As Sophia finally wakes up the morning after the events with Hanahi's sister she will find a very strange sight. On the floor of her room lays a boy, a bit older than her with brown hair and aggressive features. He is sleeping while curled around a spear with a gleaming blade and a long black haft not made of any substance that the modern world could identify. A long green coat covers him and he twitches occasionally in his sleep.

Lance in knight form laid sleeping on Sophia's floor.

Sophia slept at least. She didn’t wake due to utter exhaustion, but her dreams were no less vivid. No less brutal. Fear was amplified because of the events of the last day. It takes awhile for her brain to register the lack of danger. The adrenaline fades, but the mental images of violence remain.

However, the panic almost returns as she sees something that wasn’t there before. There was a person lying on her floor. But it’s only for a second as she recognizes Lance. How he stayed in knight form all night and slept on the ground was beyond her.

She gets out of bed, dressed in loose t-shirt and sweatpants, and kneels across for him. Petting his head, she says softly, “Good morning. You can take the bed. I’m awake now. It can’t have been comfortable sleeping down here. I could have made room or found you a blanket if you poked me. Do you want breakfast?”

As Sophia beings moving Lance's eye immediately snap open and he begins to raise the spear. When he sees it's just her he calms down a bit and averts his eyes, as she kneels over him. "I'm up." he tells her and then looks around. No enemies, well not surprising they would not be here yet. However, when she asks him if he would like something to eat he nods on reflex, then he remembers he's at her house and shakes his head.

"Your father seeing me here would probably complicate things." He points out as he gets to his feet maintaining his knight form the entire time. This form looked more or less like Lance, it was pretty clearly his own form. "Also I don't think you should be casually inviting guys into your bed Sophia, it might cause strange misunderstandings." He points out and then takes a deep breath he needed to get this out sooner rather than later.

He shuts out Taurus and creates a barrier to prevent sound from leaving their general area and says. "Sophia, Taurus knows your real identity, and I'm pretty sure that tainted knight from yesterday told her." He says simply.

Sophia laughs as he nods and shakes his head. “Well, I don’t think I quite understand that one.” She shrugs, “Well, he’s unlikely to randomly burst into my room. And you know, he sometimes catches me talking to my own cat, so I’m pretty sure he thinks I’ve completely lost it.” She stands up, and walks over to a mirror to try to fix her hair a little. Grabbing a hair brush, she starts brushing her hair. She turns red at him talking about causally inviting people into her bed. “I mean… it’s not like that. But, I don’t care what other people think. And I trust you completely. You’re probably the most honest person I know.”

She puts the hair brush down as he mentions her civilian identity was known. “Is my family in danger? Are you sure it what the Moon Knight? I mean, he’s been interested in my safety at least until now. He doesn’t like the other senshi, but he’s always been honest and fair to me. He said he wasn’t interested in the Covenant. As much as he… as much as he loves Beryl.” She folds her arms and looks at the ground, “Should I go into hiding or something? Should I tell my family to get some place safe?”

Lance forces a smile in response to Sophia's joke, it was neither convincing, nor pleasant to look at. He gets to his feet and cracks several of his stiff joints. "This knight outfit may be useful but it certainly is not very comfortable." He complains as he works some of the stiffness out of his joints. "Even if your mad I'm sure your dad would be ecstatic that you brought a boy like me home." he points out with a frown as she begins combing her hair. Though when she says she trusts him his frown only deepens.

"Sophia you realize I am a traitor. I might be nice to you and protecting you, but I'm fighting on the side that is trying to destroy the world. I am a bad guy and you all are going to need to defeat me at some point." He says in an almost insistent tone, after all when all was said and done he wanted to be defeated.

"As for your family and such in danger...dunno to be honest. They live on the base so they'll probably be fine if you are not around. If you agreed to live in and help protect Shinjuku from anyone that attacked it I could probably swing letting you stay. So as long as your group didn't attack it'd be fine." He suggests kinda hoping this would get the first step towards convincing her. As for do I know if it was the moon knight? No I do not, I mostly extrapolated due to timing and what Taurus told me.

"I suppose she technical could have gotten it from Val." He suggests.

“Hey, don’t put yourself down like that. I know tons of worse boys that I could bring home,” Sophia says. It’s half a joke and half serious. In all honesty, if she was to date any senshi and knight, Lance certainly wasn’t the worst.

