Welcome to Gaia! ::

For Kurma, it wasn't quite as much of a workout to go on patrol. Beyond that, it would be difficult to argue that what he did would actually count as a "patrol." Whenever he went out he mostly drifted (literally) around and above the fringes of the city, and watch as people and animals and vehicles moved around. He never went after negaversers or youma. Sometimes he stopped to chat with people. Other times he was too distracted to be stopped. And with the seasons in Destiny City transitioning from one to the next -- a phenomenon which he had never gotten to witness very often -- there were suddenly a lot more distractions to hold his attention.

Such was the case here, in which he wasn't initially seeking out any senshi at all. He had been following birds. In light of the warming weather, Destiny City's parks as well as its more urban areas had witnessed a blossoming of various fauna, and there was something particularly endearing to him about the hoppy, chirpy flying things that had started springing up everywhere. The fact that they could take to the skies was a definite plus, but his favorite thing about them had ended up being that he could get them to talk back if he whistled at them just right.

So, Sailor Vindemiatrix's unexpected visitor was marked by neither the noise of approaching footsteps, nor the sight of the glowing glass buoy the man always carried. Instead, there was a more human-sounding whistling intermingling with the occasional call of birds who apparently had things to complain about at this time of night, before he sauntered into view.

He could never quite get the birds to come close to him, or at least stay around and chat for a little while. No matter how harmless he tried to look or how carefully he approached, they always scattered and flew away once he touched over the invisible boundary they had for themselves. But tonight would be different. Kurma had a plan. This time he was equipped with a pack of sunflower seeds he'd picked up from the gas station.

There was a crinkling of plastic as he tore it open, emptying the contents into the palm of his hand -- which he then extended towards a tree branch a few of the birds had retreated to, quietly whistling at them all the while. It took a moment or two's worth of attempts before he was able to make any headway with them. Soon enough, though, one of them had tentatively hopped and fluttered its way over to his hand, perching on the tips of his fingers and digging its beak into the small pile of free food it had been offered.

By the time Vindemiatrix's voice had caught Kurma's attention, he was grinning as if his new animal companion had turned out to be carrying a winning lottery ticket.

"You know, I don't think I've ever had to answer that question as many times as I do nowadays," he mused, though seemingly mostly to the bird or himself. But then he turned around and drifted over to the rooftop, the tips of his boots scraping lightly against the shingles as he considered the senshi standing a ways away from him. "I've picked up a few names in my time, but I usually end up going by Kurma. It's easier that way. I won't mind if you come up with something better, though."

He flicked a couple of empty seed shells off of his palm so the bird would have an easier time snacking, and then turned his eyes back to the senshi again. "So, then. You're Sailor who, Senshi of what?"

Good news: the scan feature of the senshi phone successfully entered Kurma into Sailor Vindemiatrix's contact list. This meant, at least, that he was always a phone call away if whatever services provided were ever needed.

Bad news: having Kurma in his contact list did not reveal anything else about him, except perhaps that the man was passingly amused by the cheerful little boop! noise the phone made. He stopped grinning like a kid in a candy store at the bird perched on his fingers for just long enough to grin in a similar fashion at the device in the senshi's hands.

"Yup," he answered lackadaisically, using his free hand to crack a seed open so he could see if he could get the bird to take a treat straight from his fingers. The operation a success, he drifted a little ways closer to Vin and offered him a second packet of sunflower seeds to see if he wanted to give it a try. "Wine, huh? Sounds like fun."

Kurma's attentioned turned to Vin as he fumbled with the seed packet. Really, the man could sympathize: those things were such a pain to open. He spent a moment wondering why people on this planet made such a habit out of putting food in such obnoxious packaging. Wasn't eating supposed to be simple and enjoyable? What, then, was the deal with all of the elaborations and overcomplications? It had taken Cosmos a painstaking bit of effort to explain the importance of silverware and napkins before--

Oh. He'd been asked a question.

"I just told you my name," he answered, his brow furrowing a bit. "Or -- wait, lemme guess, you're asking the other who question, right?" The orb at his side was brought up by the thin rope it was dangling from, and Kurma gazed into its surface for a little while, as if looking for the answer within the soft starlight-like glow. As he pondered, his hand went to his side and the little pile of seeds fell with it. The birds were quick to approach Vin as their new source of easy snacking.

His eyes stayed steady on his netted orb, his other hand coming up to grasp it as well. "My life isn't tied up with that of planets," he started. "Yours is. So it's not a question of how I can fly, but how you can walk. I can settle down if it would make talking to me easier, though."

Kurma looked puzzled. It may have said something about him that his expression was currently closely mirroring that of someone who was slightly tipsy. He crossed his arms in front of him, and in spite of his offer earlier, sat himself in midair.

"I'm not from any planet at all, kiddo," he answered. "I don't belong to any specific place. And..." Then he paused, and pondered for a moment, a hand running through the loose bits of hair hanging over the side of his face. "Don't think I've ever seen a senshi fly, actually. But as I said, you got a place, just like every senshi does. Speaking of which, when's the last time you checked yours out?"

"Don't worry about the flying bit too much, it's not all it's cracked up to be," answered Kurma. And then, as if on cue, he touched down on the roof -- tapping the toes of his boots against the shingles experimentally, then settling down on it all the way in a lopsided lotus position. "Then again, I just don't get a good chance to walk around very often."

He shrugged. Who knew.

"Anyway," he continued, swiveling his head around to face the senshi a bit more directly, "you're a lucky kid, you know, to have all those places. This planet, your house... on top of those two, you got one you haven't been to since the last time you woke up, I take it. Vindemiatrix is your place too." He flashed a small grin. "How else do you think you got that name?"

"Yes, it's a star beyond this system... or at least it is last I checked," mused Kurma, tossing his ball in his hands a couple of times. "You'd know better than I would. And... yes, it is your star. The star Vindemiatrix shares a close bond with you, and that is what allows you to be a senshi."

The man leaned backward, folding his hands behind his head and ultimately ended up lying down on the rooftop next to the senshi, his half-lidded gaze pointed at the night sky above them. "It's also your old home... before you lived here on Earth, you lived there. You should try stopping by there again sometime."