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Transcended Eternal Scylla

It was reassuring that the Squire wasn't mad, instead giving a small wave in response to Scylla's greeting. And Cybele's smile warmed the cockles of Scylla's be-tentacled heart.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lourdes. Welcome home." That was all she had to say about the Squire's past- what else was there to say? "Well if you already know Ganymede, that's one less person I can introduce you to." the chirp was cheerful and bright. "You'll have to introduce us to her, it seems- Ganymede and I don't really know each other on a personal level, if she even remembers me from when we've encountered each other before. But I remember you said she's a big fan of shoes, and that alone has me looking for a new partner in my favorite crime." she looked to Lourdes as well, trying to make certain to keep the Squire part of the conversation.

"Credit card murder. It's not technically a crime, it's delightful fun, and the only victim is my accountant. Maybe the empty space in my closet. Depends on how bad my week has been or if I'm shopping for friends. We'll have to go sometime. I know you've probably got some holes in your closet that need filling, Cybele, but what about yours, Lourdes? Need any shoes, pants, massive stacks of books, or anything?"

Oh! And- "Also, both of you, please don't forget to go get one of the horrifying hats from the chibi over there- she's my sister, Charybdis, and she has been selecting hats for probably a solid week." Having done her duty as sibling, Scylla returned to the important business.

"Pendour's alive, 'bele, and you're not who you were before." Scylla reached out with one hand, instinct to boop Cybele's nose winning out over the urge to be a courteous adult. "Neither of you are. Everyone here's scarred by the fight in one way or another, otherwise they wouldn't have come to enjoy some tea and colouring pages on the moon. Maybe you'll never be shoe-shopping companions with some people, but you're on the same side of this now." And it was a public place, the other woman was about a hundred percent less likely to get punched in the face if Pendour got mad, than if the two had their re-introduction in an alley or something.


stari_maga
Sweenys_Revenge

Transcendent Eternal Encke

Honestly, if Encke knew that Basiluzzo was concerned about his reputation, of all things, he might have laughed. He wasn't sure if his reputation was one he necessarily needed to worry about marring; Not that he thought he had a bad reputation, but he wasn't sure it was one that would be impacted by Basiluzzo being adorably fascinated by being on the moon.

"Potentially," chirped Encke, stopping in front of the teas and picking up two cups. He glanced over the selection that Pendour had laid out, deciding to go with the pomegranate passion. He was perfectly fine with the other herbal flavors, but caffeine would just put him and Basiluzzo to sleep and he was incredibly curious about what, exactly, in the tea made it passionate.

It was probably just some silly tea company name to make it more appealing--

Happily, he pushed a cup of brewing passionate pomegranate tea toward his husband as he came up behind him.

"Says it's passionate. Don't know if that means anything, but," still didn't stop Encke from giving an absolutely rancid wink.

Before Basiluzzo could give him a small flick to the arm, Encke snickered and set himself upon the dusty ground at a small distance, giving Pendour and everyone else who had gathered around her a bit of space but still not seeming like he was being anti-social. He glanced back to Basiluzzo and patted the spot next to him.

He needed to come up here more often. The view was gorgeous.

"Think I used to dream of seeing the Earth from the Moon as a kid. Never thought I actually would."

Super Sailor Cybele

Cybele blinked at Lourdes, then blinked again. It wasn't surprising, exactly, that she'd run into someone else who'd purified. Just in the last few months, she'd met several others who had left the Negaverse behind, and every time, it left her with mixed feelings.

She wasn't happy, exactly, that someone would have had to go through that, but it was always a bit of a relief to find someone with a similar story to hers. In this case, it was a special relief to know that the other woman wouldn't judge her for having tried to kill the host of tonight's event, once.

"I purified, yes," she said. "I've always been Cybele, though. Of the Hunt, if you were wondering. It's a pleasure."

It was.

She was also glad to see that Scylla's enthusiasm for shopping hadn't faded in the few weeks that they'd been apart. It was her encouragement that really touched Cybele's heart, though, and the nose boop brought a full smile to her face, regardless of if it was something a mature adult would do or not. She glanced back towards the main gathering area and Pendour without looking quite so nervous this time, her gaze settling on the blonde girl and her pile of hats.

"I think the most obvious and gaping hole in my wardrobe right now is hat shaped," she said, still smiling. "And it looks like someone's credit card got murdered for this, so I should really go appreciate it, yes?" With considerably more bounce in her step than earlier, she headed over in that direction. (She did earn a curious look from a certain Neptune squire in the process, but nothing that even bordered on judgement.)

After a brief moment of rummaging through options, she picked up a floral fascinator and switched it out for her tiara before looking back towards the others.

"There's a lot here that would match your outfit, Lourdes," she called out, "And Scylla, you have to be a good big sister."

Agrippa blushed to a shade approximate to her dress. She clutched her little decanter to her chest like a life line as she slowly began to realize the litany of her mistakes. She pressed her lips together and ducked her head, regaining her composure as best she could. Not only was this not the owner of this beautiful place, this mistake had seemed to upset her, even if just for an instant.