She sighs, “You’re fighting with a different group, who are still people. Corruption doesn’t make you evil or make your life mean less. We’re all equal. And no one is simply a bad person. Everybody’s so much more complicated than that. And no one cares to see it. I can’t quite tell the distinction between youma and senshi, other than our powers run opposite. I just don’t want innocent people hurt in the crossfire. And I want everyone to live together. I think they can. I’m not sure how much of the team believes me on that.” She looks at Lance through the mirror, “And why shouldn’t I trust you? You don’t mock my opinions all the time, you don’t offhandedly insult me, you don’t hide information from me, you haven’t randomly disappeared on me without telling me why. You’ve been one of the better friends I have right now.”

She bits her lip, thinking for a bit. “Alright. Shinjuku. I just don’t want to put them in danger. If someone comes after me, I don’t want it to be anywhere close to here. Should I leave a note and just run off? Say goodbye in person? I’m not sure what’s the best thing to do. I mean, I don’t even have much money. Would I need to assume a whole new identity?”

She shakes her head as he says Valdis, “No. She would never. I know she would never. Are you sure it wasn’t just me being stupid? Maybe someone saw me transform, and I just didn’t know it. I just don’t feel like any member of the team would have done something like that.”

"Sophia the fact that you can honestly say that is worrying." Lance replies to her comment about worse boys to bring home. Though when she goes off and explains about how everyone is more complicated and they're not entirely bad Lance smiles slightly sardonically. "Well it's good that you are not prejudice about youma because there are quite a few in Shinjuku and my rules hold true for everyone when we are there." He says, those in shinjuku who lived peaceful lives were treated the same by Lance as the humans.

When Sophia asks him about how to tell her parents he blinks at her a couple of times and says. "Sorry Sophia, I am not good at family..." But after thinking for a few moments he says. "If it were me I would just explain the full situation, families are supposed to be about trust and honesty right? It's best to come clean, and that includes regarding your identity, there is not really much of a point in hiding it at this point anyways." He points out.

Finally about what she should do about money and food and a place to live Lance tosses her a key. "I swapped out the place I was living to become the manager of a dormitory in Shinjuku you can live in that room." he tells her and then after thinking for a bit says. "Also," He tosses her a second key "You can see if Hanahi wants that one, the dorm is close to the hospital, just say you're friends with the landlord and he offered to let your friend use it." He says, turning slightly red in embarrassment.

Sophia takes a breath, “Coming clean. I can do this. I was hoping that I kind hide it indefinitely. I didn’t want my parents have to deal with that. Being torn between wanting to help their country and protect me.” She looks around her room, “The idea of leaving and saying goodbye feels strange. I’m going to miss them.” Looking back at Lance, “It might make them feel better if they knew who I was staying with. However, I understand if you don’t feel comfortable with that.”

She catches the first key and the second key. “Thank you. I appreciate it. I wonder if Hanahi would be willing to be roommate though. I’ve never lived alone before.” She puts the keys on a dresser. “Ok. I should get dressed first.” She grabs a few clothes and heads out of the room to the bathroom, giving Lance a few moments alone in her room.

As Sophia talks to Lance about her concerns about leaving he cannot do a whole lot but listen. The thought of a boy and his uncle shouting at each other as he walks away with a duffel full of all his belongings passes through his mind. "If you think it is the best idea I will introduce myself to them, though I doubt that will give them much piece of mind." He says with a frown. Though he exits knight form. He was in a long sleeved black shirt and fairly nice blue jeans.

"If the two of you can live together that's even better, just let me know what you decide I would really rather she be in Shinjuku than wherever she is now." He admits, his expression turning slightly inward as he ridicules himself for this 'kindness' all while hiding that he is the one who did this to her sister.

"Well lead the way then." He says, raising his arm to indicate the downstairs.

Sophia realizes that she is going on about a situation that Lance doesn’t have much experience. “Sorry. I shouldn’t bombard you with all this. I must sound pretty spoiled and childish.” She gives a look at the room. “Naw. I mean, it’s better than just disappearing with a complete stranger into the city. Besides, if they ignore the part where you walked out of my bedroom, then I don’t think they can dislike you for wanting to help me out.”

Sophia gives a nod about Hanahi. “Hanahi did say her dad was never home. It must be hard for her to pretty much live by herself.” She notices the change of expression and gives him a hug, “Hey, don’t keep beating yourself up.”

She backs up, keeping her hands on his shoulders, “Ready?” Taking his hand, she heads him down a hallway and down a flight of stairs. Taking a turn, they arrive at her dad’s office. “Well if he isn’t in here, he might need to be woken up,” she says before knocking on the door.



Tag: Fate

As Sophia (and presumably Lance) approach the door, they hear a loud, agitated voice. Colonel Torres' voice would ring through loud and clear.

