Welcome to Gaia! ::

Every so often, she got permission to visit her boyfriend and stay the night after a patrol. These were always good nights--she really adored spending time with Grayson, and it was cozy and comfortable to snuggle up in his arms after a few hours of running around the city like a chicken with her head cut off. Nothing she'd rather do, actually, than tuck herself under the covers with him and doze off.

Unfortunately, there was going to be a bit of a delay. Because up above her head, the Zodiac Captain could hear another person ascending the fire escape--and they didn't sound like they were very okay. She sighed, and gave a longing look to Grayson's window. "I'll be back down," she promised it, although it looked like her boyfriend might not even be home yet.

Poor darling.

She ascended the rickety iron staircase two steps at a time, as quietly as she could, and managed to snag the back of the long white coat. Senshi, her senses were saying. This was definitely a senshi she was manhandling, right here. "Themis," she said after a moment, finally placing him. He'd been there at the battle where the traitor-prince had shown up. He'd upgraded. "Is everything okay," she asked, tiptoeing around to his side.

He didn't look very good. Of course, the fact that he clattered up the stairs like something was chasing him kind of clued her in even more than otherwise. He really didn't look happy, she thought, her brow furrowing in concern. Poor Themis looked more troubled than... someone who was very, very troubled. Maybe he was having Home Problems? But he lived alone, didn't he? She didn't know exactly who he was, just that he lived in the apartment above Grayson.

Maybe Leo would know his civilian identity?

"Not really," she echoed, sounding saddened. "D'you want to talk about it? Is it senshi things? I can help with senshi things!" She brightened up considerably, green eyes crinkling a bit at the corners as she patted his shoulder. "If it's girlfriend things, I'm a girlfriend so I can help there too, I think."

She paused, thinking about it. Was this a good situation to make a joke? ... She didn't think so. Instead, she took the edge of Themis's sleeve gently and tugged him up the rest of the fire escape, onto the roof proper. "C'mon. Spill. What's wrong?"

Senshi things! Oh, Virgo could help with senshi things, she knew all about them. The fact that it was something inherently normal for people like them cheered her immensely, and she smiled as she settled herself on the edge of the roof. She sat here with Leo sometimes, and if her hand tightened in Themis's coat it was just because she was thinking of that. Virgo was not afraid of heights. Not at all.

"That's okay," she said, smiling encouragingly. "Once I sat up aaaaall night with our Guardian Cat talking about things. If he can be that patient with me, I can be that patient with you." Especially since she actually liked Themis! She had never been convinced that Zue actually liked her and didn't just deal with her because Chronos loved her--in this life or the one before it. And since she'd awoken, she hadn't seen Zue at all...

She sighed, and patted Themis's shoulder with the hand that wasn't clinging to the sleeve of his coat. "Besides, it's the Zodiac's duty to protect and defend. The first rule is to serve, you know--that's how it's been since time began."

She watched Themis carefully, green eyes wide. A hassle? Oh, sometimes it could be inconvenient to have to be a senshi and protect everyone. Sometimes she just wanted to be a normal teenager with nothing to worry about but who she was taking to prom and how she was going to pass her science classes. But it was never a hassle, not to her... She slowly uncurled the fist in his coat, shifted up to her knees so she could give her friend a hug (they were definitely friends, they were confiding in each other). "Don't worry, Themis," she said, smiling a little bit encouragingly. Even if he didn't look, she liked to think he could hear the smile in her voice and it would help reassure him.

"First, you can tell your dad. As long as he knows he can't tell anyone, you'll be perfectly safe! The henshin glamor makes you impossible to find between civilian and senshi forms, so you'd have to transform in front of him. But I did that with my daddies. Nothing bad happened." That was the easiest thing to address, after all! Of course, Themis's dad might not approve of his son being a warrior of light and justice. She would address that if it was a concern, too. There were things she could help with everywhere, after all! Nothing was hopeless!

Except the things that were. She listened silently to the rest of his confession, still hugging on him with the side of her head resting against his shoulder. She could understand his worries. She had almost died more times than she could count, and had actually died once. ... Twice, that she could remember. The blonde bit her lip and patted Themis's knee. These all sounded like how she would feel if she was in the White Moon. Cut loose, without guidance or someone to care... that was why she always advocated being in a team! Poor Themis... poor White Moon senshi...

