Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was early evening when she set out. The worst stuff probably showed up at night, Linnea had reasoned, so come the early darkness she'd grabbed her pen and henshined up and gone out walking. Lessons newly learned with Sailor Pollux had taught her to be wary of the ground, so she'd found a few ledges and made her way to the rooftops as soon as the opportunity presented itself. She wasn't as frightened by the height now, there was new strength in her limbs that seemed to come with her silly little skirt and butterfly-adorned shoes. Euanthe thought of Sailor Iris, who jumped so high and had such a powerful attack. Would Euanthe be able to jump stories like her some day?

For now she was just having enough trouble with the gaps between buildings. Some were small and easy, others even had planks put across them, but there were larger ones that frightened her. Gaps that would have been uncrossable if she were still just Linnea. But this was Euanthe. With more daring than was likely wise, she jumped the first... and barely reached the other side, collapsing on her landing. But she made it all the same, and after that they weren't so frightening.

Eventually she reached a gap that even as Euanthe she wasn't sure she wanted to try. With no choice but to descend she started down the nearest fire escape. It was halfway down that she felt the push of strange energy, an aura of something near by. But what? Euanthe had little experience with energy signatures - she'd faced a grand total of 2 youma and met just that many Senshi. It was hard to recall what they had felt like, because at the time she hadn't given it any thought, but Euanthe was sure this was different from both those feelings. Curiously, cautiously, she began in the direction of the unidentified thing. It involved climbing off the fire escape and onto a very rickety metal balcony that wrapped around the corner of her building, but it gave her a pretty good view from above the energy's source.

It was a man with a blue-lined coat. He was blue all over, actually, even his hair. She couldn't see his face for he seemed to be doing something with - what? - it glimmered in the darkness, whatever it was. Euanthe wanted to call out to him, but that energy... something kept her from doing so. Foe, it said. Why would he be an enemy, though? He wasn't a monster. But Pollux had mentioned something about- ... the military? What did he say...? Wracked with indecision and unable to recall whatever had sounded rather important, Euanthe found herself doing little more than peeking around the corner like some shy child.

Euanthe cocked her head slightly as he addressed her, never turning around. It wasn't like she was really hiding but somehow she felt a coward for not addressing him first. She'd never thought of herself as easily frightened but lately fear gripped her more often than she'd have liked. So now she steeled her nerves and called out to him.

"F- Fine, then. I'm pretty green, I'll admit it. I'm Euanthe. So... who are you?" She paused. No, that wasn't the right question. "What are you?"

Not a Senshi, not a youma. In her small world those were the only two players... until tonight, anyway. Immediately after she'd spoken her piece she realized she should have taken the second option and hightailed it out of there. There was something threatening about his nature, though he hadn't made any move toward her. It was that energy, it was powerful. She wasn't sure how she could tell, exactly. This Senshi gig had a steep learning curve and no instruction manual to boot, but at least this was as clear as day to her.

I should go, she thought. Yet curiosity killed the cat. Thank goodness she wasn't a cat (or so she hoped).

If the flaring sense of danger hadn't already made her wary his somewhat unfriendly manner would've done the trick. Still, he hadn't attacked her, and she found his remark on the matter to be fair. Whoever he was, Zinkenite seemed okay. She wasn't even sure if she could fight him - not taking into account power differences or experience, it was the simple fact that he was a person. A human being. Indirectly causing a scary monster to fall to its death was one thing and raising a hand against another person was quite another. And why should they have to fight?

But his pointed remarks about things 'off world' made her frown. "I don't see how it matters," Euanthe replied defensively. "We're not going to fight," if she was lucky, "and anyway, it's not a very useful... sphere." Even if he hadn't seemed dangerous, saying 'senshi of tragedy' was just so embarrassing that Euanthe wasn't sure she could have told him anyway.