"What do you mean that Nagato is in a coma!"

A pause, presumably for the response.

"Your labrats thought they could use psychoactive drugs to increase her mental power, and they thought it was a good idea to give it to her without authorization from above because she was 'fine with it and didn't need an order?' What a load of rubbish! We have been given one of the best opportunities we've had since this thing started and your boys just pissed it away!"

Another pause.

"...I want them taken into the brig for failure to adhere to the chain of command and I will deal with them later. Let me emphasize that I am very disappointed right now and this is one of the biggest screw ups of the decade coming from us. We are supposed to be better than that!" he states as he sighs heavily.

"...A weapon system? ...Stop, STOP the scientific babble, I don't understand it like you do. Give me a proposal and an explanation I can understand."

With that the sound of a thud, and a moment of silence. As the knock comes, Sophia hears a gruff 'Enter'.

Within the office, it was standard. A computer, a desk, file cabinets filled with presumably sensitive paperwork, and numerous assault rifles and other firearms mounted along the walls. The colonel wore a white shirt and his camo fatigues, looking obviously annoyed right now. On his desk, his cell phone was planted with a small crack on it.

"...Sophia, what do you need?" he asks sternly, until his eyes catch Lance in the back. He gives him the 'touch my girl and I will castrate you with a knife' expression, before looking back at her.

"And who is this?"

Sophia looks at her father traumatized. “What happened to Vivian? Is she going to be alright?” She didn’t think that the military would harm a senshi. She regrets letting her go back to being tested on by the military. “She said they were running tests on her… she didn’t say they were doing anything like that…”

She takes a breath. “I feel like everything keeps getting worse. And what I came to say won’t make life any better. I’m a senshi. Specifically, I’m Sailor Venus. The one in orange and yellow. My identity has been compromised. The Covenant knows I live here, so everyone needs to get some place safe.”

Gesturing to Lance, she adds, “This is Lance Evans. He has offered me a place to lay low for awhile. Without him, I probably would have been burned alive or worse.”

She runs her hand through her hair, frowning, “I can’t believe she is in a coma. I saw her a week ago. What did they do to her?"

Life was spiraling out of control. Prospective senshi and knights seemed to lose consciousness with some regularity. And now she had to leave home. The place she had coming back to for years.

Lance glances down at the hand Sophia takes and tenses slightly, but soon returns to his calmer state.

Lance doesn't flinch before the glare of Sophia's father he stares back with a calm unintimidated gaze. He was used to this kinda thing and even if he was a military commander, Lance had been willing to go one on one with Taurus over Sophia, her dad was not in quite the same ball league.

As Sophia explains the situation about the fire he flinches. He recalled that encounter. It had been the first time he transformed, he's brutally beated a youma to death with a fire extinguisher then ate it piece be piece in front of Sophia...sometimes he wondered how rosy Sophia's glasses must be tinted. He supposed it was his turn to speak though. "I am the Eris Knight, I'm not as well known as the other members of the group." He says calmly.

"She isn't kidding about the covenant knight. I overheard a zodiac class youma mention her by name during a recent fight." It was a slight lie, but not a big one and more or less believable.

"I'm afraid I can't go into detail about that subject, and the fact that you even know the soldier's name is slightly troubling." Colonel Torres says, but Sophia's next statements would quiet the older officer until both she and the male were done speaking. He is quiet for a moment, his expression icy and lined with annoyance and anger.

"...I knew it, but I hoped it was untrue. At least it explains the talking to the cat thing." he mutters, as his stern eyes traverse from senshi to knight, and back to senshi.

"Even if your identity has been compromised, this is one of the most secure facilities in the city, I will not trust your safety to a sketchy 'knight' I don't know over a fortified compound." he says firmly. "I'll put you in protective custody and keep the lab rats far away from you under threat of brig." he says, clearly opposed to the idea.

Sophia shakes her head, “No, I wasn’t asking for permission. I was just informing you where I was going so you wouldn’t worry as much. I don’t think there is actually a safe place for me to go. I’ve seen the Covenant teleport to a location before. Just open up a portal and they were there. So there isn’t a large enough barrier one could put up to protect me. The JSDF had Covenant members in some of their highest ranks, so I am skeptical that my whereabouts won’t somehow find their way to them. It’s probably best if we aren’t in the same location for awhile.”

She smiles, “Besides, I couldn’t just be locked away in some bunker. I’m still a senshi. I still have obligations to live up to. You know that I couldn’t just abandon that. You raised me better than that. I now have more time to focus on this job.”