Welcome to Gaia! ::

She had been visiting her planet more often as of late, actually as often as she could. Sometimes she went exploring, sometimes she went to clean, repair, and fix. Other times she brought her books with her and studied near waterfalls or in a suite of rooms that she'd just recently found that seemed to be her own. The furniture was mostly decrepit, but thankfully the walls and floor were all made of stone. The chambers she had found adjoining her own held a much more powerful draw, however.

Nearly ever inch of stone was covered in fine Ever Silver threading, embedded with precious stones in places, scrolling around walls and pillars in abstract patterns. At first it had been barely noticeable under centuries of neglect, but her shoulder wiped some of it away by accident, leaving it shining underneath. It seemed to be one of the principle properties of the metal, once the grime and dust was wiped off it would gleam untarnished. On her last excursion she had done just that, covering each inch of the room with mild cleaner and soft towels, until nearly every inch of it was restored. Perseus had several visions during this process, but never of her princess. She had yet to see her ladies face, only catching glimpses of what she could only assume had been Persean royalty.

Across from the four poster bed was the last thing in the room that had yet to be polished. A large bronze shield, so covered in grime and oxidization that the etchings on the front where all but indistinguishable. She'd scrubbed at it with what she had on her and resolved to do some research and come back when she noticed the crack along the sides. A sweaty and finger cramping half hour later, she'd managed to get the door open.

It was dark. The inky blackness went on when she poked her head inside of the hole, not trusting the space enough to step inside without some other light. Backtracking into her own suite, Perseus fished around in the supplies she'd laid up. She'd brought a heavy duty lantern style flashlight with her on a previous trip.

Almost giddily, she ran back into the room and found a solid looking stone staircase leading down into the darkness.

It proved very long, and very slick. Stalactites and stalagmites had begun to form from some water leak, making the trip more than a little hazardous. After some slipping, she ended up nearly stepping into a very large hole in the ground which had a faint glow coming from it. It seemed to be a series of catacombs and caves and what looked to be a lot of water.

And now a week later Perseus was waiting for the only person she knew who may be able to help her with her spelunking predicament. It had taken more than a little digging to try and get a message out to the illusive guide, but finally she'd had success. She waited on an inauspicious rooftop in Destiny, waiting for Kurma.

"It would help if I had your number, of course. But ah well, holidays are holidays I suppose." To be honest, she was just glad she'd been able to relay a message to him at all. The other times she'd managed to run into Kurma it had been a completely lucky encounter.

A big smile crossed her face. The feeling of student and teacher had always been strong between them, and Kurma was definitely her favorite teacher. "The cosmos this time. I hope it'll be a little more lighthearted conversation than our last encounter."

Perseus whisked her phone out of subspace in anticipation, eager to get the trip moving... assuming Kurma was up for the job. "Actually, I need a bit of help. I ran into a bit of a..." She paused, thinking of how to word things. "height problem while exploring Perseus, and I figured that I would ask for your help in gravity defying." After all, the only person she knew in Destiny that could actually fly was Kurma. Besides, he could have possibly remembered being on Perseus in the past. It was a remote possibility, but even a small chance was better than none.

"Would you be up for a bit of spelunking?"

The thought that she could just register Kurma via magic ball hadn't actually occurred to her. She knew from experience that registering a zodiac had some issues on the phones in the past and figured that Kurma would be the same. Holding up her mau-phone, Perseus registered the cosmic guide with a little beep. "Well that's certainly helpful to know."

She nodded once he had given the go-ahead on the venture. Perseus was more than relieved, she wasn't quite sure what Plan B would have been. Something much more complicated, probably involving weeks and multiple trips back and forth with equipment. She didn't know what exactly earth cave diving entailed, but having someone who could float and probably do a myriad of other awesome and helpful things was a much better alternative.

"Of course." Tuning into her planets song had become a familiar process to her, taking much less time now than it had the first time. Lightly laying a gloved hand on his arm, Perseus tuned in and pressed home, whizzing the pair onto the same familiar stone circle on Perseus.

