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Years after she had been inducted to this strange world of magical skirts and fantastical kittens, Tyche still wasn't really sure what she was supposed to be doing. Of course, that was nothing new in her life. She'd long since abandoned hope that she might one day discover what her true calling was. She was not a genius waiting to discover their medium - she was simply a girl with magical powers, a beautiful outfit, and curiosity in bounds.

At least that curiosity hadn't killed her yet.

When she was feeling particularly lost, sometimes she just set out and let her feet take her where they wanted to go. Tonight it seemed that they were keen on visiting a school she had never had a chance of entering. After that whole black market nonsense, she'd had to repeat a grade and that certainly would have never flown with Crystal Academy. Of course, if she were honest with herself, she'd never really had hope for it before that unfortunate part of her life either.

She did have friends that attended, back when they were all so much younger. She'd come to wait for them on days that they were in extra long study groups, wandering around like a lost cat across campus. A lot of them had moved on, gone to college in other states or gotten married and settled down with kids. A magical girl didn't fit into that life any more than Piper had fit into Crystal Academy.

It was only as she drew closer to the school that she realized she wasn't alone. She had at least learned to figure out what was good and bad on this energy field she always seemed to be plugged into. There was a good one lurking not too far away and she wandered towards it, sandals crunching over the lawn as she walked.

"Hello?" She called out to the night, in the least tactful manner possible. "Is someone there?"

Tyche felt the energy drawing nearer, until it was so close that she couldn't pinpoint it exactly. She'd noticed that it was funny in that way.

"Oh, I'm Tyche!" A pause, then, "Uhm, Sailor Tyche." She fumbled over her introduction, though it wasn't out of the same fear and apprehension that Kepler felt. The blunette was naturally clumsy and tongue-tied, which often made her stammer through introductions. Not to mention she was forgetful about a lot of things, including formalities. It had taken a long time to remember that she was supposed to introduce herself as Tyche, and not Piper. Andromeda had always made such a fuss!

With the introductions out of the way, Tyche drew closer to the other girl, looking her fuku up and down. She was open about it, not at all shamed by what basically amounted to gawking. After all her time wandering around as a super hero, she'd come to have a certain fondness for everyone's different uniforms.

"Do you go to um.." she paused and bit her tongue between her lips in thought, then finally just waved a hand at the school that Kepler had walked from, "this place?"

For a moment, Tyche didn't answer Kepler's question, but instead took a moment to stare at Crystal Academy and imagine what it might have been like to go there. It was a strange idea, mostly punctuated with what she thought such a fancy institution must be like in comparison to Meadowview. Tea parties, fancy hats, teachers with foreign accents.

"No," she finally answered with a wistful sigh, letting her bright blue eyes settle back on the new and unfamiliar girl. "I went to Meadowview, but I'm too old anyway. I don't think I have the right brain for school anyway."

It had taken a long time to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't meant for academic studies, partially because of her parents' insistence that she was a brilliant, creative mind. She'd recently learned that creative meant something altogether different than smart. Some days she didn't mind, until she realized she'd missed an opportunity.

"I just wanted to see what it looked like since I never really got the chance. It's kind of dark, and lonely."

"I think so too," she mused loudly, smiling as the girl said her own thoughts aloud. Enemy or not, Tyche didn't find Kepler to be particularly threatening, though she'd learned often that she didn't always find things threatening when she should have.

Her mind glazed over thoughts of zombies very briefly before she promptly pushed them out, forcing them to retreat as she sang nonsense through her mind. It was only after a few moments had passed with no words that she realized Kepler had said something and she turned to look at her.

"Oh, um, the war?" Tyche's lips pursed and her hands shifted down to the hem of her fuku, curling into the fabric of the skirt nervously. She never liked talk of war or battles, soldiers or death or.. any of it. It's why she always wondered if she had been a mistake of some kind, did she really deserve to have magical powers? She'd never.. used them. Ever.

"I don't like it, and I don't.. understand it. At all." Her gaze flickered up to the stars hanging low overhead and the moon that was shining bright, almost full. "There's so much that has happened and every day, there's more and more and nothing ever gets resolved. It's tiring." A sad smile flickered over her face and her bright blue eyes dropped back to the girl who was as good as a stranger.

"There's only more bad, never any good."

Tyche considered what she'd said, but in the end, experience always seemed to trump hope. More and more people were being drafted into the bowels of the war and it didn't seem to be swaying anyone toward peace, just more fighting, more everything.

Good and bad wasn't simply defined by order and chaos, it was war and peace.

"Oh, it's not just you," Tyche offered with that same sad smile, her mind half a world away, pouring through a dozen thoughts and situations that had plagued her over the years. Her fingers twined together in front of her, lacing and unlacing as she tried to focus herself back to the moment. "The whole city is sad. Can't you feel the way it lingers in the air?"

Her head tilted up for a moment to the sky, the bright blue eyes shutting as if she were feeling rain on her skin, or smelling something in the air. Then she sighed and opened them to stare at the stars.

"We can't be blamed for how we feel, we've all been born into this."

Tyche let her eyes fall to the mirror senshi with a smile full of whimsy, whatever thoughts that had filtered her brain too many and too ludicrous for her to say out loud.

"I don't mind. Time passes even if there's no one to talk to, so why not pass it in conversation? Ten minutes from now will still be ten minutes from now, even if you aren't standing here."

A small shrug rolled her shoulders and she glanced at the stars again, judging their position in the sky. It was getting late and she knew that if she stayed out terribly much longer, all the worst things would come hunting through the darkness. Did the mirror senshi have to worry over the youma? Somehow it seemed impolite to ask and she remembered how Echo had told her, gently, that sometimes it was better not to ask everything she was inclined to.

"But if you've got somewhere to be, I won't be offended."

Studying.

Tyche did her best not to make a face, but in the end her nose scrunched and she gave an awkward smile. She would have personally avoided that at all costs - and had when it was necessary - but then, she supposed, that was also why she had never been a part of the academic elite. Her hand extended regardless and she offered Kepler a small, delicate shake.

"Well, until next time.."

A bright smile lit her face and she turned her back, content to head back the direction she had come without a concern. When she was nearly past the entrance of the academy, she turned and gave Kepler one last wave, then slipped around the campus' outer wall and down the block.