The harbor district of the city is surely somewhat noisy to begin with, especially at this hour-- but amongst all the other ambiance, there's something else mixed in.
From within an off-the-beaten-path alleyway between all the buildings that populate the area - but well further away enough from the pier that attracts so many tourists - the sounds of a scuffle echo out to the ears of those who would pay attention to such things, near here. Grunts and groans of pain, and improvised weapons clattering across the ground.
And then it just stops. Mostly.
Down the alley proper, a few unconscious bodies litter the ground, along with aluminum baseball bats and an odd length of thick chain, most of them wearing matching colors in one way or another. And amongst them all, one figure in a dark hoodie, with the hood flipped up, stands there, holding one more would-be-ganger up against a wall with one hand, gripped by his head. This one's still conscious, too, but-- something happens, then.
The held young man jostles within the one-handed deathgrip, shakes violently and *screams*. Screams loud and sharp in sheer pain-- something that could very easily be heard a bit further away too, even amidst all the ambient noise in the background.
And then it stops, with him passing out. The hooded figure remains perfectly still there for a moment, and then reaches his free hand over, to press two fingers against the now-unconscious man's neck. Checking for pulse, maybe? Wether or not he finds one, he casually drops the poor guy down onto the ground right after.
Sayaka was getting used to going on solo patrols now. Not that it made it any easier, especially with Madoka's sudden unexpected disappearance (or was she simply having the time of her life on some secret vacation excursion with her beloved, Homura?).
Whatever the case, Sayaka had beaten out a simple yet well worn route circuit around the city, and the harbour was usually her starting point after getting off from school.
So naturally she's aware and ready for action when she hears the sounds of a scuffle in a nearby alley (Why are they always alleys, anyways?). Well, whatever. Gracefully, silently, she leaps down into the alleyway, following the path of destruction. Spotting the various unconscious figures scattered throughout, she kneels by a couple of them, checking their pulse before moving on.
What the heck is going on here!?
..Then there's the unmistakable sound of a scream. And a hooded figure. Blue eyes narrow as she pulls out her sword approaching the hooded figure. "Hold it right there! Just what do you think you're trying to do here? Harming innocent bystanders is unforgivable! I, Sayaka Miki shall punish you!" she strikes a very heroic pose, sword pointed at the hooded figure.
Every single one that Sayaka checks turns out to still be *alive* at least. Each one probably has several broken bones, but still.
And then there's the tall figure in the hoodie, who sighs in exasperation before he even bothers turning around.
"How many innocent bystanders," he starts talking then, the voice recognizable enough as that of a male past puberty -- though there's barely a tone within the voice there, blank and deadpan. "Carry improvised weapons, rob tourists and sexually harrass young girls, I wonder?"
"I guess that depends on how you define 'innocence' anyway, but that kind of thing is besides the point, I imagine."
The figure lifts his hands up, slowly, above either side of his head, and shifts his foot just enough to half-turn towards Sayaka, though his face still remains mostly hidden within the hood.
"They're all alive, anyway. This one over here..." He nudges his foot against the leg of the one who just recently was screaming. "Might be sleeping until tomorrow, but still. I'm really not interested in fighting you over something like this, Sayaka Mi--"
Pause.
Under the hood, his head tilts slightly.
"...Sayaka Miki. Why does that sound familiar?"
She frowns at his words, and a quick second glance at the thugs he takes down seems to verify this. Well, they were carrying weapons, she notes rather grimly. He may well be right. But..
"So what, was this self defense, or were you just doing a little vigilante work? And this guy.." she nods to the nearerst one, "You must have given him a scare.."
Sayaka ponders something, lowering her sword but not putting it away. "Wait, you know me? I dont believe we've met.."
"It is not as if I recognize your face," he admits in turn, quietly. "But I feel like I have heard your name somewhere, before. Hm."
His head tilts to the opposite side, then, and the hood over his head shifts at least enough to show the outline of his face, shaded as it might be. "Considering your getup and that whole spiel just now, you're probably friends with someone I know. Hm."
