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Europa liked Perseus, even though she'd never spoken to her at length, because Perseus was smart. That alone was enough to get her into Europa's good graces. Although they'd never managed to formally be introduced or patrol together, exposure at meetings and through work on the senshi database was enough to convince Europa that if she wanted to get an outside opinion about her plants from anyone, Perseus would be a good place to start.

She paced the alley nervously, waiting for the other scout to show. Europa was running ahead of schedule - usual for her - but she was anxious to hit the stars. She hadn't managed to check on whether anything had sprouted before inviting Perseus to come see what she was working on, but the anticipation was killing her. Not that she'd be terribly crushed if nothing had grown, but if anything had sprouted - the implications of growing plants on a foreign world was just astounding.

The senshi of the deep paused in her pacing and studied the end of the alley. Although she could not be certain, the shadows out on the street were moving and stretching like someone was approaching. "Sailor Perseus?" she called hopefully. She was eager to get going, and the sooner her companion got there the sooner they could go check on her progress.

"I've been well!" smiled Europa. Busy, but then busy was what she did best. She was glad Perseus was finally here - it meant that they could get started. "I've been working on a little project on my moon that I want you to see," she added. Well, it had the potential to be a much bigger project... that was what tonight was about! Europa was under the impression that Perseus was a girl with connections all over the senshi faction - if her labors were bearing sweet fruits, as they said, Europa would want to spread the news as efficiently as possible.

"I haven't been back since I set it up," she explained, "But it should be clear right away if it's possible or not - I picked plants that are all very fast growers and not very picky about conditions." She pulled out her senshi phone, clicked a few buttons, and extended a hand towards Perseus.

"Anyways," she said, wrapping her fingers delicately around the other scout's wrist. "Why don't we get going, and you can tell me if you think it's worth trying on other homeworlds?"

Preferably they'd get under way before it got much later. For example, now seemed like a good time! Europa closed her eyes and concentrated, remembering Kurma's lessons. Dial the universe. Pressing the center button on her phone, Europa sent herself and Perseus hurtling through space.

Europa opened her eyes tentatively when they reached her moon. The greenhouse was bathed in golden light from the gas giant overhead, but it took her a moment to orient herself and find the aisle where she'd left her growing rig. "Come on!" she said, trembling with excitement as she waved for Perseus to follow her over.

Europa's trellis had erupted with curly, green, bean shoots. The scout knelt to examine the plants, lifting their tangled stems delicately to look at leaves and cotelydons. Did they look like the control group she had planted on her windowsill? Almost certainly, just less orderly. Time would tell if these plants stayed healthy, but sprouting lima beans in the light of an alien world was most definitely possible.

"Well?" asked Europa, turning to look at Perseus. "What do you think?"

Europa was positively beaming, her smile stretching nearly from ear to ear as she tended to her plants. "I brought the seeds from earth, but the water and light is all from here," she explained, gesturing to the complex network of pipes that ran along the ceiling. "I got the idea from the pipes - it's basically the same technique they used to use."

She got to her feet and checked the water reservoir on her rig - nearly empty. Getting more ice was definitely a priority. "I haven't seen all of Europa, honestly," she admitted, feeling justified in that it was sort of massive - a three-thousand kilometer diameter was nothing compared to the gas giant it orbited, but it was nothing to sniff at when some Senshi belonged to asteroids the length of football fields.

"I think this was a palace or capitol of some kind." The senshi of the deep gestured to the ornate, scrolling ironwork and golden glass that surrounded them. "The whole building's very art nouveau..."

Gesturing for Perseus to follow, she made her way towards a pair of double doors at the far end of the greenhouse. "The surface is sort of just like how NASA talks about it... Cold. Icy. Brace yourself."

She flung the doors open. There was a momentary blast of cold air, and then, once the pressure equalized, stillness - and the icy blue-rust plains of Europa stretched before them. Sailor Europa was already out the door.

"I've got to get some ice!" she called, crunching her way around the side of the building. She gave Perseus a look like she expected the other scout to follow. "You coming?"

"I'd sort of..." Europa hesitated, loading up her arms with chunks of ice. "I don't know how Art Nouveau could really be cribbing off Europa... it came so much later." It was mainly a nineteenth-century style, wasn't it? Perhaps it was more coincidence than anything. "It is gorgeous, though!" she had to agree. In her opinion she hadn't even shown Perseus the best parts.

With her free hand, Europa gestured to a rise on the horizon. "There's a little village over that way, I think," she said, trying to remember the geography of her first trip. "The capital city is behind the palace, but I haven't done much exploring there." She added a few last chunks of ice to her pile and started back towards the doors, nodding for Perseus to follow. If she was hurrying, it wasn't because she was trying to be short with the other scout but because she was cold.

"I mean, Europa's nearly as big as Earth's moon," she called, walking briskly back through the greenhouse. Europa unloaded the chunks of ice one by one into the funnel on her rig. "I'd be really surprised if there aren't other cities, but I haven't gone looking for them yet."

The senshi of the deep gave her jerry-rigged aeroponics lab a quick look-over, just to make sure everything was in working order (from her limited knowledge of plumbing and botany, it looked to be). "What do you think of my project?" she asked, smiling at Perseus. "Do you think this is something we could try on other homeworlds? I'll show you around the palace if you think you've got time."

