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Pasiphae had not said another word to the newly upgraded Super Senshi that stalked ahead of her, clearly the more prideful of the two of them. No, when her apology had been as poorly accepted as it had been, she had clammed up. The signs of her distress were clear, even if she was unware of her tics. The clacking of the bracelet as she spun it around her wrist. The rustle of silk and ribbon as she brushed and rebrushed her thick hair behind her ears. The slight skritch of her picking at the lace detailing of her gloves.

She did not know how to address Tsui. She knew she was a St. Mags kid, and that linked to certain agressions and brashness that the Shame Senshi just... plain didn't have. She had never wanted blood. She had never wanted death. She had never wanted pain. Except for one time... one time when she had just started and lost her temper, but even then it had been nothing like what the Tiger Senshi seemed to want. Pasiphae fought with all of her heart when it was required, but she did not seek fights.

After she could not take the sound of their combined heels clacking against the road any longer, Pasiphae finally broke the silence, unconciously wringing her hands, "Tsui... I'm sorry, but... but I couldn't let you hurt him... even if I couldn't let him hurt you. It wasn't... right..."

The way the proud Senshi practically curled in on herself did not escape the Shame Senshi's watchful eye. Pasiphae made a note to thank Europa for this lesson, as it had been one of the most practical she had learned. The large bow on the back of her fuku was perfect for bandaging; the white gauze for a first layer, the thick maroon for a second. So she pulled it off now and seperated it with a clear ripping sound. She shyly offered them towards the Tiger Senshi, "You can use these... for bandages, I mean. I'm sure the ones on your hand need to be changed, at the least... I don't know how bad your injuries are? I... I can help bandage..."

Her voice trailed off at Tsui's words, and her eyes lowered to the ground. It was... hard, to express herself. It had always been hard. The Tiger Senshi obviously had no problem doing so. This would be the second time she was having to play teacher and... well, Pasiphae was learning just how bad she was at it. All she could do was be open and honest and hope it would get through. She did hate to lecture, she didn't really have the right. She wasn't that good of a Senshi--she was not even as good as Tsui, who had been awakened after her. "Yes. I think there's a right and a wrong, and I think we decide that it is. They're wrong. They hurt people, and we... protect people. Even the ones who can't actively hurt us, like Mr. Ninja. can eventually become our enemies. I'm not saying to stop fighting. I know it's a war. I know people are going to get hurt as we fight, that people have been hurt. But..."

Pasiphae looked up now, and she fixed Tsui with her stare. It was probably the strongest she had ever seen the Shame Senshi as she explained, hating to have to lecture but seeing no alternative. Her voice was sure, but gentle, "But we've got to be better than them, stronger than them. They're human, Tsui. They're human, like us, and... and I'll tell you what I told Kallichore. If we fight as they fight... if we kill, if we torture... then we're not better than them. You're better than them... better than what they stand for. I believe that... I believe that of all forces of Order."

Her voice softened at the end, and her strength seemed to evaporate back into her normal shyness, and her gaze dropped. Her face flushed, and she waited, half-hoping the other Senshi would allow her to at least bind her wounds and that she had not alienated her.

Pasiphae completely abandoned the point she was trying to make when she saw the blood, and her own wine-colored eyes widened. This wound... it couldn't have come from the ninja's tiny paper stars. What... what had happened?! Tears rose unbidden to her eyes as she moved closer to inspect the wound, and she blurted out, "Oh... oh Gwen, what happened? We need... let's power down so that I can wrap this properly."

Penelope shed her vestments first, waiting for her companion's white fuku to disappear before even trying to wrap. Luckily, the detatched fabric remained behind, and she worked to prepare the gauzier fabric first. As she folded it up to create a thicker bandage, she answered the other girl's statements, and she immediately rejected the compliment with a fierce shake of her head, "No! No... I'm... I do my best, but I'm not good. I'm... weak,and scared, and... and no good on my own. I try, and I want to help, but there are so many Senshi and Knights that are better than me. I just try to do what I can, what little I can."

She moved to begin wrapping now, her voice quieting to its normal, demure level as she worked, and she confessed, "I've never liked fighting. I don't know...what it is to enjoy the fight. Maybe you should talk to Kallichore or to Chaonis about that... they might understand better than me. Help you in ways I can't. The only time I started a fight was with a Lieutenant a long time ago, a General now." Penelope hesitated to say the name, but it fell all the same, if only to make a point, "Benitoite, although I didn't know his name then. I regret that fight very much. I thought I was 'teaching him a lesson,' but it just... proved to him that what he thought about me was right,and he's been my enemy ever since."

For a few minutes the dark-haired teen fell completely silent, concentrating on her work and being as gentle and thorough as possible in her wrapping. She wasn't sure what she should tell Gwen about Christa. If Christa wanted her to know about the Blood Moon Court... about her association with it, then surely she would have told her already? But it was not a secret, and her fellow Jovian would surely want her to try and help Gwen... right? She bit her lip and replied softly, "Oh, Kalli's always responsible. It's more her story to tell, I think. I don't want to betray her trust. But... I don't think it'd be too much to say that there was a time where she knew some Senshi who did... terrible things."

Penelope tied off the gauze ribbon into a knot and began wrapping the heavier, maroon colored ribbon around the wound. It did not, thankfully, look deep enough to require stitches , but it was only going to get worse if Gwen didn't give it time to heal. She hid her frown by lowering her face to stare at the wrapping. How could the brash girl be gloating when she was the one sitting here getting patched up?! Worry leaked into her voice all the same, "You shouldn't... go after a general, alone. Or try to pick a fight with him. Benitoite--all of the generals--are very, very dangerous! They'll kill you, or worse... I know you know that, I know you've seen it. I might not be of much help, but Kallichore or the others... they could help in a fight. I mean, I would still come, if you called, but you know I'm not the best."

