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Sailor Neso was sitting on the ledge of a roof near Crystal Academy, swinging his legs as if it were a dock and the sun was out and shining. He even had a popsicle in his hand, which he nibbled at between kicks of his legs. The senshi of spring, the lovely Flora, sat beside him. She did not have a popsicle, but he repeatedly offered her licks of his, to which she responded with a raised eyebrow and a negative shake of the head. This whole patrolling thing was new to Neso, but with Flora at his side, he felt much more comfortable.

The popsicles helped.

The past week had been a bad one, which gave Neso indigestion. He could not explain this phenomenon, but whenever things got sad, Neso felt sick. He believed that this was proof that he was a creature born to be happy, and to bring happiness to the world around him. It was a little hard to do that when all of his friends (from this life and his last) kept dying.

First, Sagittarius (who he had not been around for) and now Leo and Virgo (who he had). Neso could not handle sadness. It didn't sit right on him. He could only hold the others while they cried, all the while suggesting that they rent some movies and order pizza until Hero looked at him like she was going to free his head from his body gratis to keep him from talking. So he shut up.

Blue-green eyes moved to Flora. She looked considerably less at ease than him, but that had much to do with the fact that Flora was significantly more mature than Neso and much more in tune with the gravity of the current Zodiac situation. It was no secret that both were worried about the Princess; they just showed it in different ways. For Neso, he ate popsicles and suggested massage circles.

"Are you sure you don't want any?" he asked, extending the popsicle to her. "I can go back to the apartment and get you your own. Boreas won't mind sharing his frozen treat loot." The senshi of winter and senshi of summer had moved in together before either of them knew about their past life, or that of their roommate's. Neso believed it was a grand cosmic event worthy of much attention. Most of the others just humored his pontification.

Before she had a chance to answer, Neso plopped it back in his mouth and said, "I think we should throw a party for the Princess." There was no pretense. Neso just sort of said it, out of nowhere. "I can make balloon animals." In Neso-speak, this was his way of saying Princess Chronos is sad and we need to fix it. Of course, he couldn't just come out and say it. That would be acknowledging the sadness in the first place.

The party idea was as quickly forgotten as it had been mentioned. If Bo did end up having some kind of get together, it would be unplanned and off the cuff anyway. Chronos would like that, wouldn't she? If it was planned, there would be time to fret, or to tell him not to do it. These were things the senshi of summer didn't fixate on at the moment. His popsicle was far more engrossing.

Blue green eyes hopped back up to Flora's face. "Senshi is as senshi does," he mused, shrugging. "It's better now that I'm with you." He turned to smile at her, playfulness in his eyes. "Even if I can't remember much of the past." Neso shrugged, rolling all the stiffness (what little of it there was) out of his shoulders.

The whole 'past life' thing was interesting to Neso, but he didn't really do much to actively seek out his memories. They came to him in fits and spurts. When he was first reunited with Flora, he opened his arms to give her a hug and a sudden spark of memory flooded his head. It was a history of hugging her zipping through his brain like fire across a line of gasoline. The Zodiacs had more complete pictures, but Neso didn't mind his pastiche of memory and blank spots. It felt like less pressure.

He kept his smile lit on Flora and chewed at the tip of the popsicle. "You're much better at the senshi thing than me. So I'll just follow your lead, Captain." Neso gave her a mock salute. "What are we doing tonight? Just sitting here?" It was no secret that Neso could not be trusted to patrol on his own. If someone wasn't with him, chances were he was sitting on a rooftop somewhere taking pictures in his full fuku and ignoring everything else.

Neso was busy staring at a cloud of smog rising over a tree and wishing he had his camera -- too busy to listen to the first part of what Flora said. He caught the end though, and that was what mattered. "You look like a captain to me, Captain. Suits you." He reached up and flicked at one end of her hair.

When Flora stood, Neso followed suit, albeit a touch slower. He stretched up to his full height of six feet, five inches, easily towering over the girl he had just proclaimed his clear superior. It didn't matter. Neso never thought that the outside mattered more than the inside. Or something. He'd read it on a bumper sticker and filed it easily into his folder of mantras for life.

Strolling across the edge of the rooftop, Neso kept a lazy smile on his face, lips humming a lulling tune. "I wonder where Boreas is. I think it would cheer the Princess up to have us all together, one big happy family." Minus the dead ones, but Neso didn't say this. "I could do portraits of us all for a gift for her. I could make a collage and give it to her at our party." Apparently, Neso was still counting on a raging party as a cure-all for his woesick Princess.