“I’m terribly sorry, ma’am. I… I’m new.”

It was a pathetic excuse, but she offered it all the same. There was no need to go over the way she had found her “weapon” in an antique shop window. No need to tell this woman how she had touched it at home and somehow transformed into… this… and spent the next hours in a manic mix of panic and elation. No need to tell her that all of this had only just happened last week and no one was there to orient her.

And then Agrippa heard her companion’s name.

“Ganymede… but that… that’s my… that’s my name…” Her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to puzzle out yet another riddle that was thrown at her. “I mean… I’m Agrippa, of Ganymede. Why do we share a name?”

So many questions. And she wasn’t even certain that this other Ganymede could answer them.



Welcome home…

Several people had said as much when Lourdes purified. Those who had helped her find her feet always greeted her like this, but… for the first time ever… she heard this and believed it. Lourdes was shocked into silence at the revelation that she truly did feel welcome, finally, and then visibly relaxed.

“Holes in my closet,” she finally answered, finding her voice again. “Bold of you to assume that I have a closet at all anymore. I tried to take some of my old clothes with me but… well… I underestimated how much this new body had changed now that I’m someone else entirely.” She winced, remembering her closet full of generic work clothes in generic shades while she tried to find time, money, and the will to start rebuilding her closet.

And what better place to start than a truly ridiculous hat provided by an impossibly cute chibi senshi. She followed Cybele and began to pick through elaborate fascinators and wide-brimmed flowered hats.

“Oh Cybele, that’s perfect.” And it was. The hat she’d found may as well had been part of her fuku in the first place. Eventually, she found a truly absurd ribboned hat with a triumphant little cry. The brim reached the points of her shoulders, and she could feel the weight of it on her head. It was perfect, she was certain. She didn’t even need a mirror to know.

“Thank you, ma’am,” she addressed the chibi senshi, holding out a hand. “I’m Lourdes.”

Basiluzzo, Page of Uranus

Passionate-- Basiluzzo flushed and took the tea from Encke. "Okay okay, we're in public y'know." He followed Encke's glance to the others and then followed his lead in sitting on the ground. "I.. .don't think I thought of it much," he admitted a bit sheepishly. "The moon was definitely there, I just... didn't think about it much."

A shame, really. There was clearly a lot more to it, and Basiluzzo couldn't help continuing to look this way and that between sips of his tea. Though maybe it was a good thing he'd saved himself the disappointment as a kid of thinking of a place he didn't think he'd be able to go. And now that he could go, it was infinitely more satisfying to ponder the ifs and whens. The whys, the hows.

The 'where' was certainly taken care of, even if it would make up the bulk of the subject of the thoughts concerning everything else...

"I'd be happy to think about it now, though."

Super Hydor

Never mind the weddings and the tea party. The Kentucky Derby?

Was that the horse-racing bullshit where the main point of winning was for bragging rights and to make obscene amounts of money off breeding a horse for a few years? Why did people wear these hats to that?

Sounded like elite rich people bullshit. Probably explained why they looked so absolutely gaudy and probably explained why people were wearing them in the first place.

-- s**t, was the child crying? The ******** was he supposed to do with --

His red eyes shifted from the child to a squire who had taken a hat for herself.

"Really." He leveled Pendour with a look that probably spelled out his sheer disbelief for him without saying another word. He was wearing a suit. A suit that looked like it had probably seen better days at that. How the hell was a damn hat supposed to go with that at all? He bounced it in his hands distastefully, glaring lightly at how the tulle stayed exactly in place like it had been wired there which perhaps explained how heavy the damn thing was--

Ugh.

He had no interest in listening to children cry or being lectured by the person he presumed was the host about wearing hats, and so, begrudgingly, he stuck it on his head.

And did not look happy about it.

"Alright. Fine. I'm wearing it. Happy now?"

Because Hydor wasn't.

... He swore that the hat was shading his eyes so much he could barely see the stars above them. That was probably an exaggeration. He probably just didn't like the hat.

It was beautiful, Pendour decided.

The hats were lovely in their own right, but the smiles were better, but it really made her heart flutter to see the way the Squire smiled as she put the giant one on her head at her friend's encouragement, and the way that the senshi in the suit eventually tried his on, just to lift the spirit of the young girl and the others. He might not be smiling, but he was trying.

It was a beautiful thing that people were coming together, that they gave each other compliments. Even Cybele looked happy, and that was something. Last time Pendour had seen her, there had been a deep sadness carried in her eyes, and even in the times before that, before she'd been corrupted, she'd seemed cold and stoic in the glances that Pendour had gotten of her. Maybe some of the others here were stoic, most of the time, but right now, they had a moment to drink tea and play with hats, and that made Pendour's soul sing.

She was happy that the others had come, too, for the Princess who'd found her matching knight, for Encke and the one she thought was maybe Basi, admiring the view of Earth from a little ways away.

The evening would wind on until the water for tea was gone and Pendour's other little favors were picked over and the hats began to feel heavy on people's heads, but this moment would be one of the highlights of what it was meant to be about.

Coming together.