Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a few weeks since Fallon had checked out of the hospital, and she was feeling better than ever. As far as she was concerned, she had survived a brush with death -- and death was something that Fallon was not prepared for. Sure, it bothered the ever-living-s**t out of her that she could not remember precisely how she wound up in a hospital bed, but as her father said in his trembling French, "My love, you are alive! Go take in the sunshine!" And Fallon planned to do just that.

Earlier that day, she set off to the fresh market and picked up some fruit. Normally, she would return home and create some kind of dish with it, but the skin of the apple was clean and Fallon could not resist. She snacked on it as she walked, editor-style pumps clicking neatly down the sidewalk. What was there to be sad about? Fallon had lived. Fallon was now attending an all girls school. Fallon even got to redesign her living space! Was it bad that she was so excited about that prospect that it made the ordeal that she could not remember kind of... worth it? Maybe. It didn't take the bounce out of her step as she moved from store to store, checking out brand new dressers and containers that she might purchase for her new abode.

After picking up some small lavender boxes for her notecards, Fallon turned to head toward a strip of little shops just a few streets away. It had gotten dark, and Fallon glanced down to her watch. Oh. 10:30PM. No way the shops were still open. She scolded herself for forgetting this, her heart sinking at her own failure. The organized teen had just turned to head back toward Crystal Academy when a strange tightness took hold of her shoulders. It spread up to her head, and Fallon reached up two painted nails to rub at her temple. What the hell?

She glanced behind her, and the feeling intensified. It wasn't painful, but it was certainly distracting. What was going on? Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Fallon turned back toward the direction she had originally been heading, blindly following the pull of that feeling. It was like playing a game of "HOT OR COLD" all by herself. Look to the left -- the feeling lessens. Look to the right -- the feeling comes back. She played this game until she wound up in an empty alleyway behind an old Chinese restaurant. It smelled worse than it looked.

"This is stupid," she chided herself. The girl had spent twenty minutes following a weird feeling. How stupid. Just as she turned, a can fell at the other end of the alley. Fallon glanced back over her shoulder, but nothing was there.

Weird.

Unfortunately, Fallon could not see that some kind of oozy black cat-like creature was lurking just on the other side of the green dumpster. It waited patiently for the girl to turn, even though it made the little youma shudder with anticipation.

At the end of the alley, Fallon made a dancer-like pirouette and began to walk away. Without a moment's hesitation, the youma sprang from its hiding spot and dove through the air at the unsuspecting teen. It said something like:

SCREEEEEEEEE!

A lot of confusing things happened all at once:

Something black and oozy and vaguely feline lunged at Fallon from behind a dumpster.
Said object made Fallon's head thrum.
Something covered in pastels and ribbons plummeted from the sky.
Said object was a hot girl (awesome).
Mysterious angel from above wanted to hold hands.
Said angel knew her name.

The control-dependent girl had little time to process the flash of events before she found herself being dragged away from the alley, her bags bumping against the back of her legs. What was going on? Venturing a single glance behind her, Fallon could see the weird blob of a thing stagger to its feet and then fall over again. The girls were making good time, but the little beastie did not appear beaten. As Fallon turned back to face her would-be savior (granted, she could really only see the back of her head), the little youma let out a most aggravated SCREE! and gave chase, bounding after them like an evil Energizer bunny.

Though her OCD senses were whirring into alarm, Fallon had no time to actually deal with it, and after a few more tugs, she took control of her own feet, running faster to keep pace with the oddly-dressed girl. It was hard to look at the other girl's outfit while running, but it was some kind of empire-waisted, ribbony, heeled thing. And was that the glint of a tiara? If the girl was not so clearly female, Fallon might have suspected that her savior was a Good Samaritan crossdresser who was on her way to the Sweat Drip for drag night. For a petite girl, this chick was dragging Fallon around like she was weightless.

Between pants of breath, Fallon managed to eek out a choked, "What is going on!" Her heels clacked loudly against the cement, but Fallon was a pro, running better than the fastest girls on the corner. The young teenager followed the other girl (she really had no choice with the strong grip on her wrist) down the next street, blindly following the tugging on her arm. The youma didn't fair so well with agility. A trash can crashed into the side of brick building behind the girls, but Fallon kept running, each step more confident than the next as she adjusted to the situation. She had a few questions for her savior, but that would have to wait until they were out of harm's way.

Fallon ran alongside Virgo, but her pace would slow periodically as she turned to try and look at her pursuer. What was that? It seemed like an animal, sort of, but in all of the movies she had watched and books she had read, the youma looked like something out of Ghostbusters or Pan's Labyrinth, not the real world. Fallon was seized with a grim desire to observe the creature.

And then she was seized by Virgo.