Not wanting to go into another lecture, and not really having the energy to do so after how draining the first one had been. Penelope shook her head at Gwen's question, "I don'tknow all the details... but, well, there was a group of Senshi called the Blood Moon Court. They tortured people from the Negaverse. Now... well, now their leader--Ares--is Corrupted. She took some of her court with her; those were the first Dark Moon Court members. They've been growing ever since."

No, there was no Negaverse officers to offend, but there was an equally tired Super Senshi currently trying to combat the bleeding wounds of former battles, trying to insure that the other Senshi, her ally, her friend, would not be injured like this again. Penelope said nothing, but her wrapping became more severe and less gentle the longer Gwen continued to speak. By the time she tied off the end of the maroon layer, it was aggressive to the point that she jerked it done, which may have caused pain that she had, up until that point, been trying so hard to avoid.

Penelope remained silent as she rose from her kneeling position to reach her full height. Then she slapped Gwen on the face. The slap made a loud sound that normally would make the reserved girl cringe, but her face did not move a muscle after the assault. She did not tremble, and when she spoke her voice held an edge that was rarely heard there, "Have you listened... to anything I've said, Gwen? I don't know if anyone from the Negaverse knows that some of their former blood enemies are now their allies--and I don't care."

What could she say or do that would make her understand? Just in case her brash brain couldn't handle complex words or situations, Penelope broke it down as simply as she could, the hands thrust at her sides curling into fists, "Yes, they were 'willing to do whatever it took,' and you know who else does that? The Negaverse. The Dark Moon Court. Look where it got them in the end! Their team scattered, some corrupted and some not. Their leader a traitor, now a force of Chaos that they used to fight and that forcibly corrupts others. Their families and their friends filled with nothing but anger and sorrow. Is that what you think we should do, too? Should we do 'whatever it takes' if that's what happens as a result?"

Tears spilled out of her eyes, but the dark-haired girl refused to let them be a distraction. She brushed them away angrily, even as her voice shook with despite its softness, "I don't... hate anyone who was part of the Blood Moon Court. I... I even consider two of them my friends. I don't blame them for what happened, for the Dark Moon Court's existence. I would still work with any of the former members, would still try to protect them, but that doesn't mean that I think they were right. I think what's happened clearly shows they weren't."

Anger did not suit Penelope. It was an emotion that normally she found directed only at herself--and perhaps that was why she was being so harsh towards Gwen now. Because Penelope had promised Christa that she would protect the Tiger Senshi. Because Penelope still didn't have confidence in her own worth, in her own abilities, and wasn't sure she could keep her word. Because Penelope didn't want to lose anyone else to the darkness. Now the tears came and she couldn't stop them, covering her face with her trembling hands and perhaps half-muffling her voice, "I d-d-don't care if you hate me... if you d-d-don't want to see me anymore, b-b-because... you've got to SEE, Gwen! If... if y-y-you keep painting a t-t-target on you... eventually t-t-they'll TAKE you! They'll... and then... and then we'll lose you, and I-I-"

Penelope couldn't say anymore. All she could do, to her great shame, was cry and hope that she had gotten through, on some level, to the girl she had just bandaged up.

For a few minutes, Penelope just cried, struggling to get her sobs under control. If there was anything that the timid girl regretted about her life as a Senshi, it was how little control she had over her emotions, even after all of this time. Crying was a sign of weakness that she couldn't afford; she had told herself after the Surrounding and again after the ambush that she was going to get stronger, to stop being a liability to her allies. That steely resolve was still inside of her, but it seemed to manifest in strange ways. Ironically, one of those ways was for her to cry in front of her allies, to show the true depth of her investment in not just the war but towards the people involved in it. Yet it also allowed her to regain control, to stop the sniveling and lower her hands. Her eyes were puffy and her face red, but she was in control again and able to continue her efforts to reach her fellow Senshi.

"I know it's war, and I know people are going to get hurt. I'm not... I'm not saying to stop fighting. I just think that we need to fight... together, and better. Fighting when we're attacked, or... or when we defend others is one thing, but to torture... to kill? I can't. I don't think... I don't think it's right. Maybe we can't ever have peace, but... that doesn't mean we have to go to the other extreme, does it?"

She knelt in front of Gwen, taking the girl's hands gently, mindful of her injury and not wanting to aggravate it further. She all but begged, "You don't have to be the only target. We can... we can all protect them. Together. Gwen, at least talk to Kallichore about it first? Or... tell someone, anyone? Call for some kind of back up? It doesn't... it doesn't have to be me, but this plan isn't something one person can pull off alone. Please?"

Now it was Penelope's turn to feel guilty, although that was something of her natural state. She had not been out on patrol for a long time before the ambush... and if it hadn't happened, would her henshin pen still be locked away in her closet? She tried not to think about it, but her words were a promise, "If you call, I'll come. I'm sure there are others out there who will too." And that was all she was going to say on the matter--she could not speak of the Zoo, did not know Gwen's history.

"That's... that's very nice of you, but I have some money too. I can, um, buy my own icecream," Penelope, ever humble, ever eager to please could not immediately accept the gift. However... the relieved smile on her face when she offered Gwen her shoulder, a stark contrast to her eyes--redder than normal from her tears--showed that she too was ready to leave their argument behind. It was enough, for her, to know that the other girl had agreed to not pursue battles, if only for a while. It was all she could do... and it would be worth it, if the Tiger Senshi at least considered ceasing to prowl alone. Penelope could not force her, after all. "Maybe between us we can even afford sundaes!"