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Virgo would have stayed away. She really wanted to. She would have stayed put on her bench until the scary kimono-wearing negaverse girl went back away, but there was a little kitten playing around her feet. It was for the kitten that the green-skirted senshi was approaching, branches and ice cracking under her heels.

She stopped, hands up over her doublestar brooch in the cliche 'innocent girl' pose. There was no hope for getting the kitten when Serandite was right there. Poor kitty...

"Kitties are really smart, actually," said Virgo, jumping like her own voice surprised her. "That one is just a little kitty." She bent at the waist, holding one arm out to beckon the kitten closer to her, making that silly hissing sound Sue had told her once did nothing to make a kitten like you. But if it kept her knees out of the cold snow, and brought the kitten over to her, that would be okay. "C'mere, kitty," said Virgo.

"You attacked us when we weren't doing anything to hurt you," Virgo pointed out. It looked a lot like she wanted to snatch away the kitten, but the accusation of coming out to do nothing but hurt Serandite had hit home. She hadn't quite forgotten the words the pink-haired Negaverser had thrown at her, either. Wimpy. Useless. Selfish. None of them described Virgo, but. Someone else had said them, and that gave the words power.

Plus, her hand still hurt from falling on glass. She attributed that to Serandite, too, even though it had nominally been Atlas. "I was on patrol, of course," said Virgo. "I like patrolling, except not when I lose my buddy. I always end up getting hurt when I'm patrolling alone." She was still staring warily at Serandite, green eyes wide. "C-come to think of it, why aren't you attacking me?"

Virgo accepted the kitten and fell back a few steps; not close enough that Serandite could just reach out and hit her, but definitely near enough that they could hold a proper conversation. In fact, hearing the question, Virgo settled on the snowy ground after clearing herself a nice circle of dry asphalt. "Okay," said the bluenette; "What do you need to ask me about?"

She was holding the kitten up to her chest, right over her heart. The kitten was licking Virgo's chin and the senshi was giggling, quietly tending to the little cat. Her attention, though, was mostly on Serandite--Serandite and the possessed bunny stuffy.

"You aren't gonna attack me and steal my starseed the second I answer, though, right?"

With a nod, Virgo straightened up and cradled the kitten into one hand. The other arm she extended, then she hooked her pinky into Serandite's. At least there was a Negaverse agent who understood the sanctity of the pinky swear. Captain Aries certainly didn't seem to take it very seriously. Neither did Giselle. The Princess did, but Virgo balked at comparing Serandite to her Princess.

"Nobody will ever hear anything from me," she promised, "S'long as you don't steal my starseed. Then I'll tell the Princess you stole my starseed."

Fallacious logic aside, Virgo looked very serious as she settled back into her spot, legs curled under her to preserve her decorum. She shivered; it seemed like the Negaverse had better uniforms, at least.

Just in case she hadn't been clear previously, she clarified, "I won't tell anyone what we talk about. Nobody at all."

Virgo nodded solemnly. Nealite had tried to trick her, but Captain had straightened her out very quickly. Don't talk to anyone about starseeds, Captain had said. Not people, not dogs, nobody. But she had promised her opinion to Serandite, so she'd give it.

Pinky swears were sacred.

"I only learned it like last week," said Virgo, raising her hand a little. There wasn't any mockery in her voice, just naivete. The kitten was gamboling around the green fabric over her lap (she'd have to take it to the shelter later, like Atlas had done with the others). "I guess you only learned about it like last week, too. Are you okay?"

This was understandable, thought Virgo. She would also feel all torn up inside if she had recently learned she was a murderer. Virgo had recently learned she had been dead for a whole year, which had been tearing up enough. And she could understand Serandite not feeling good about learning the whole time she had been killing people, because killing people was bad, and of course it would make you insecure.

"Wanna sit with me," asked Virgo, clearing off a space next to her; if they were having a ceasefire, Virgo could act like she was friends with Serandite. And she would not let a friend sit so far away if she was really feeling bad, would she? No. She would not. That was just not friendly.

She frowned. "But, Serandite, my Princess is already back. She's my roommate, I know she's back--" Pause. "Oh! Oh. You mean the Moon Princess. Uhhh..."

"Well. For my Princess, for Princess Chronos, I would..." Virgo had to think about it, scritching the kitty on the head as she considered. On the one hand, Chronos was everything. Chronos was the Princess, the center of her entire life. Without the Princess, there was no Zodiac. Without the Zodiac, there was no Virgo and thusly no Elke, because Virgo and Elke were one person. But at the same time, Virgo didn't know if she could--

A memory struck her. Cold, empty space; loneliness, endless and pure. And monsters... monsters who would hurt people if they got past her. Always fighting, stopping the... Chaos monsters.

Hold the line.

"I would kill and be killed for my Princess," said Virgo, but there was something weird in her olive-green eyes, like someone older was speaking through her. "I would kill for the Moon Princess, too... I wouldn't die for her, but I would kill for her..."

She tilted her head. "Do you know what I'm saying?"

Virgo let the kitten go. Serandite wouldn't hurt it; at least, she didn't think so, and at any rate holding on to the kitten would probably have hurt it more than just letting the pink-haired Negaverse agent take the fluffy creature. She set her gloved hands in the snow, tipped her head back to look up at the stars. Once upon a time, she had fought there. For the Princess...

"Don't be sad," said Virgo, still contemplating the sky. She couldn't find the constellation for which she was named, but there was Orion. "Look," she continued, pointing it out; "Those three are his belt, and there's his bow..."

Then she pulled her head back to earth. "Princess Chronos is beautiful," the bluenette breathed, "The most beautiful Princess ever. Even prettier than the Moon princess, I bet. Except I've never seen the Moon princess, just my princess."

She patted Serandite cautiously on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll find something. Why'd you join the Negaverse in the first place?"