Standing around 5'8" with an average build, Fallon wasn't exactly featherlight. This did not seem to phase the smaller costumed girl one bit. It was like pre-school all over again, and Fallon was being scooped out of the playpen for fighting. What was more stunning than being effortlessly lifted by this stranger was the fact that she then jumped up to a rooftop. Like it was just the next step on a staircase. "Whoa," Fallon whispered, free hand clutching Virgo's arm where she held her. It was a nice, life-saving hug, and something that Fallon was completely unaccustomed to. Like a princess who had just been saved by a prince, the dark-haired teenager stared up at Virgo with what could only be described as stars in her eyes. She felt dumb for it, but it was kind of hard to NOT be amazed at what just happened.

Held in a pleasant-but-unexpected hug, Fallon was a little disappointed when she was finally set down. The girl loved to be in control, but what Virgo had just done was incredibly impressive. Fallon had no problem saying so. "That was amazing," she said, catching her breath slowly. There was no sign of the monster. Fallon didn't really check. She was too busy staring wide-eyed at Virgo. Where did this girl get that power? A mixture of awe, jealousy, and desire spun in Fallon's stomach as she tried to make sense of the past few minutes.

Gingerly, she crouched to set her bag down, which had thankfully survived their quick exit. "What are..." she began, words coming slowly, "you?" She touched lightly at her cheek. "And what was that?" Fallon was in France for most of the news coverage of the senshi/negaverse situation, sparse as it was, and though she had heard bits and pieces of it here and there, she was by no means an expert. It took her a few seconds to even fathom that this girl could be one of them.

When Virgo fell, Fallon made no move to catch her. There was no way she would have been fast enough anyway. Would Virgo judge her for not trying to catch her? Several moments too late, Fallon jutted her hands out as if to help. "Oh, whoops," she said, moving her bag to the side. "Sorry, I'm not as fast as you." Clearly.

With Virgo on the ground, Fallon felt a little funny towering above her. She looked down to the roof. Yeah. No way was she sitting on it. A foot away the covered remains of what might have once been a chimney jutted out of the roof. A level of new metal covered the top. Fallon crossed over to it and took a seat, crossing one leg over the other and eying the senshi with increasing interest. In the mad dash from the monster, Fallon didn't get a chance to really pay attention to the glowing, but now, it seemed radiant. She kind of wanted to touch it. Would it feel warm?

And this girl was called Sailor Virgo, the senshi of innocence. Hm. It was both appealing and confusing to Fallon. She quirked her head to one side. Senshi. The word sounded familiar... but from where? She scanned her head for a moment and then suddenly snapped her fingers. "Senshi? The 'enchanted' schoolgirls that have been spotted in Destiny City. Right, I saw that on the news, but I... I thought it was kind of a joke," she said, resting one hand on top of the other. It was easy to pass off the news reports as a joke when you weren't staring face-to-face with a glowing angel savior thing. "The empire waist line suits you," she added, dipping her chin forward.

Now that they weren't running, it was much easier for Fallon to look at Virgo. She was pretty -- and glowing -- and well-dressed, even if it was weird. Plus, you know, there was the whole she just saved my life from something called a youma bit too. The word sounded foreign, but the creature looked foreign. Sitting next to a super hero as she was, Fallon found her willingness to believe reaching brand new heights. "I'm not the type to hang out in a place like that," she confirmed, eyes searching Virgo's face for some kind of familiarity. The glowing girl spoke as if she knew Fallon, but no matter what angle she looked at, she only saw a stranger. "I was about to head back to my new school, and then out of nowhere I felt a strange tingling in my neck and shoulders. Foreign feeling." As she recalled the strange events, Fallon reached up to touch her neck, trying to remember the feeling. It wasn't something she had felt before, and it was nagging. Now -- it was gone. How strange. "I just kept walking until I reached that alley and then... that thing came." She paused, sliding the fingers of her left hand over the palm of her right.

"How did you know I was there?"

Sailor Virgo had an easy pleasantness about her that made Fallon feel calm. Having run from danger only minutes ago, Fallon was able to laugh at the senshi's joke and smile at her erratic up-and-down posture. It was nice, a little rooftop girl time. It was almost easy to forget that there was a glowing superhuman creature prowling the streets of Destiny City at night.

Almost.

When Virgo stood, so did Fallon, grabbing her bags. "English is my first language, but not by much. I speak French too," she said, turning to look over her shoulder. Crystal Academy was in the opposite direction. "If you don't mind the walk, yes, I would appreciate it. I'm not sure I could stand up to that thing on my own." The cat-youma would not leave her mind, how it charged relentlessly after taking a nasty blow from something so much larger than it. That kind of tenacity was admirable, very useful even.

