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It was a rare occasion that business and pleasure could overlap- but it had occurred to him that a great many old tombs and markers were the height of sculptural skill during the 19th centuries as far as the so-called New World was concerned. There were among the twisted forms found grieving angels, veiled mourners, grim, grinning bones and lifelike, mineral weeping effigies.

With only rare night-time comers, it was not greatly likely to find Youma or enemy among the standing stones while he walked among them, taking pictures for reference. He'd remembered to bring a bag on patrol- a sketchbook money, some snacks and a drink as well as the camera's protective sleeve. It was a go between, however, between districts of residential apartment and condo housing and a full-blown, tiny, cookie-cutter suburbia marching on and on. He could patrol the streets there in more meaningful protection of the city after finishing his research.

Rustle, rustle?

There were drafts of dead leaves still, here and there choked with , from the great trees that lined the walks. But it was too rhythmic a rustle, and he lowered his camera to his bag, peering into the witch-light dim of the twilight. He wasn't near any of the nearest trees, so an attack from above wasn't likely without teleportation...

No use taking chances. "Who goes?"

or....what?

The noises were not ones he'd ever heard in a cemetery. Thraen startled badly, jumping at the screeching syllables and coving his ears while looking for the source-

A cat?
Seven sins and seven layers what spawned it?


Instinct was to throw something, anything, at the creature to get it to stop. But there was a star on its brow, and paying closer attention now he could recognize that there was a small aura to the beast. It was a guardian cat, without a doubt. He refrained, lowering his hands slowly. No other auras were popping up, so he doubted it was a call to arms or trap sprung. "A little quieter....? I can hear you alright. 'Hello' would have sufficed."

"You're a guardian?"

'Box social' had him on edge for a hot minute, but her singsong put it off as he had childhood flashbacks of Robert Klein's voice warbling through a stream of Peter S. Beagle's consciousness. Here was a butterfly given a Guardian cat's body. The question was whether it was nature, nurture, partial or all play? Or just madness.
She's digging up... at...a buried body- The senshi of gardens smirked. "Boxed social."

Pine boxed. 'Dirty one' is original, anyway.
He didn't want to know what wispy bits she was referring to- but he made sure he didn't have any compromising holes just in case. He followed over to her, crouching down like a catcher on the solid, still grass-topped rim around the grave. "No bluebells, but passiflora, bleeding heart and plenty others. All the plants, and rocks, and winding streams, and insects tamed to productivity. Your ...In Between Bits....do you have a team?"

Like ********* maybe, but with aura twisted and strange. The little cat felt of chaos. He wondered if the little creature talked the same way to them, and if she could also become a small girl. "I didn't realize guardians could serve the Negaverse. "

"No. I do not. Nor, I expect, would any have me." Fables?

I suppose there are stranger names to expect a team to bear. If that is the actual name. Her perception and speech seem unique enough that without a lot of exposure, one might not catch all the keys to follow. "I have not met any senshi claiming such a team. Or with names or spheres like to that."

Star and asteroid names had many influences, from cultural mythology to modern cities and scientists. Was there a Sailor Big Bad of Wolves out there? It wasn't out of reckoning.

He considered her declaration, eyebrow slightly cocked. "I would like to buried and grow again better than I am now. I understand how plants whisper and grow, and how the black earth and bodies of the fallen succor the roots. I do not have roots. "

But I expect our definitions of darkness are intrinsically different, with the taint of chaos so solidly in your aura. It was an ever present temptation, with cats, to want to pet them- excepting she seemed so matted with muck and he wasn't sure if she had fleas. She didn't look like she had a home or anyone to spot her ruff with Frontline.

"There are pearls though...perhaps in the dark. Pearls on straps that glow. Do you know of them? I've heard that Guardians are the best to ask for help with questions. "

Digging didn't seem like something likely for activities Athene or any other scout would engage in to get phone strap pearls. Or anything really. Roots generally were found in the ground, but with her fury of paws it seemed more likely she was trying to be a resurrection cat.

"I appreciate the help....."

"Finding roots and pearls. Is it trouble to get clean from so much dirt? Do you have help or a senshi you live with, even if your Fables are missing?"

Some cats swam? He couldn't imagine a cat licking that level of mud from its fur, even if it was a magical talking cat. Maybe corrupted senshi had to give corrupted Guardians baths. I wonder if she knows that wasp...I haven't seen him in months and months. What was his name...Wespe...no, Vespula vulgaris. Vespa. If pearls were all I sought, indeed.

He bodily startled when the small being started raising the dead again. The rambling explanation had lulled his attention to trying to decipher what sort of sense there even was to her Titles for these Fables, and like the birds he half felt a want to jump out of his skin or at least take flight.

He picked up the bulb carefully, growing more and more dubious. He didn't know where the pearls came from. This was a guardian cat. She didn't seem the sort to wind someone up for shits and giggles. Just because she was crazy was a possibility though. She seemed so happy with the bulb.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. He'd plant the thing, but he was deeply uncertain of the outcome and benefit of the venture of digging random bulbs out of graves. "I will. Thank you...? I didn't catch your name?"

"I'll go right home and get this planted..."