vibe Liebthenite gave off felt like a novice.

Vauxite had felt for some time now that his own promotion was oddly overdue and perhaps intentionally delayed for reasons he had no explanation or proof of.

“Just… don’t throw it at my sister when she gets here, please. Her aura will probably feel like the first one you mentioned but she’s…” He was about to say harmless, but he didn’t want to paint Markeb as being weak, even if she was. “She’s not as bad as whoever it was that you ran into.”

“If you can manage that, then I suppose I can forgive you.” Honestly, Vauxite was more annoyed at the inconvenience of being bothered than actually offended by Libethenite’s actions.

He leaned over and picked the melted Otter Pop-looking weapon off the ground. It sagged limply over his fingers, folding in half under its own weight. Vauxite regarded it with a distinctly unimpressed expression before flicking his gaze back to the other Lieutenant.

“Self-summoning snack huh…” he commented casually as he handed it over.

“I don’t know what to tell you about my aura. It’s done this for a while now.” He’d never met anyone else who could distort their location in quite the same way but it had its advantages.

Vauxite’s foot slipped off the edge of the bench, and he nearly fell forward at the abruptness of Libethenite’s comment. It was a forwardness that caught him off guard and left him blinking once… then twice, as though waiting for his mind to catch up with what his ears had just heard.

“I uh-,” he cleared his throat. Refusing to make eye contact, he glanced in the general direction of the mirror, silently wishing his sister would hurry the ******** up. “I’m not exactly qualified to make that distinction, whether she’s hot, that is…”

“Personality wise…” his voice trailed off when a diminutive aura flared at the edge of his senses. Thank god oh how ironic it was that the Senshi of Wishes actually responded to his voiceless plight. “Well I’ll let you decide for yourself.”

Markeb’s approach had been cautious at first. It was only supposed to be the two of them this evening, so the extra aura she sensed had thrown her off a bit.

Then she heard her brother’s voice and her wariness eased.

The tension left her shoulders as she stepped into view, just in time to catch the last part of the conversation. “Who’s a ********> she asked.

“You are, apparently,” Vauxite replied a bit too quickly, which earned him an unamused death stare that promised he’d receive no healing if he got hurt this evening if he didn’t apologize.

“Hey,” Vauxite held his hands up in self-defense. “I wasn’t the one who said it,” he quickly pointed to Libethenite, all too willing to deflect her ire to anyone other than himself. “It was him.”

Her arms crossed in front of her chest as she raised an eyebrow in amused confusion, “I’ve never seen a Lieutenant who dresses like him.” Markeb walked a circle around her brother and his comrade in arms appraisingly.

Markeb’s expression pinched with immediate revulsion, the corners of her mouth pulling downward as though she could almost taste it herself. “Okay… that’s actually disgusting.”

She took a step back from the two men, “I have no idea who you’re talking about. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they were a Dark Mirror like me.”

As far as she understood, the Dark Mirror Court and the Negaverse were allied- or at the very least, not openly hostile toward one another. Rakovanite’s team had certainly treated her well enough that she’d never had reason to question it, which is why it seemed a bit strange that one of her own would be openly hostile toward him.

Markeb shrugged, then glanced over to where her brother now stood.

He looked delightfully uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help but relish in the sight. It was certainly more entertaining than the usual stoic expression and infuriating silence he often hid behind.

Her smile grew until it seemed she could barely contain her laughter, and Vauxite took a step away from the amusement shining brightly in her golden eyes.

“Don’t…” he warned

She shrugged nonchalantly and stood beside the other lieutenant, nudging him playfully with her elbow. Markeb leaned toward him. “I will say though, you’re quite a charmer. I think I like you.”

“I never thought I’d see my brother look anything but grumpy. Please, do continue, I think I’ll enjo-”

“MARKEB!” he snapped suddenly. “Enough…” He then turned to Libethenite and pleaded with him to- “Ignore her, please.”

Vauxite pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, feeling overly exasperated by the two of them.

“Bathbombs sound like excellent repayment if we’re helping with your quota, too.” Markeb chimed in, earning her a dramatic roll of his eyes from her older sibling. “Hey, far be it from me to turn down a kind offer. Just because he’s one of your comrades doesn’t mean I can’t accept.”

Truth be told, Vauxite had half a mind to excuse himself and let the two of them patrol while he went home to take care of his dog, Riley. He was already almost twenty minutes late getting started anyway.

“There’s an encampment nearby where drug deals have been happening more frequently. My sister here will use a wraith to break them up, spook one of them into running. We’ll grab one, maybe two, since you’re here, and drain them in a nearby alley.” If they’re particularly violent, Vauxite was prepared to pull a starseed, but that bit of information remained unsaid.

As if on queue, Markeb withdrew her shard and summoned the wraith he had mentioned. Its passive expression amused her as she likened it to her brother’s; the only difference is that Vauxite was sharp and calculating, whereas the creature from Mirrorspace often floated in its incorporal form as if it were just simply existing and moving on autopilot.

A part of her felt bad for using it this way, but it was what she had been instructed to do way back when she first joined the Court.