Welcome to Gaia! ::

The words meant something to the Zodiac senshi who was reading the plates. She wouldn't have been able to read it in any other place--no books, nothing, even though she was for all intents and purposes Aria--but here, she just had to look and she remembered. When she was small, she'd spent time in this room, writing painstaking letters to the people who sent these gifts. Your Highness Prince Castor of Hail, on the occasion of your gift to the Zodiac Protectorate I as the Lady of Innocence must thank you.

It had taken her hours. Spica had made her re-write each one so many times.

She didn't actually expect anyone to find their way in as she contemplated the Everice Chimes. It had been given to them from Themis, ages and ages ago. She actually found it while looking for something else; a vague memory of some kind of brazier being here kept tugging at her, and wouldn't let her be. So, sleepless, she had wriggled free of Leo and come to Chronos in what passed for her pajamas. Actually, her 'pajamas' were her fuku stripped down to nearly nothing: No circlet, no veil, no collar, no bow, no greaves. She stood barefoot in only the green sleeved dress and the Zodiac brooch, looking at chimes given from a culture she only vaguely remembered.

"Themis," she said, when she noticed his presence. "Come look over here. This one was from you."

"I think that one is from a knight of Cosmos, but I don't remember who," she said of the crystal, rubbing the symbol of Virgo on her forehead. Light glowed around her olive fingertips in a pale green. Not off the top of her head, she didn't remember. Well, same difference in the end, she supposed; she'd just learned that not all knights were reincarnates. Whoever the Knight of Naica was, he probably didn't remember the crystal and wouldn't understand its significance.

She nodded. "You're allowed to be in here. If civilians are, I don't see why senshi wouldn't be." Bitter: A pretty good word to describe Virgo, especially since no headway was being made in the matter of Discovering What Had Happened. A Chaos monster had attacked, obvious; a deep space whale, breaking a giant hole in the bottom of the Surrounding. She'd have to find a way to get the Zodiacs together in time for another attempt at fixing it. The roads between the active outposts could not be allowed to be made impassible. "Look," she said, pointing; "It's got the Zodiac's symbols on it."

Virgo leaned into the half-embrace; really, she felt privileged to have so many friends willing to support her. So many of them so willing to look after her and make sure she kept herself safe, it seemed like a luxury that many senshi probably didn't have. She wished it wasn't so, but she could still be grateful for the friends--the family--that she'd been given. Elder brothers, uncles, dear friends, all of them were ensconced in her senshi family. "I remember I was so excited when this arrived," she told him. "Because I was to go visit your asteroid after my tour of the remnants of the Zodiac-that-was. I was going to meet so many friends, and be so happy…"

Of course, it hadn't worked out that way. The Zodiac-that-was had been depressing, fractured asteroids riddled with decaying bodies. The only pinpricks of light had been the friends she'd made, Sailor Albali and others living in the constellations, protected by the heat of their stars. "And then my mentor died. And I was all alone. Her room in this palace became mine… And I took her place in council."

"Yes, absolutely, it's true," she said, nodding. She felt completely positive about that, it was quite odd; but then, the Zodiac in its entirety was quite odd compared to other White Moon senshi. "It was why I went to visit you, besides to... Well I don't remember why else."

The longer she stayed here, the more memories drifted to the forefront of her mind. The more memories, the more concerned she became; would she see her death soon? Leo had nightmares about his moment of death, though he didn't remember it clearly. Virgo just remembered fire, and pain, and sorrow. She rubbed her arms, and then patted Themis. "Don't worry," she said. "The past is confusing. I don't blame you for being confused. It's really a matter of comfort, you know, whether you say 'me' or 'her' or 'him'."

Pause.

"Or use a gender-neutral pronoun," she added, thoughtfully.

Virgo nodded, carefully piling her hair on top of her head. This had the effect of her blonde hair flopping over the Virgo sign on her forehead, the M with its little curlicue loop. Virgo the Virgin Maiden, Mr. Cunningham had called her. She much preferred being just Elke. Or Aria. It depended on the era in which she lived... here in the future, definitely Elke.

"If you were a girl? No, it happened a lot! Sagittarius was a girl. Then he was Jude, and he kissed Hero. She was the captain before I was. But she died, so, she's not the Captain anymore. Taurus was the Captain but he didn't want it. I didn't want it either but the Princess asked. She needed me. So I served."

With a little sigh, she reached up to pat his shoulder. "Dae'Maern was a nice man. I'm sure of it! Because you are, and that is the most important thing, you know. Your past self meshes with your real self and everything's okay. You'll be fine, Themis. I think you're doing really great."

Nod. "Besides. You're my friend... Thank you for letting me lean on you."

She nodded again, her enthusiasm upsetting the careful pseudo-bun. It was good to see he wasn't too disturbed by the idea of being a past girl, since there were a lot of badass space girl warriors and badass space boy warriors. She knew a lot of them, actually. Not as many as were appearing in Destiny City, but still a lot.

"I have to keep my freaking the hell out to myself," she said unhappily. "I mustn't let the civilians know that I don't want them here. I want them back on Earth, because they don't understand us and they don't respect us. If they tried, I wouldn't mind them. But they don't... so I do. Don't they think we want the trespassers out of our homes as fast as we can?" Her demands didn't seem that unreasonable. Maybe they could just treat the senshi as people, instead of captors! She would bring them home in an instant if she could.

She just couldn't.

"It'll be okay," she said to herself, and she slid a step or two closer to Themis so she could rest the side of her head against his arm. Themis and Castor, they'd ended up more like brothers and confidants than just friends. That meant she could lean on them, and tell them things she wouldn't tell another living soul, and trust that it wouldn't go beyond them.

So she offered Themis a little smile. "We'll be able to soon, I hope," she said. "Do you know anyone who could get my homework for me from Meadowview?"