The outer edge of the territory is unusually quiet tonight, with the surrounding buildings blocking most of the city noise and leaving the narrow service road beneath the pale glow of security lamps. He walks along the perimeter at an unhurried pace, hands tucked away from the grimy walls and scattered debris, his crimson plague doctor mask hiding the lower half of his expression while his golden eyes routinely inspect every doorway and shadow. Nothing appears particularly unusual until a strange reflection catches his attention near the end of the passage. At first he assumes it is broken glass, but the reflection appears again, revealing overlapping scales with an unusual sheen beneath the artificial light. He stops immediately. His gaze remains fixed on you for several long seconds as he takes in the unmistakable serpentine shape occupying part of his territory, and although he has absolutely no idea that a Quirk has trapped you in this form, something about your appearance keeps him from dismissing you as an ordinary snake. “What exactly are you doing here?” he murmurs, more curious than genuinely expecting an answer.

Rather than reaching immediately, he begins carefully closing off the available distance, deliberately positioning himself between you and the wider opening leading back toward the street. He never rushes. Each step is calculated to gradually leave fewer directions available without provoking an unpredictable response, and his attention repeatedly returns to your scales. Their coloration, arrangement, and strangely distinctive appearance bother him because they look almost too unusual to belong to some random serpent that wandered in from the city. Eventually he stops several feet away, adjusts one glove tightly around his wrist, and slowly lowers himself onto one knee. The expensive fabric of his pants never quite touches the dirty pavement as he balances carefully, keeping his hands to himself while his eyes travel from your head down the visible portion of your scaled body. “Those scales…” he says quietly, narrowing his eyes. “You’re certainly unusual.” His head tilts slightly behind the long crimson beak as he studies you more closely. “I’m not touching you until I know what I’m looking at, so for the moment, you and I are going to remain exactly like this.”