He peeks down at the 'thug' by his feet, then. "A scare," he repeats. "I wish it was something as gentle as that."
"Either way."
He starts turning, slowly, the other way.
"We should talk elsewhere," he suggests. "I would rather not stay to find out if someone else heard that yell."
He might sound much too calm considering the whole situation. But what shows onto that further, is that he steps forward, once, twice, and then--
Then he jumps.
It's not just some idle hop, either. Just like that, he's leaping up high off the ground, and arching through the air to land onto the rooftop of the building.
If it wasn't obvious enough already that this one isn't really normal...
Sayaka frowns, peering at him quizzically. What's he talking about and what's with the getup? But if he's stirring up trouble, it's something worth investigating. Sayaka pauses a moment to pull out her phone and starts dialling. "These people need medical attention. I dunno what you did to them or what they did to you, but I'm willing to overlook it..This time. This better not happen again, however.."
It's only when she's finished calling the police that she leaps after him, "Wait..Hold on!" she narrows her eyes as she too, leaps skywards, landing on said rooftop and steps towards him, a bit more boldly than perhaps she should, given this guy just took out a significant number of thugs. On his own.
"Who are you, and how do you know my name?"
With the call of 'hold on', the guy does actually stop in the middle of the rooftop, just before potentially jumping off further, and he turns just enough that he can peer over his shoulder at her-- and the requisite motion does reveal the side of his face, and one green eye staring back at her.
"I thought you would keep up."
Another exasperated sigh, and he turns to face away from her, much more casually than he probably should, and sticks his hands into the pockets of the hoodie.
"Just some guy who got involved with things much bigger than him," he murmurs then, his tone of voice still... perhaps concerningly blank, all things considered. "To answer your first question. As for the second... I'm not sure. I must have heard it off-hand from one of the Shitennou folks before I ended up like this. They threw around a *lot* of names that meant nothing to me whenever I would spend time with them."
"I wonder what that makes you."
He turns again, just enough to direct one green eye from underneath the hood to her, taking her full figure in only now. "Those guys and the Sailor girls usually introduce themselves with some more obvious alias. So do the Cures, for that matter."
Another sigh. "I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, here."
And now, a hand is pulled out from his pocket and raised up, slow enough to make it clear that he isn't about to do anything drastic with it -- rather just tugging on the hood, and pulling it back away from his head to reveal his face. Short-haired boy in later teens. Very obviously not japanese.
"My name is Alexis," he finally offers. "Most people just call me Alex."
Sayaka smirks and shakes her head, that old competitive streak creeping back. "Heh, it's not that I cant keep up with you, it's just that I had to let EMS know that there were some wounded people down there."
She's breathing only lightly when she does catch up to him, and easily runs alongside him on the rooftops. "Best to make as much distance between you and them for now, but, you should remember that we're not the police. We're only there to protect innocents.."
Sayaka smiles, a bit more warmly now as she puts her sword away. Seems she's decided he's not an immediate threat at least, and perhaps even if he is, she can steer him back on the path to righteousness.
"I'm a Puella Magi. But I guess there arent that many of us around these days." she nods when he introduces himself and offers a hand, "Nice to meet you, Alex. Foreigner, huh? How're you liking Japan?"
Her tone is half sarcastic. Well, he just beat up a bunch of people, and he may well be a villain sooo....She pauses, "Oh? You're a friend of the Shitennou? Well, I guess I have had associations with them, mostly through Kyou-ch...Kyouko-san, but..I guess I've been visiting Mamoru and them less and less now that Kyouko is busy all the time. I guess she just needed...space, or something, so..."
He studies her curiously, with that particular explanation. His head tilts from one side to the other, and then back to the other again. In his head, he's putting pieces together.
"Oh," he lets out eventually. "I see. Yes, I..." He pauses there briefly, and then glances off to the side slightly. "... I know Kyouko, too." He decides at that moment that perhaps it is best not to elaborate further right then and there, especially if his particular suspicion about Sayaka is correct.
