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"It is."

It was an obvious thing to say, but it was also a lot to contend with. Viatrix didn't know how long they had been building the stockpile in Destiny City, but perhaps it didn't matter how long it had taken. Hundreds of people who would never see their families again, who had been doomed to just feed a machine that was mining from the people of Earth. She disliked Chaos as soon as she met them, but her opinion of them had only soured further the more she had found out just what they were up to.

It brought Viatrix's mood into an oddly somber mode compared to her usual behavior, and it showed on her face and in the way she kept looking at Aerin and then glancing back away with a distant frown. She could see Aerin's anger, understood Aerin's anger.

"It's not. I don't know if that's the lie individual people in the Negaverse have been fed, but," she swallowed, finally bringing herself to look back toward Aerin, "there's nothing desperate in the Negaverse. It already has so much and they just keep ... taking."

Her opinion on the Dark Mirror was a bit more complex; while she still saw them as a source of Chaos and therefore something that needed to be eradicated, they weren't actively harming to the same level as the Negaverse was. She respected Encke's defense-first approach but also respected Anser's offense-immediately approach. Both were valid considering the enemy they were dealing with.

"I worry what'll happen when they decide that isn't enough, right?"

Much worse was something that Viatrix agreed with, and she nodded as she crossed her arms under her chest.

... That was one of the advantages of this human guise, admittedly. She could do these kinds of things a bit easier--

"No, it's okay!" Viatrix shook her head at the apology. "It's good. Right that you know exactly everything that's going on. Gives more of a," she thought about it, before continuing with, "umph to why you want to fight them, right? Because they do bad things like collect souls and energy and stuff."

She wasn't sure if she had the best explanation for why they felt they needed energy and starseeds and any of that, though. She took a moment to think about it, tapping her chin as she combed over the options in her mind and came up with the one that seemed to make the most sense.

"I mean, I don't think anything's worth needing starseeds for, right?" Didn't really think anything was worth energy, either, though she supposed there were exceptions considering how the Velencians seemed to work. "But I'm guessing they need it to power their operations. Like, whatever Metallia wants to do, or to feed the youma, or to heal themselves. They eat the starseeds, sometimes."

This was not making any of this any better, she realized.

Viatrix had definitely made it worse.

She could see the way Aerin recoiled, and she definitely couldn't blame her. Viatrix would have been angry if it didn't just make her so terribly sad to think about all of those souls that wouldn't get a chance, all of those senshi that she and her fellow Mauvians had failed--

She did her best to pull her mind away from that. Sailor Raksha -- Aerin -- was asking her an important question.

"I wish I was lying too, for what it's worth," she murmured, leaning back against one of the trees as she thought about what the best approach was. To be honest, she wasn't sure there was one. Sure, Viatrix saw validity in Encke not acting until he saw his enemy begin to act -- or came upon a scene where they were already acting, anyway. But she also understood why Anser never held back. But there was something in the way she said she couldn't do nothing -- "You remind me of Encke's husband, a bit. Basiluzzo. He also can't really hold back. Has gone after a general, before."

The look she gave Aerin was a bit of a warning.

"If they already have a stolen starseed, I think it makes sense to attack to try and retrieve that life. But be careful about attacking someone stronger than you. They can defeat you. And that defeating can include things like taking out your starseed, too."

A sigh.

"His got removed. He got really lucky I was following him and was able to get Encke there..."

The way Aerin looked away from her as a silent acknowledgment of the fact that she probably would have done that just further reminded her of Basiluzzo. They'd probably get along well, honestly. Might do her good to introduce them...

The good thing was that Aerin already had decided to use the distress call app and said that trading a life for a life wouldn't do any good. "Exactly," she replied, frowning. "You might even end up with the unfortunate situation that all your interference would do is provide them with more starseeds, because they might just go back after the civilian after."

Considering that Viatrix would much prefer that all of the senshi stayed alive and safe, she couldn't help a bit of relief at Aerin's determination to stay that way. That should help things, she hoped. Especially if part of that determination was so she could do more cool stuff on her planet, because that could lead to things like transcendence, which could at least protect her against the starseed pulling if she was going to recklessly run into battles.

"That's the spirit! You're a senshi because you are the protector of that world and you should protect that world, right?" Viatrix's eyes danced. "I wanna see that cool grass and those fireflies too, ya know, so you gotta make them happen for me, okay?"

She teasingly reached out to poke Aerin in the nose.

"And if you get in trouble, call for backup, alright? We're a team."

"Good."

And that was that.

She wanted to impress on her new charges -- which was everyone she awoke or upgraded, really, with only a few exceptions -- that the other senshi were people that could generally be relied on. They weren't forced to be in one organization like those in the Negaverse, but that was a good thing. That meant that the people who were helping out had wanted to help out. That meant that the people she was teaming up with wanted to team up.

Oh! Planet restoration!