"I used to go to..." Fallon let her words trail off. Barren Pines was still a blight on her memory, and a painful one. She didn't want to bring it up now. "...a school in France. Um. Now I go to Crystal Academy, over that way." She pointed a painted nail over the rooftops.

Fallon glanced back to Virgo, her face illuminated by the soft glow. A question struck her lips before she was aware of saying it. "That glowing can't be beneficial," she said, "even if it is pretty. Doesn't it make you very conspicuous?

Fallon would have leapt into Virgo's arms if the senshi had asked it of her. She might even prefer it that way, to be carted around town in the arms of girl smaller than her. It was a bizarre thing to see a girl have so much power. How old was Virgo? Was this all some part of her magic? Too many questions were rushing to Fallon's lips, and for a second, she tried to say them all at once. Not so effective.

Instead, Fallon reached out took Sailor Virgo's hand with a smile, following wherever she led like some kind of homeless puppy. She listened to Virgo with the wide-eyes of a kid in a candy store. All of this power was in Destiny City. How had this girl harnessed it? How had that black monster been created? Curiosity crept up Fallon's spine bit by bit until she felt compelled to ask the words she was having a bit of trouble organizing.

"Negaverse," Fallon parroted, sad to be out of Virgo's arms. Normally, it was the brunette teenager who did all the holding and carrying. It was sort of nice to have roles switched on her, a change that even Fallon herself was surprised did not make her controlling nature go haywire. "I've heard that term, but I don't know what it means." Slowly, Fallon started to walk toward Crystal Academy, being sure to keep pace with the glowing girl beside her.

Fallon nodded along with Virgo, trying to process all the things that she was saying. Her only addition was a quizzical, "Starseeds?" chasing quickly after the glowing girl's words. It was so much to process at once, and Fallon had to be very careful not to overload herself with anxiety. If someone had just been telling her this at school, she would have called them crazy. But as she was talking to a super strong glowing schoolgirl who had just saved her from some mythical ooze beast, Fallon was able to suspend her disbelief. Even so, it was hard to picture something stronger than Virgo. What else was out there?

Letting the silence take hold, Fallon trailed along obediently, her heels clicking against the paved street. She laughed along with Virgo, eyes dropping to her skirt. "You pull off the mini-skirt well. I vote you steer clear of pants in general," Fallon said, quirking a very friendly grin. Very friendly.

The cold air was hardly noticeable to Fallon. She was dressed for it, and this situation was far too interesting for her mind to wander anywhere else. "Oh, yes, I did get off track," she said, shaking her head. "I hadn't planned to deviate from my schedule. I hardly do. Hardly ever."

The taller girl pursed her lips, trying to give shape to the words she wanted to say. How could she explain a feeling that she didn't even understand herself? "I had just turned to head back to Crystal Academy when I felt a strange... sensation. I am fairly in tune with my body, but this wasn't anything I could place. It was a prickling, a coolness, a feeling of being watched. It started in my shoulders, but spread along the length of my arms." The words she said felt stupid, and Fallon laughed to try and smooth it over. Perhaps if she laughed, Virgo might think it was a joke if it seemed too crazy. "Before I knew what I was doing, I had followed it all the way to that alley where it felt the strongest." Her words trailed off at the end, her confidence slipping.

Switching the bag to her other arm, Fallon tried to ease what she presumed to be an awkward moment with another laugh. She smiled over to Virgo and said, "Perhaps I should see a doctor, right?"

Fallon did not inquire further about the starseeds. With all of the confusion darting around in her skull, it was one drop in a bucket. No sooner had she wondered what they were and then she was puzzling over something else. It was quickly forgotten.

When Sailor Virgo joked, Fallon smiled. Moments ago, she was running for her life. Now she was joking with a superhero. Life really was funny, wasn't it? Especially her life. She was a bit biased. There was little time to ruminate on the lightheartedness of the joke. Virgo moved into serious territory with a hairpin turn. Don't follow it? Fallon wasn't certain she could resist. It was such an odd sensation that it made a normally not curious girl run headlong into danger. And those creatures... they were so intriguing. How were they created? Were they made by the same magic that made Sailor Virgo? Fallon had no desire to meet one on her own again, but if she could observe one from the safety of a rooftop, it would be well worth the risk.

Regardless, she nodded at Sailor Virgo as if she agreed completely. "I won't follow it," she said, knowing in her heart this was a complete lie. Fallon didn't have a death wish, but her curiosity won out. It was a first. "How do you find a senshi? Is there a bat signal for you all?" All. How many were there? Right now, was there another senshi running across the rooftops above them? It was as if a whole world had been ripped open for Fallon in the span of fifteen minutes.

Her eyes bounced over to Sailor Virgo who looked pensive. "Something on your mind?" she asked.