Her first question he notably does *not* give an answer to.
And then the offered hand from her? He eyes it over, and... even with the minimal measure of emotion he has been showcasing, he still seems... hesitant there, for a moment. Even when he reaches his own hand towards it, it twitches back away briefly in last-minute-hesitation, before finally clasping hers.
He does not know if Sayaka can sense Dark Energy -- but if she can, she might notice a faint hint of it there, the moment their hands touch.
He probably can't hide that forever anyway even if she can't.
Sayaka smirks, "Heh, I guess she gets around, has a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble.." She speaks fondly of the redhead, although there is a hint of sadness in her voice. "I imagine she probably mentionned me to you. Although I havent seen her in a while, I guess she's just really busy now that she's a shittenou, and having to juggle her sister and her job.."
Sayaka speaks with hopefulness in her voice although there is still sadness in her eyes. Perhaps a part of her suspects that the great rift between them will never close, never go back to that brief sweet happiness they once shared. and she knows there's a missing piece to the puzzle, but so far, everyone's been pretty vague about it..
She shrugs it off, owing it to paranoia. Surely she was just busy..Right?
Sayaka focuses back on Alex, noting the hesitancy in his body language, and she smirks, "Heh don't worry, I promise I'm not gonna report you or anything. I'm sure you had your reasons for doing..Whatever you were doing.."
Their hands touch, and for a moment she feels something a little off..She's not particularly sensitive to dark energy or if she is, it's not something she can easily identify. But there is something there. Sayaka suspects its some kind of magic. She's already determined that he must be decently powerful if he could take down all those thugs with such little effort.
She smiles, "So. what was this about you 'ending up like this?' You seem like there's something troubling you. Care to share?"
Alex's expression never changes from being decidedly neutral, but... there's a brief understanding visible in his eyes, perhaps, while Sayaka speaks. He understands that very well -- is familiar with it, recently so even.
Once his hand has been draw away from hers, it turns to stick back into his pocket, and he lets out a quiet sigh with her final question.
"It's not as if though you wouldn't find out eventually, I suppose," he mutters, now taking a small step back away from her and turning, slowly. "Plenty people already know about it, anyway."
He stays quiet for a few seconds, and it's only once his back is fully turned to her, and his head is tilting back to direct his eyes to the sky, does he say those few words that explain it:
"I have turned into a vampire."
She narrows her eyes, watching him thoughtfully. He sure is secretive, reminds her in many ways of Kyouko, but..
Sayaka smirks at the thought, shaking her head. He seemed so..So sad, so lost somehow. Like Kyouko was. Damn. When will she stop thinking so much about her? She has new responsibilities now, right? It's not like they cant still patrol together. But even so, Saya knows it's not the same. Ever since that botched dance party, nothing was ever quite the same between them..
Shaking her head, she takes a cautious step towards him as he turns away. "Damn straight I will!" she smirks, picking up another one of Kyouko's isms. But when he talks of being turned into a vampire, her smile freezes.
"....Wait, what? How'd that happen? I didnt even know there were vampires around here? Someone bite you or...?" she scratches her head, trying to think of any vampire rumours she may have heard.
Subconsciously, a hand brushes her sword at its belt. If he's a vampire, does that mean he's unpredictable? Should she kill him before his hunger takes over? Or, should she try and help him find a cure? Saya's not entirely sure how this works..
"Someone I know filled me with dark energy," he says in answer, bluntly, still without turning back to her. "Neither of us is sure why or how, though. Neither of us remember what happened. She isn't happy about it either."
"You're probably thinking right now about if there's some way to fix it," he goes on murmuring. "Or if I should be killed before I do something bad. Probably both. If there was a way to fix it other than destroying the vampire, my friend would have been 'fixed' a long time ago already, I'm sure."
"And, well."
