Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been how long since the shadow swept over the Blood Moon? How long since her lungs felt the sting and her eyes the fire of thick smoke? How long since the city they'd worked so hard to build burned to the ground? Kallichore didn't know - her body and mind couldn't mark the passage of time accurately. All she knew was that she escaped, along with Albali. Perhaps a few others, perhaps not. Serpentarius, she hoped and prayed was still intact, along with several others she remembered standing near during all those secret meetings. She'd never held an office higher than the lowest rung, but despite all that, Kallichore thought herself accomplished in her own right.

She had given respect to those higher than herself, one being the reigning regent - Birhan Isat. What had become of her? The questions kept Kallichore up that night. She wanted to know if Ares had gone and thrown her second into the mirror and baptized the poor Senshi of Renewal. It wasn't fair, she thought. None of them were willing, save for Gaia. But Gaia and Ares were always on the same side... why didn't any of them see it sooner?

Hindsight was always perfect.

The newly awakened eternal senshi tore herself from her bed that night and went hunting. She sought out Birhan for days before catching a familiar glimpse of phoenix wings on the edge of her vision, blazing like a sun under the crisp moonlight. A chill crept into the air as belts and breezes tore from rooftop to rooftop. Kallichore made to effort to announce herself, but made to effort to conceal herself either. She didn't want to seem like she was desperate to seek out Birhan, but didn't want to rule out the possibility that the other was on the edge of collapse. Didn't Ares' senshi have black fukus? Birhan appeared safe, then. For now.

"You look... you."

The last word was breathed like a sigh of relief, the breath being held there for days on end. The anxiety and worry and regret hitched in her like a caged animal, and it would finally be let free. Her shoulders probably sagged with the weight being lifted from them and she didn't care then whether or not it showed. Birhan was safe, still whole and still herself. Despite herself, she gave Birhan the habitual half-bow she did while still working under the Senshi of Renewal. While Kallichore now answered to the call of Jove, she still had respect for those she served with and for during her tenure elsewhere.

"She didn't change you." The eternal started to adjust her stance to a more relaxed one, though the hairs on her neck still stood at half-mast. She didn't trust that the meeting would go entirely unnoticed to the eyes in mirrors. "You escaped? What about the others? How many are still left?" There was worry in her voice and the silent, unasked question about the fate of Serpentarius hung in the air like a heavy cloud. Kallichore had no idea whether Birhan was aware of their relation, but if Birhan could provide any information on her cousin, Kallichore would have been eternally grateful.

"Has she come after you, or anyone else? Do we know what she's up to?" The Jovians didn't necessarily have the same investment into the downfall of Ares as she and Birhan did. Kallichore was unsure of whether any of them, Europa aside, would understand. The thought of Ares oozing through the reflective surface of a mirror to rend the soul of one of her friend sent panicked shivers down the eternal's spine when she lay in bed at night. No mirrors were in her home anymore.

Birhan's statement left Kallichore slightly shocked. "I heard? No, Birhan, I didn't hear about it. I was there." She wasn't angry, no, since Birhan was captain at the time, she had more important things to worry about than whether or not certain lowly cadets were present. But she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of disappointment. "I was there when Leto and Requiem were thrown through the mirrors and when Gaia stepped forward and fell as well. As soon as Ares looked to me, I ran."

The Senshi of Renewal did confirm that Serpentarius remained unharmed, at least by virtue of lack of mention. If Gaia, Leto and Requiem were the only ones corrupted so far, then perhaps they could cut the snake's head off soon and put an end to this madness.

When the Super explained that Ares came to her since the corruption, Kallichore nodded soberly. "She came to me as well, when I was still Super. Told me that she could wait forever until I asked for it. She said that she realized this dying rock meant nothing and that space was where the true path lay, but she couldn't tell me why she stuck around." Balling her hand into a fist, the eternal shook her head. "I suspect to increase her numbers. But if she's working with the Negaverse, even in a tentative alliance... that's another front of Chaos we have to death with. But she can't take more. What happens if she takes more...?"

The eternal waved a gloved had. "No, it's alright. We all had a lot on our plate, the presence or absence of certain people aside. You had an entire Court to run and all that that entailed, Birhan. And I'm assuming you're still holding it together, however much is left." Truthfully, Kallichore didn't know the fate of the Blood Moon. She would have stuck with it had Pasiphae not talked even a little bit of mercy into her. The senshi of madness knew that she would have one day grown to regret all she'd done had she stayed, or at least, she thought so.

Her former commander's anger with Ares made Kallichore smile, if even for a moment. It was difficult to explain to the other Jovians the severity of the Ares situation. Aside from Europa, they had no lost those near and dear to them, so how could such a thing as severity be measured? To them, the fallen princess may as well have been a fairytale of a monster under the bed. Kallichore couldn't stress enough that this was more than just some story.

"I won't allow her to continue," she started, not knowing where her anger may lead her. "She's already taken too much with little to no threat to stop her. I'll find a way. There has to be a way to take her down. I'll see to it. I have to." The end came in a whisper, a self-realized promise that Kallichore must fulfill.

She listened intently as Birhan used logic to come up with the best possible explanation. Not being privy to Ares' inner sanctum, her assumptions about the princess' dealings with the Negaverse was assumptions at best. Still, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. "There's no telling how many she'll take before she leaves. Who knows - she may even take every last one of us the Negaverse hasn't already. It's disgusting." Kallichore turned away for a moment, remembering something Polaris and Juno had said to her. "You know, if Ares is a princess, and there are other royals out there, why the hell can't anyone stop her? Do you have a plan, Birhan? An idea? You knew her much more than I, I assume."