"I'm growing mostly beans right now," supplied Europa. Anyone who'd passed the second grade knew that beans grew quickly and in practically any conditions you threw them at. "But I'm hoping to get the real system running." She gestured to the old metal pipes that ran above their heads. They didn't appear to be in too bad a shape, but she wanted to get someone with a bit more plumbing know-how out here. Too bad kidnapping plumbers and taking them to space wasn't really an option!

"Growing food someone would actually be able to survive off of is obviously my long-term goal," she continued, crossing the room towards the interior doors. She waved Perseus over. "But I think I'm pretty far away from that, and even if I managed to do it I doubt there'd be anyone to live here... I'd probably just use it as my Batcave. Anyways, I'll just show you the highlights, right?"

She quirked a smile and pushed the doors open, waving the other senshi along into the hallway beyond. It was long and narrow and the paneling far plainer than in the greenhouse, but it still had the same touches of Art Nouveau. "This is a service hallway, as far as I can tell," Europa explained, heels clicking against the tile floor. "But it's useful for getting places kinda fast? The main corridors all meander a lot..."

She quickened her pace, making a bee-line for the end of the hallway. "Come here, come here, this is the best room."

Europa flung the door open with abandon, pulling Perseus out onto the parquet floor beyond. A millenium of dust and tides could not dim the ballroom's splendor. Despite the once-grand chandelier - a collection of glass globes - having fallen to the floor centuries ago, the orange orb of Jupiter was as bright as ever and clearly visible through the glass ceiling.

The senshi of the deep gave her guest a giddy smile. "This is really the most impressive room in the whole palace, I think." There was a library she'd stumbled on one day that was gorgeously ornate, but Europa hadn't been able to find her way back since... so she wasn't counting it. "Sometimes I can see them dancing," she added wistfully.

"I'd love to be able to try something a bit less hardy, more... nutritionally balanced?" Senshi could not live on lima beans alone, even if that senshi had been nearly exclusively vegetarian since the age of four. "But yeah, I can only be here once a week, and if I want to get anything else done I can't spend all of my time gardening.

Europa followed Perseus delicately into the ballroom. Part of her hoped for and part of her dreaded seeing any sort of visions this visit. She was always curious about her past as Signy, but in this room especially Europa had to worry about repercussions the scenes she witnessed might have in her present life. Luckily, the ghosts seemed quiet tonight - perhaps frightened into the corners by Perseus's bright exuberance?

"I guess that ought to be my next project, after I sort out the greenhouse," supposed Europa, circling the fallen chandelier slowly. She'd taken one of the globes home for safe keeping, but the rest of the baubles were all here, swirls of glass denoting different Jovian moons. Fixing the chandelier would be impossible - she wasn't a glazier, and who knew what kind of light source had made it glow, and even if she could solve problems one and two, how would she get it onto the ceiling.

"Making this place a bit more livable, that is," Europa clarified, turning back to face Perseus. "Have you found anything like this on Perseus?" she asked curiously. "Anything that takes your breath away?" What she remembered of her trip to Pyxis had been stunning - were all senshi homeworlds like that?

Europa gave Perseus an enthusiastic grin. "That sounds amazing," she said earnestly. It was encouraging to meet other senshi who were excited about their homewords. After being met with trepidation from a fair number of comrades, Perseus's glee in describing the waterways and architecture of her planet was a breath of fresh air.

"I haven't found anything like a throne room," mused Europa, thinking out-loud as she trailed a hand along an elegant wall panel, brushing dust from the ancient burnished wood and revealing a spray of art-nouveau spirals underneath. "I don't think Europa was a monarchy."

Giving that more thought, it seemed clear that the moon absolutely wasn't. She'd never heard Signy adressed as Princess in any of the scenes she'd stumbled across in her explorations. In fact, if Europa were to make a guess based simply on overheard memories and inferences, she'd bet on some sort of military republic.

"I'm glad you don't think I'm a fool for wanting to restore my homeworld," the senshi of the deep blushed, drawing her hands away from the walls. "I think that in order to win against the negaverse, we need to use every advantage we have - and that means the old worlds. Somehow."

It was tricky to formulate a solid plan for how the homeworlds would play into defeating the negaverse. After all, you could only go to them once a week (or less!). It didn't make them terribly convenient for much of anything.

Europa glanced around the silent ballroom, feeling a pang of sadness that it had stood empty and mouldering for so long. "I've been curious what happened," she admitted, "But I haven't seen Kurma again since the first night...?" He was a difficult man to find, it seemed. Incognito-like. "If you do find him, I'd be interested to know what he says."

If there were signs of a struggle on Europa, she hadn't come across them yet. Furniture in the capitol looked like it had just been left alone. Chairs tucked under tables, books neatly aligned except for where architectural decay or geological activity had moved them. The chandelier had fallen, but that could be anything. Rust, weather, a failed spell...

"I'd like to see Perseus sometime," she offered, smiling at the other senshi. Glancing away, Europa concentrated for a moment on summoning her phone. "And, oh, don't worry about it, if it's too much trouble..." The capitol was noticeably absent of trinkets - how strange, that a place could be art nouveau and spartan at the same time.

She extended a hand towards Perseus, wrapping her fingers around the other girl's wrist. Europa waved her phone. "We ought to head back, yeah? It's kinda late."

She glanced down at the senshi phone's glowing screen, closed her eyes, and focused. Her finger found the center button, and in a dark flash they were hurtling through space, faster than the speed of light-

Europa's eyes snapped open. They were back in Destiny City. "We should patrol sometime," she offered.