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Achird still felt... lost. And stupid. Very, very stupid. It wasn't a new feeling; very familiar, in fact, but it didn't stop hurting just because it had been felt before. He'd just... thought he'd be doing better. But his old life haunted him with every step, doggedly behind him at every turn to whisper in his ears the old insecurities, phrases his parents would say, the expectations from his so-called friends, the guilt at the relief that he'd never have to deal with them alive again. Tonight was especially gloomy. Slightly foggy with a drizzle that at least felt cool against his skin, even if he would prefer it didn't do that at all.

Patrol seemed so bleak. He didn't want to do it, really, especially since it wasn't really clearing his head the way he wanted it to. He sighed heavily, ears perking up slightly when he heard a soft scrape of stone against stone. Maybe with something to investigate, he'd feel better.

He peered upward, squinting against the drizzling rain, and froze when some kind of stone creature shifted slightly. That definitely wasn't in his imagination. At least there was an Order aura nearby? He shivered and hoped they'd come over, because whatever this was, it was really freaking him out.

The voice was a relief, even as Achird turned and realized it was a page who had come up. No magic to use yet, obviously, but an extra body was an extra body. Especially one with apparent knowledge of what was about to happen.

He startled, alarmed, when one of the roof's gargoyles flew down by the Page's ear, and then yelled another jumped down and clipped his shoulder, letting out a strange screech.

"It wouldn't have been good even before being attacked," Achird said quite grumpily. "Aubergine Resilience!"

His magic bloomed over the area and Achird relaxed a little as the aubergine flowers brought both their sweet smell and the extra defenses to his skin. The gargoyle in front of him snarled and leaped forward to wail on Achird's leg with its creepy stone hands, but Achird didn't feel very much of it. He reached down, lifted it into the air and, ignoring the way it snarled and screamed and flailed, spun once, twice, and launched it back into the air over the roof it had dropped from.

"I suggest chucking yours," he called out to the page.

Ugh. Achird did not find that kind of self-deprecation entertaining. He rolled his eyes at the behavior, but at least the page did manage to get rid of the gargoyle. He felt his magic peter out, the flowers dissolving into the rainwater and carrying the smell away with them into the storm drains.

"Hm. Well, at least they're gone," he said grumpily. "It sounded like you knew what they were? Have you encountered them before, then?"

He stretched, arching his back and groaning as his spine popped. "I'm Achird, by the way. Senshi of Aubergines."

Achird's brow furrowed, baffled by Maus's own confusion.

"Yes?" he answered, almost questioning himself. "Why would I lie?"

He didn't understand why Maus might think that. Surely... Well, no, he had met that one "Dark Mirror" Senshi who lied about being the Senshi of Eggplants, which nearly made his lip curl just thinking about. He supposed that yes, then, some Senshi would lie just for the hell of it. How annoying.