Welcome to Gaia! ::

With a slightly cooler evening, Sailor Tempesti had made a decision to take a patrol through one of the parks that had a few ponds in the hopes that the mosquitos would be less active than they had been in previous weeks. She always enjoyed admiring the aquatic flora that lined the water, and the ducks who made their home in the area were far more charming than the wrathful chicken she’d encountered more times than she’d care to remember. So maybe she’d chosen this area in the hopes that it would be a quiet patrol spent listening to crickets and watching waterfowl, people were always telling her to take some time for herself and this was a way of killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

During this session of attempting to quell the conflict between her desire to work and wanting to appease her worried loved ones , a whiff of something fowl rose with an uncomfortable warmth from some unseen place. At first she tried to attribute the stench to a hypothetical pool of standing water, but even with this attempt at denial she couldn’t pretend that it was anything but the monster(s?) that seemed to have declared her an archnemesis.

An allied energy signature caught Tempesti’s attention, momentarily distracting her from thoughts of the greasy chicken monster she knew was nearby. Though if her earlier experiences were any indication, the two paths would most likely converge in the near future. The senshi’s pace quickened, following the odor and wondering if there would ever again be a time when she couldn’t smell these things.

Passing through a stand of overgrowth, she spotted the source of the energy she’d felt. Another senshi. Another senshi holding one of the offending eggs. Tempesti knew that she had no room to judge, given that her first instinct upon encountering her first clutch of monster eggs was to poke one with a stick. Still, it seemed better to advise her of the risk. With a wave, she raised her voice, hopefully enough that the other woman could hear her. “You should really put that egg down, the thing that laid it is…not very nice and if those eggs are here it won’t be too far.”

As though summoned by the mere mention of its existence, an unholy screech echoed from the shadows, the sound underscored by an oddly ominous scraping. She hoped that her warning had given the stranger the seconds she needed to prepare.

Tempesti turned toward the sound, only sighting the glowing red pinpricks as they launched toward her and the other senshi.

Propelling itself from the darkness, the poultry beast glided into the clearing, its galline grace echoing the Hindenburg, head swiveling between the two women before its gaze locked on the brown-clad senshi and the eggs at her feet. Talons dug into the ground with a scraping metallic shriek as it prepared to charge, giving only seconds before it was hurtling toward Sailor Cardinal in a maelstrom of feathery rage.

The feathery monster screeched to a halt at the sight of the horned serpent, overcome by the display of lights emanating from the tiara. Its head whipped around frantically, seeking its target.

“It’s the eggs!”

She shouted in the direction the other senshi had run, hoping she could hear her over the irate squawking.

“Once you break the eggs it will leave! They’re empty, don’t worry about hurting them!” She really hoped that this wouldn’t be the one time they weren’t empty, or the one time it would decide to stick around after the eggs got destroyed.

Tempesti watched as the other senshi dispatched the eggs with an impressive efficiency and sent the not quite chicken screeching on its way back to wherever it spent its time when it wasn’t guarding those nests.

She looked the woman over, relieved that she had no injuries, no that she could see anyway. “Of course, didn’t seem like it gave you too much trouble though. I’m Sailor Tempesti, are you alright?”

Whatever Cardinal called into combat against that thing had definitely piqued Tempesti’s curiosity. She was certain that she’d seen similar creatures in a book? A piece of art? Something. “What was that you summoned?”

Tempesti listened attentively as the other senshi spoke, it made sense that members of their ranks would work in the parks service. Maybe someone could even do a study of why so many battles and episodes of general magical strangeness took place on their properties. “That would make sense, I imagine you have to deal with a lot with a job like that. Though I am glad to hear that these monsters haven’t been a factor in your life before this.” She decided to omit how frequently they’d been a factor in her own as of late.

“I don’t blame you, these chicken monsters are foul.”

The word “uktena” was vaguely familiar, maybe something she’d come across in a book or a museum and forgotten. Wherever she’d first encountered it the real thing, or something close to it, was impressive. “They’re amazing. I’m Sailor Tempesti, senshi of harpies. Nice to meet you.”

LP

“I know what you mean, they don’t exactly have great timing.”

As the other senshi returned to the subject of these chicken beasts, Tempesti shrugged. As often as she’s speculated on the nature of these creatures, the idea of being the ghost of something unborn never occurred to her. They certainly felt solid, but the past year had taught her that the laws of physics were nowhere near as stable as she had once believed. “I have no idea what they, they have at least some physicality but they always just come out of nowhere and then disappear into thin air when they’re done.”

Of course, a lot of the scary stories Laurel used to terrorize her as a child involved ghosts causing physical harm to humans so if those had even a kernel of truth that was a possibility. Other monsters were real, so it stood to reason that ghosts were within the realm of possibility. Even bizarre, smelly bird ghosts.

She smiled shyly at Cardinal’s reaction to her sphere. Despite the myths associated with harpies, she had grown rather fond of them. “Thank you, I’d be happy to train with you sometime! I’m always happy to work with new people, especially when they understand our rather unique circumstances.”

Though she was fairly certain that the other senshi intended to describe the creature as the product of a magic trick, as Sailor Cardinal spoke, an entirely different mental image rose unbidden in Tempesti’s mind. Her imagination conjured the unfortunate picture of an unearthly birds dressed to the nines in a glittery performer’s outfit and accompanied by an equally glamourous assistant. Deciding that she would prefer not to imagine the illusionary feats such a duo would attempt, she returned her full attention to her companion.

“I’m looking forward to it too, but we can save the planning for another time. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need to and take care!” She had no desire to keep her up later than necessary if she had a job to do the following morning and cheerfully bid her goodnight.