"It's not as if I didn't consider having someone kill me before I did... something. By accident. Or just because I lost it."
"Huh...?" she frowns, trying to think. Someone filled him with dark energy? Wasnt there an energy vampire out there somewhere? Saya forgets the name though.
But he's one step ahead of her already, answering the questions she's afraid to ask. "Wait, so your friend did this to you? Why?" her frown deepens as she ponders this.
"Well, whatever the case, perhaps Mamoru-san and his friends can help.." Saya's gaze does soften however, when he contemplates death, shaking her head fiercely.
"Hey! Dont talk like that! I'm sure there's a way to save you. And I'll help you find it. Cuz that's what heroes do. Why dont you come with me to see Mamoru-san?"
"She doesn't know," Alex explains with a shake of his head. "We just woke up in a forest suddenly. With me. Like this. Not feeling."
His head turns finally, to peek back at her first, and then he shifts his feet to fully turn around, and tip his head down to meet her eyes witih his own. "Like I said," he murmurs, bluntly. "If there was, she should have been saved already. I'm not... precisely like her, sure, but... Close enough."
Then a sound almost like a snort resounds in his throat.
"That's what heroes do, huh? ... Funny, that. I wanted. To be a hero. Once before. Then I found out about people like you. Thought. Maybe I could be like that too again. Seemed like I couldn't.
"And now..."
He looks down at his hand. "Now I'm like this. Just on the edge of being a monster."
Sayaka frowns, "Huh. That's just weird. No memories or anything, huh..?" but she stands back and listens some more, and thinks, shaking her head with a sigh. So, guess Mamoru and his Shittennou couldn't help him.
"Hmmm, what about Sailormoon? Isn't she able to purify people of dark magic? Maybe she can help you..?" although he's probably considered that route too, if he spoken to Mamoru.
"Geez, I'm sorry, that really sucks. But, you shouldnt give up, I'm sure you'll find a way. And I'll help too!"
She smiles, "I know I've just met you, but, y'know, part of being a hero means helping others, and even saving them from themselves if at all possible so..I'm sure I'll think of something.."
Sayaka pauses, when he speaks of his dreams of being a hero, and frowns, shaking her head, "Well, why not? Why cant you use your vampiric powers for good? You took out all those thugs pretty easily. And the only time you truly become a monster is when you give in to the temptation and accept the bad things that you do. You just have to keep on fighting it.."
She takes a step towards the edge of the rooftop, looking out over the chilly nightsky, "Y'know, maybe my situation isn't quite as bad as yours, but if you know anything about Puella, you'll know that we eventually become witches if we give in to despair. We're basically a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off. I nearly lost it once..But Kyouko was there..I wonder how she is, lately? Have you seen her?"
"I'm not exactly hopeful," Alex says after Sayaka's number of suggestions -- well, save for the very last one, about using his powers for good.
He tips his head downwards with that, and-- for the first time, his expression changes. In the way of a frown, now.
"I need to channel energy from inside of me to do plenty of things," he says, after a moment. "Things like... the fight down there, doesn't really need much. My body's already more able than before without using any, and I... well. I've fought a lot even before I was like this. But if I push myself further, or use... energy to... do things. It gets burned out. It already burns away, steadily, but it goes even faster, the more I push myself."
"The less energy I have, the hungrier I get. The hungrier I get, the... I guess, more irrational I get. More animalistic. Until eventually I just lose control completely."
"If I had to fight. Supernatural things. I could risk burning out too much energy. And then... Well."
"I don't feel... a lot of the things I used to feel right now, either. And that. Kind of scares me. Scared that might mean I might do things I wouldn't have done before, even without losing control."
Then she's moving to the rooftop edge, and he listens to her talk about how she could turn into a Witch, too. He's quiet, at first. He goes stepping forward after a moment, to go stand besides her at the edge -- though without looking at her.
"I didn't know about that," he admits. "I'm. Sorry."
