Welcome to Gaia! ::

Downtown Destiny City's nightlife was bustling with the warmer weather. Themisto and Itsuki stood atop a 24-hour coffee shop whose dining room was full of late-night readers, businessmen and young people on dates. Without much in the way of youma activity, there wasn't too much for the Dynamic Duo to do, other than keep an eye on things.

"Themi-chan, let's get some coffee!" he chirped.

The senshi turned his head, chin brushing against the cat's fur. Itsuki was slung over his shoulder for the time being, the warm weather making sitting in Themisto's fuku increasingly uncomfortable. The breeze felt lovely in his fur.

"Uhh... no. The last thing I need is you buzzin' around at nine-hundred miles an hour while I'm tryin' to sleep. No midnight zoomies for you, mister."

The cat's ears drooped as the senshi turned to start walking, aiming for the neighboring businesses' roof. Patrolling meant nothing if one wasn't moving, and Themisto needed to stretch his legs. Thicker-soled boots crunched the dirt and debris into the roof as he moved. Just before them was another senshi, whose energy signature indicated they were of basic rank.

Just starting out? Maybe. It was hard to tell, and rude to assume. In the darkness, it was difficult to make them out, but Themisto decided to check on them, just in case. When he was a basic senshi, someone keeping an eye out for him was a welcome change of pace.

"OIIII~ Senshi-san~!" cried Itsuki. "Konbanwa~!"

Being responded to in Japanese caused Itsuki to flail wildly in excitement while laying on Themisto's shoulder. The senshi had to put a hand on the cat's back to keep him from slipping while tiny, furry limbs wiggled back and forth and Japanese began to pour forth from his tiny mouth.

"Hajimemashite!! Watashi wa Itsuki desu~!!"

After all of that, and when the Dynamic Duo were close enough to the newbie senshi to talk casually (and without yelling across buildings!), Itsuki seemed to have lost his ability to form proper English sentences in his incredibly excitement. Themisto looked shocked and stared for a few moments, waiting for the cat to take a breath before interjecting.

"This is Sailor Themisto! He is my senshi! What are you senshi of? Do you patrol here many times? Do you like being senshi? Will you be my friend?! Please be nice to me!"

Themisto sighed, patting the wiggling cat. "Look, Ako, you broke my cat. I had him set to English and now he's all broken..." Scooping Itsuki up off his shoulder, holding the cat before him. The lilac point hadn't even stopped speaking while being handled, spewing out as many Japanese questions to pose to Ako and as many descriptions of himself and Themisto as he could manage.

"Have you meeting many cats?! Do you have favorite cat? I hope I am your favorite cat!!"

Themisto held the cat out while he wiggled, spewing more foreign words and phrases he simply didn't understand.

"Senshi of Firestorms, eh? That sounds pretty badass," he remarked, half-wondering why he didn't get something like lightning bolts or god-damn laser beams. Like Itsuki had mentioned when they first met, no senshi was able to choose their sphere. It simply was. "Fairly new, huh? Well, looks like we ran into ya at just the right time. We don't have territories... at least, not as far as I'm concerned. We're all protectin' the city, right? Territories sounds like a pissin' match and I'm not all that interested in wizzin' on buildings 'n stuff."

Itsuki wiggled happily, both in Themisto's hands and at Ako in general. "I'm your favorite? YOSH~! Good, good. I'm glad. I'll work hard to stay your favorite! I promise, Ako-chan~!" Fluffy, fuzzy arms wiggled towards the newbie senshi in the universal cat body language of petmepetmepetmepickmeuploveme~. Themisto sighed and handed Ako the cat for cuddling.

The eternal senshi sighed and shook his head. "So, Ako, you're new around these parts? What do you know so far? Whatcha got down pat?"

Itsuki wiggled and purred happily, nuzzling Ako whenever the chance arose. No one could say Itsuki was not a fiend for cuddles and attention.

"Uwah, arigato gozaimasu, Ako-chan~ I work hard to be soft! It's not easy, but it's worth it when I can get lots of snuggles from senshi~" Smushing himself onto Ako's chest, Itsuki made the Mauvian standard cat-bun out of himself and purred happily, tail swinging lazily behind him.

Themisto opted to ignore the sucking up for snuggles and kept his mind on helping a newbie senshi who may not have known just how close she was to the thick of things. "Well, some do, most don't. If you see any cat with a star on their head, like Itsuki's got, then that one can talk. But if the star is real dark? Don't talk to them. The Negaverse's got themselves some cats and effed 'em up real good, as far as I can tell. They'll try to mess with you. Best if you don't go near them."

"Ako-chan~" chirped the cat. "Have you been training? Who awakened you? We have some friends who do trainings for senshi! You can learn to defend yourself a little better! Do you have your phone on you, Ako-chan? I hope the Mau who awakened you told you about that!"

Itsuki's ears drooped in response to Ako's sadness. "Hai, we'll try to save them too! We're working hard, Ako-chan." Snuggling up under the senshi's chin, the Mau nuzzled her as best he could.

Luckily though, the phone dilemma was easily solved. "Don't worry, Ako-chan. All you have to do is think about your phone and it'll appear in your hand from its subspace storage pocket~! Oh, if you have an old one, I can upgrade it for you! Itsu-nyan yaku ni tatsu~!"

Themisto, meanwhile, had no earthly idea what that meant. Crossing his arms, the senshi shifted his weight. "Like he said, we know a few folks who do weekly training exercises. Safety in numbers and all that. Itsuki and I head out there weekly to keep an eye on everybody, and the furball can cloak your signatures, so you can kinda train in peace."

"Hai~! Kerokero-chan is very good at helping new senshi. We can introduce you~!"

"And Lacrimosa would like to help too, I think. We've got a little network between us. Can't have you guys gettin' picked off while you're new. That's when the Negaverse is the most dangerous."