He hopped down from the roof's ledge, landing in front of Flora with his hands splayed on either side. "What do you think? She'll like it, right?" Neso just wanted to see Chronos smile again. He could spend hours wondering about just what they should do, even if none of it came to fruition.

Bo's balance wasn't so great. He teetered on the ledge like a weeble wobble, arms held out at his sides for wavering weight. The senshi of summer didn't seem phased by his precarious position, but continued to stumble along the ledge as he spoke to Flora. "I don't know if that's how they do it, but they should. It's not just the look. It's the ambiance." Neso spun to a stop and held his fingers out to frame Flora's face. "Yep. Ambiance. You're dripping in it." He would probably say the same thing to Carpo and Boreas and mean it just the same.

With a lazy flourish, Neso hopped down toward Flora, a grin lounging on his face. It didn't dim when she mentioned the death, but he glossed over it. "I think everyone would come to a party. I think my roommate would be cool if I invited a bunch of friends over. I make good punch. I could have a photobooth where everyone gets a photo taken, and it gets put on my wall in a big collage." He paused, one hand scratching the other. "Chronos would like that, right?" It sounded more like stuff Neso would like, but he largely assumed that everyone liked what he did.

The end of the roof was up ahead, and Neso stopped at the ledge, peering down. He let out a long whistle. The roof-climbing was still new to him. Popping back up, he canted his head, eyes cool, and said, "It's so good to be with you again, Flor. Even if I can't remember it all. I know it's good to be with you."

Sailor Neso could never say 'no' to hand-holding. A warm grin spread across his lips like a rising sun. He reached for Sailor Flora's fingertips, lacing his fingers with her own.

"You know," he said, eyes glassy, "I think you have gotten more beautiful in our time apart. I didn't think it was possible, but you have. You're like a painting from a place I can't remember anymore. I just know that I like it." The gloss in his eyes smoothed into a sheen, like stars, and he let his smile warm the pallid hue of her skin.

Flora had always been a comfort to him.

With his love radiating outward, Sailor Neso turned his face back to the open sky and, with a giggling chuckle, flung himself forward from the building, hand tightly clasping Flora's. It was a slow fall, padded lightly by the extra strength in his knees. His was tall, ridiculously so, and his gangly legs wiggled beneath him. The landing was still easy -- surprisingly so.

Sailor Neso was caught in a torrent of happiness, and he couldn't hold it in. Reaching out, he caught Sailor Flora in his muscled arms and spun her in an abrupt circle. "Everything will be all right!" he shouted, spinning and spinning until he saw twinkling lights.

Only then did he set the senshi of spring back on the ground.

(( Hey, Mel! Since this was an OT thread and Tartaros is now done, do you want to maybe just wrap it up as a normal, happy-go-lucky, no-danger RP? I definitely want to do another RP with them in the future, but this one is old. omg it is starting to smell ))




After spending so many months completely ignoring that small fuzzy kitty's revelation that he was some kind of magical thing, Neso was -- perhaps for the first time -- actually enjoying it. Reconnecting with Andeon had been a blast, as had meeting back up with his girls from all those ages past. Still, there was something about palling around with Flora that made the world glow.

And as the Senshi of Summer, Neso was kind of big on warm glows.

The sun was warm and strong, and Neso had never felt so powerful in all his life. His eyes moved to Flora. "Man, can you feel that?" He took a step away from her and stretched his arms out on either side of his body. It was nighttime, but he could still feel how close the sun was to them, how the earth bubbled with heat. "This is going to be... the Best. Summer. EVER."

Sailor Neso spun in a circle and went for a high-five.

The gang was back together, wasn't it? Okay, so maybe Neso hadn't actually gotten to see Boreas or Carpo yet, but just knowing they were here and okay was enough for him. He didn't exactly remember their past lives either, but when he looked at Flora, he felt like he saw two people looking back at him. It was something he couldn't exactly explain, not that he tried to do so.

Neso was perfectly happy to say "it is what it is" and move right along with life.

Or in this case, ice cream.

"Patrolling, right," he said, nodding sharply. Deep blue eyes snuck over to Flora. There was a glimmer of mischief, but not enough time to react. In a flash, Neso darted forward and scooped Flora up in his arms and attempted to wriggle her on to his back. "Piggyback-patrol!" he shouted.

The senshi of spring was given little time to hang on before Sailor Neso was off, galloping around like he was a six year old, not a 6'5" man. They would do a quick patrol, followed by a longer ice cream break, followed by an even longer walk home. All the while, Neso smiled. It was what he did best.

C'est la vie.