When she asks him about Kyouko, he does peek sidelong at her-- and he considers his own answer for a moment, before he eventually settles on, "Yes," and nods his head. "She. Was looking for me with Kazuo and Naru the other night. Keeping tabs on me. ... The other two tried to offer help too, I guess. But I don't know what they could do, either."
"I think she's kind of angry about my situation. Not at me, even if she did threaten to put her spear through me."
Sayaka frowns a little, searching for an answer, a solution she could offer that could help. But all she can offer is her own struggles, "Geez, that's harsh. That must be really scary, but maybe you just need a focus. Use your powers for good, to fight evil, protect the innocent.."
She glances back at him with a soft smile, "Y'know, being a Puella, it's kinda similar in a way. We have to constantly fight witches, or wraiths so that we can absorb their grief seeds or grief cubes. Just to survive. If we dont kill enough monsters, we'll instantly turn into a witch as well. So it's really a never ending battle with us.."
Her hands clench and unclench though, staring back at the nightline, considering something rash. And goodness, is she ever rash sometimes? "Well...I dunno about a cure, but if you ever need energy, I guess you could take some of mine whenever you need it. It's the least I could offer. At the very least it could keep you from losing your humanity, right?"
Ahh, Naru and Kyouko. She smirks, "Huh, they seem pretty good friends, Naru and Kyouko. Sometimes I even envy them. Sometimes it feels like Naru's kinda...Replaced me in many ways. We were partners, Kyouko and me. But more than that, we were..." she sighs, "Well, I guess I dont really know exactly what we were, but, I was fond of her, very...Fond of her."
Wait, what? Sayaka turns to glance at him in surprise, "She threatenned to put a spear through you?! Why?"
"I feel like it's not that simple," Alex mutters, the frown returning over his features briefly. "Maybe. I just. Might be best off just... staying out of everyone's way. Hidden. When I don't need to feed. So I don't spend much energy. So I don't risk... doing something. Bad. Like feeding on everyone in a grocery store to the point they die."
With her offer, he turns another look to her, and the frown persists.
"No," he says, bluntly. "To begin with, if I have to feed, I would rather feed from people who. Deserve at least a beatdown. It wouldn't be right with. Someone like you. I would be taking energy you would be needing to keep yourself like that. Keep yourself from turning, too."
"I will not risk you losing yourself just for my own sake."
And then there's that whole thing about Naru and Kyouko. It burns in his mind, even more so now that she's talking about it like that-- even if he isn't saying that one thing about them, yet. He looks downwards, and his lips twist downwards. He said he does not feel much, but... sadness, he feels obviously enough.
"I was," he says after a moment. "Fond. Of Naru, too. Once. Right now I... don't think I even could feel something like that anymore. I remember it, at least. So I understand. How you feel."
And with that final, surprised question she sends him, he turns to look back at her, with a slow, bemused blink. "... Isn't it obvious?" He asks. "If I were to. Hurt people who don't deserve it. She would do it to me."
"And yet, if you use your powers on people who deserve it, who is to say you might not go overboard and accidently kill them while youre at it?"
She smirks, "Heh, dont worry about me, I'm way tougher than any of those thugs down there. A Puella magi may need tons of energy, but we're still pretty tough to kill. And at least the kind of energy we require isnt gonna harm or kill innocents. I havent seen any witches in a long time, but there are plenty of wraiths, anywhere where people are feeling despair."
Sayaka shrugs, "Well, some day you may be glad of someone willing to give you energy. Think about it. My offer still stands, whenever you're ready."
The Puella would talk about how she sometimes felt she was losing her own way, especially with the distance betwen herself and Kyouko, but, lately Hannah and Haruna and the rest of WPS were helping to give her a new sense of direction, as something other than Kyouko's estranged side-kick.
Ahh, Kyouko. Her frown deepens, shaking her head, "Well, it's just that that sounds like the old Kyouko, when I first met her. I thought she had softenned up a bit since then, become more..I dunno, less extreme? I guess...Maybe I didnt really have as much influence on her as I thought." She seems disappointed in that.