She sighed a little bit. "You don't have to kill, Themis," she said, reaching back into her memory. The Zodiacs had always been killers, she supposed, warriors against Chaos--although she had never actually killed a Negaverser herself. Virgo's duty was to protect. "You're talking about the Blood Moon Court and what they did, aren't you?" Poor Leto. Virgo wondered how she was doing... she'd seemed like such a good girl, except...

"What they did was wrong. It was not what senshi do. We are beacons of light, we bring justice and fight evil. And if you don't want to kill Negaversers, you shouldn't have to." Virgo, of course, wanted to choke the life out of any agent that so much as looked at a Zodiac. It didn't even have to be a funny look. She knew she would regret it after she did it, but the desire was still there--she was the Captain. She would protect her Zodiacs like Aries never did.

Then Themis brought up his planet, and that Kurma person. Virgo didn't like him very much, didn't trust him--you were with the senshi or against them, and Kurma's affectation of neutrality set her teeth on edge. "You've been to your planet? Tell me, what was it like?" She smiled, drawing back a little and settling into place with all the interest of a child waiting for a story from a beloved older brother.

"He's in danger just because he's here. Knowing about you won't put him in any more danger. And you have pockets! Just bring your cell phone along just in case." She smiled a little bit. Virgo, of course, did not have pockets. She trusted to the safety net of the henshin glamour, as she always had. No one knew that they could associate Arthur and Van Graves with Soldier Virgo. That was the same security that Themis's father have, and he got a reassuring squeeze for his trouble.

She settled, palms flat on the roof behind her. Themis wouldn't let her fall, so she would be okay. "It wasn't right," she said, her tone stern. "The Zodiacs never have done anything like that and we've been fighting Chaos for as long as there has been a Sol System." Longer, actually, if she thought about it. There were no memories of Virgo-that-was in her head, of the ruined palace that had become overrun by Chaos now, surely. Just stories she'd heard once--from Huben, to Arista, stories Arista hadn't gotten to hear--

The blonde senshi settled forward, closing her eyes. The picture took form almost easily, and her green eyes flew open. "I know you," she said, excited. "Or I did!" she leaned forward, grabbing onto the sleeves of his jacket. What was his name, oh, what was it--what--"It was a--" She didn't remember much, just--a man with pointed ears and it was important because she'd been called back to the Surrounding because of a Chaos invasion and she'd almost died protecting Huben--

"Ooh," she said, hopping up and pacing on the rooftop. "Oh, oh, oh..."

She stopped pacing. "You look different, without the ears," she said, pausing, her hands falling to her sides for a moment before she gestured at her own ears, round and olive-toned. "You had pointed ears, and you were really pale, and--blue. A lot of blue. We were talking about..."

Frustrated, Virgo stomped one foot on the roof of the building, hands fisted at her sides. Why couldn't she remember? Any number of Chaos battles, all her training, she remembered that perfectly. But the things she wanted to know... things like what Past Themis had been like... those slipped her mind in a haze. "...Mentoring..."

The green-eyed senshi dropped to the ground, tucked her greaved knees up to her chest. "I don't think you were ever a warrior. You didn't come with us to the Surrounding..." No condemnation. "It's better that you didn't, though. You could have died, and that would have never been any good."

She looked out over the city now, at all the bright lights. If she didn't look down, she was fine. Every light, she thought, was a human life--a life that she was sworn to protect by virtue of being who and what she was.

"Okay," she said, bending down to take his hands. "We can do that! You could show me how these cell phones work, I only got one very recently and haven't learned a lot about it yet. And..."

She thought back. Couldn't think of Themis's past name still: So she'd do the next best thing, in case Themis went back without her soon. "I was Arista," she said, digging in her heels to pull him up, once this name was confided. "I looked a lot like me but I was taller! And I had scars, and my hair was red. Keep an eye out, okay, Themis?)

She shrugged, a little embarrassed. "Astraea said that we couldn't have one since Zue wouldn't make them for us, but I guess that's changed? I don't mind. I almost died more times than I could count starting out because I didn't have one."

They walked towards the fire escape and dropped back onto it. "Okay. Goodnight, Themis! You can probably tell Leo when you need to talk to me, okay? He knows where to find me." Then she clattered down the stairs to Grayson's window, and finally clambered in. Time to sleep--or, well, pretend to sleep while staring at Grayson.