That was Encke's expertise in a lot of ways, really, but Viatrix had absorbed knowledge on how he had done it by a combination of knowledge osmosis and watching him and Anser work on their planets. "Ah, a combination of things, really. I know Encke, for example, just started mass bringing things to his planet to help. Like one time he brought up some concrete to put paths back together, brought up candles to light places before the electricity was back on, brought Earth plants to see if he could cultivate them and what would cultivate. But I've also seen and he's said that sometimes the planet just restores itself as you go to it?"

She tapped her chin.

"Like Anser, for example, she noticed the abode of the last Sailor Anser became more livable as she went more often. So, both! Your planet feels more alive with you awake but you can also do things to push it along."

Viatrix swung her arms back and forth. How much time did she have left as a civilian, anyway? She was pretty sure she was running low on time--

"But it's your place in the cosmos, so I think just going there and being present and making it a place you want to be helps that all along, too."

Viatrix could see the gears turning in Aerin's head and let her have them while she checked her phone real quick to see when her alarm of warning would go off. Not that she minded going back to cat form, but she'd just need to make sure that she was thoroughly hidden in the trees before it happened...

She nodded, tucking it back into her pocket.

Her brows rose at the steal, but Viatrix understood there was no room for argument and let it go. Considering what Aerin was doing it for, and considering the much more significant crimes of the other side, she didn't really have much to say for that other then, "So long as it's one that they probably won't notice." She snickered to herself. "Don't try to head out to Mauna Loa or anything. That probably wouldn't work."

Also, she'd have no idea how Aerin would even teleport that anyway--

"Oh! Anser!" Good! Viatrix sensed an opportunity to introduce Aerin--Raksha--to other senshi who Viatrix had deemed hers. "Anser is the Senshi of Geese. She's Encke's little sister, actually, though calling her little isn't terribly fair," she noted this with a pout. "For one, she's taller than I am."

Definitely taller, even in this civilian form, which really wasn't fair--

"Her focuses while powered are a bit different than his. He's pretty space-focused, she's pretty destroying-Chaos-focused. But she's transcendent too and has a pretty cool planet!"

That seemed pretty reasonable and also like something that really couldn't be traced. Or, well, at least, something a department might not care as much about tracing. Viatrix always supported rescuing technology that was supposedly broken, in any case, as a Mauvian. What the humans thought was broken could usually be improved...

Well. Unless the motherboard was fried, anyway.

She giggled. "Yeah, I don't think you can bring a whole building with you. I think the largest thing Encke brought at once was like," she tapped her chin with a finger instead of with a paw like she might have otherwise, "okay, a couple of people, technically, but those aren't really things..."

What was the largest thing that Encke had ever brought with him, actually?

Viatrix would have pondered it further if it wasn't for the question that Aerin asked, and her eyes sparkled as she nodded. "They got a pretty large age difference, honestly, which probably contributes to Encke not seeming like he has a sibling," considering that Encke was nearly thirty and Anser wasn't even in her twenties yet..., "But yes, absolutely! You definitely need some more Order connections! Encke knows a few people and I can probably work on introducing you to them, and his sister's a good start."

She tilted her head.

"Plus, yeah, she has a different perspective! Which is probably helpful for learning everything. And I think she's around your age if I had to guess..."

Anser was seventeen, as far as she understood human ages. She wasn't sure if Raksha was seventeen, necessarily, but they looked about the same age...

It was a completely random guess, but Viatrix didn't think it was wrong, either. "I've heard Encke was part of a group of five or so for a purification he helped with? But I think he had to do some energy sharing with the person who brought them up afterward..." One of the benefits of being transcendent, she supposed... "I think the solar battery thing is a really good idea! They have some you can just plug into phones now which I think is really cool."

Aerin mentioning the real phone reminded her that she needed to get to work on that idea of making a music app of some sort. Maybe she could sit down and work on that when she stopped finding so many senshi who needed awakening or upgrading. Not that that was a bad thing, necessarily-- "And I do know a few knights! Encke's husband, Basiluzzo of Uranus, is one. He's also best friends with a knight named Pendour? She's of Neptune. I can look into getting you guys hooked up!"

Viatrix knew some other knights too, but those were the first and most obvious two she could think of--

She frowned, gently, at the concept of Aerin not really having friends. Viatrix liked her and didn't see a reason for her not to have them other than the things she was dedicated to-- "Well, I think we're friends, right?" Viatrix offered a grin. "But yeah, I'd definitely love to help you make some friendship connections with people your age, too! And you'll have this whole bit in common, which I think will help. Anser's a senior at Meadowview, I'm sure she'd love to know someone else about her age in this mess too."

Viatrix took out her phone to write out some plans--

And then let out a quiet eep as she realized Aerin was suddenly much taller than her and she was a cat again.

"Well," she giggled, plucking up the phone again, "I'll get to work writing up some people you should meet! And also working on that app..."