"And another thing!" She stepped out from behind her corner, arms folded. It was a good thing she wasn't trying to be intimidating with the gesture, because Euanthe was so slight of frame that there was nothing intimidating about her. "I was born right here on Earth, thank you very much, and I've definitely never been 'off world,' so even though this Senshi thing is really weird I'm not- well, I don't think I'm really like... an alien. It's confusing."

She seemed to have run out of steam on that last bit, but Euanthe still managed to add, "and you still didn't tell me what you... do."

[[ Please forgive the delay, I forgot to put this in my bookmarks <__> ]]

"Blood?!" Euanthe wrinkled her nose. "Ew." She wondered how blood could possibly be useful aside from grossing someone out. But it was morbid and dangerous sounding and maybe that senshi's power was something really cool like... vampirism or whatever. Frost, though, she knew. "I've met Frost," she said with a small, involuntary smile. "He was very polite and kind." She wondered what Pollux would say about this man. Had they met under good circumstances, or bad? Would Pollux fight this man? Even though they both wanted to protect the earth? It seemed apparent that Zinkenite didn't really like Senshi, but was that enough to justify coming to blows?

"I don't know if it's so big and important as that," she replied quietly. "I just want to protect people from being hurt by monsters." People like her parents, her friends, people she'd never met, even. She wasn't sure what to say about the tea, so she just shrugged.

Castor, a loathsome person? "That's unfortunate," she said. And bad news, since Euanthe had also heard from Pollux that Castor was a prince. Who would want a loathsome prince? She tried to imagine what kind of person Castor might be, but Zinkenite's other remark was more pressing.

"I would say 'what the hell?'" Euanthe replied flatly, digesting that bit of information. "You're saying if there were no Senshi there'd be no monsters... but I wouldn't be a Senshi if it weren't for a monster." Well, maybe a Senshi all the same, but not an awakened one. Chicken and egg it truly was.

Though she'd long been too suspicious to take her eyes off him, she now felt relaxed enough to let her gaze wander as she added, thoughtfully, "Though I don't suppose it really matters to me who came first. As long as I can stop the youma from hurting people then I'm doing my job. And you're doing the same I suspect, if you're defending the earth as you claim to be."

That last bit was more a half-veiled question than anything else. A hopeful part of her wanted him to say yes, that he wasn't an enemy... just someone with different views on how to reach the same goal.

Euanthe couldn't hide the growing look of horror on her face as Zinkenite recounted for her the crimes of the Senshi. She... she couldn't believe what she was hearing. People like her, doing all that? Kids like her? She tried to imagine Sailor Iris or Pollux, throats slit and slitting the throats of others... "No," she said aloud, refusing the thought. Willing the image out of her mind. No, it couldn't be. This was about fighting monsters, about... protecting people, and-

Go home, he wanted. "But," she said in a quiet, horrified squeak. Hardly a strong protest at all. "But this is home."

Euanthe wanted to like him. Well, she wasn't sure she even disliked him - he was clearly reasonable and capable of sympathy. It was unfortunate, she acknowledged, that they were enemies... yes, they were enemies. That was what it was all coming down to. Then it clicked.

"You send the monsters," she breathed, horrified, "because you want us to leave." Anger flared within her. "You- your side, whatever it is - how could you put innocent people in danger just to-"

She stopped herself, hands clenched into fists, drawing in a breath... An effort to formulate an actual sentence rather than just blurt out enraged fragments. Euanthe began again, slowly.

"I don't know what happened to my planet, or wherever my 'real' home is supposed to be. Maybe it's the place I'm truly meant to be. But my family, the people who love me, are here, and so long as they're in danger I'm not going to leave. I'll stay here and fight to protect them."


[[ aaaaghhhhh another post that took forever I'm sorry D':
I had this half written up but I got dragged away from my computer for a week and I left my password for Mundane Egg at home, so naturally I couldn't finish and post it. I thought 'oh, it'd be really weird and creepy if I used the shop mule to let her know' so I couldn't even tell you till now <____> ]]