But wait, what's this about Naru? "Hmm, I met Naru once or twice. She's a nice girl, but...." she glances at him curiously. Oh, were they dating? He seems almost sad when he speaks of her, and Sayaka dares not pry. "..I'm sorry, guess it's none of my business. But I'll tell you one thing. Hiding from the world, staying out of everyone's way? If you do that, you'll kill off your emotions, and you'll lose yourself to the darkness."
And a thought occurs to her, "Tell you what, why dont you join me on a couple of patrols? At least I dont have to worry about you killing me or anything, not with all the wraiths out there. And, it's not like I have anyone else to patrol with, anymore.."
Well, there's her new role in WPS, but it's not exactly the same as when she's going on her personal wraith hunting excursions.
"I suppose there's no way to tell," confesses Alex -- and it's obviously enough not a thought he particularly seems to enjoy, either.
But back to the topic of Kyouko, just for a second there. "I wouldn't know, I think," he says, about the state of the redhead. "I have not known her as long as you. She has never seemed. That violent. Though. Wild, but... not particularly violent. Not any more than me."
He peers sidelong to her again, and just bluntly says, "Naru broke up with me, if you were wondering. Before. I ended up like this. Not because of this."
"I have been alone before too. I just survive somehow, always. No matter what."
But then there's that offer from her, and he... actually looks uncertain, for a long moment of silence. Conflicted. He stares down at the street below with a faint frown.
"I guess it would be. More productive," he eventually murmurs, quietly, rolling his shoulders around. "Than what I am doing now. Assuming I can. Keep myself in control."
"Oh?" she arches a brow. Wait, he broke up with Naru..Naru's spending a lot of time with Kyouko...They're not...Are they? She frowns, No, Kyouko would at least have the decency to be straight with her, before pursuing another relationship..Wouldnt she?
The last time they had talked, she had given Sayaka the impression that she just needed some time to think things through but that she was still fond of Sayaka. But maybe..
Sayaka sighs and shakes her head, seeming troubled somehow, as she clenches and unclenches her fists. "...I see. Well...I guess all you can do is keep on marching forward. As for Kyouko's response......"
But it does seem a bit odd..The only other time Saya's seen her act like that is when she was protective of someone. But....Dammit, she needs to talk to her, or find out the truth, somehow.
"Hmph. Well. Anyways, look...Here's my number. You wanna go beat up baddies together, I wouldn't mind a partner." she hastily writes down her phone number on a piece of scrap paper, handing it to him, even as her mind seems to be elsewhere.
"...Mh." He eyes over the scrap of paper with some faint suspicion, at first, rather than reaching over to take it right away.
"... Why are you so trusting, suddenly?" He asks, after a moment of just staring at the paper, still without taking it. His eyes slowly sweep up to look at her face, instead. "Or even nice? I'm just some guy full of dark energy you don't really know."
She smirks, "And I'm just some random super heroine, trying to find her place in the world, and trying to save people from themselves. Because it gives me a purpose, now that I've kinda lost my focus...And maybe, just a little, you remind me of myself and how someone helped me when I was struggling to come to grips with what I am."
She shrugs, "Isn't that a good enough reason? Besides, we kinda move in some of the same social circles, I think, so why the heck shouldn't I try and help someone in need, even if partly to make myself feel a bit better, more focused?"
"Anyways, I gotta get going, I hope you'll make the right choice and not lose your way..Like I nearly did, like I've seen others of my kind do before me. I couldn't forgive myself if I couldnt at least make myself useful as a hero. Well, seeya!" with a grin and a wave, she leaps off the roof top, vanishing from sight.
He watches after her leaping off, for a moment longer, there. Deep in thought. Eventually his eyes drift down and away-- down to the scrap of paper left in his hand with a number written on it.
"...'As a hero', huh?" He murmurs, quietly, before slipping the paper into his pocket.
"...Alright, Sayaka Miki. Maybe I can try."