"Welcome to Perseus, Kurma. Not sure if you've ever been here before, but from what I can tell it was a huge marketplace." The landscape was broken, like all of the other planets. Most plants were dead, though water could be heard all around them. The buildings were all of a similar slate grey stone, and beneath them silver designs had been laid into the floor. Two moons hung in a sky that glowed bright blue all around them.

"It doesn't take long to get to the entrance I had spoken to you about. Follow me?" She beckoned him off to the right, to a small door nearly hidden in the side of the wall.

True to her word, the trip through the hallways and into Perseus's and the Queen's rooms did only take a few minutes. Without really any need to hide her meddling, Perseus had left the shield-door wide open. "The stairs lead down to a collection of caves beneath the surface."

"I don't..." She paused, looking around the room. "The room I'm most curious about has yeilded no memories at all. It's very frustrating." Part of the reason Perseus had been cleaning the room so diligently was to try and coax a memory simply by spending as long in the place as she could.

It hadn't worked.

"I've only been able to see what I was able to from the end of the stairs. I don't actually know how far or deep the caves go, but I know they are important." That much at least she could feel. The air had some kind of...something. Perseus didn't know how to explain it.

"Shall we head down?" Perseus grabbed the same lantern she'd used previously and took a step into the stairwell. "Not sure if you are planning on floating or not, but the stairs are pretty treacherous."

Between both of their lamps, it took much less time to reach the end of the stairs than it had on her first trip down. It was still slippery, but the extra light made the trip significantly less treacherous. "Well that wasn't so bad. This, however, is the challenge that I wasn't able to quite tackle on my own."

Perseus waved her lamp forward, illuminating the lip of a giant hole in the middle of the ground. Not that it really needed it, seeing as the caves were lit from within by a soft aqua glow.

"Any chance that you could give a girl a lift?" There was clearly water at the bottom of the gap, but from her perspective there was no way of actually knowing how deep it was. It was what had prevented her from simply jumping down in the first place. Even if Kurma couldn't actually fly with her aboard, a softened landing to see how deep the water went was good enough for her.

[[OOC note: I'm puppeting Kurma a little bit with the permission of Mouse to get the RP ended]]

Kurma touched the two of them down on an outcropping of stone off to the side of the lake. Using Perseus's flashlight and Kurma's lantern, the two of them continued down what looked to be the only passageway leading from the lake.

In the beginning it was dark, but as they continued on they needed their own light sources less and less- ever silver began to line the walls in strange patterns, lit up by some light source further down the passage. This caused the walls to take on an eerie glow, which wasn't quite a flashlight but was at least enough to see by. The trip was a quiet one, save for the faint echo of footsteps ringing off of the walls. Perseus, for one, had a growing feeling of knowing the further down they got, as well as a growing feeling of reverence. She'd know something significant was down in the secret passageway, and it was time to find out exactly what that was.

After what had felt like hours, something subtle changed in the hallway. A small breeze and the faint smell of water reached them. After sharing a silent look, the two pushed on. Not too long after, the light became more intense. Nothing like daylight, but more than the faint glow coming off of the silver.

Further after that, the ever silver on the walls became more and more, to the point where you saw more of its complex patterns than the stone underneath. At the end of the tunnel the walls were coated in an unbroken sheath of it, to the point where their muddled reflections could be seen in every move.

The chamber beyond took away her breath. With a small gasp, Perseus stood at the door staring in awe, taking everything in. This, in and of itself, was a difficult task. The room that lie beyond the passage was entirely coated in ever silver, giving everything a chromed appearance. This was highlighted by a waterfall of pure minty-green water that flowed from a small gap in the ceiling on the other side, falling without a single splash into a serene looking pool underneath it. The site of a waterfall without an foam or spray was odd in and of itself, but the image of it reflecting off of the walls all around made the sight even more confusing.

The sudden flash of light made her cover her eyes, though she noted that Kurma made no such move. Before her eyes a completely new scene availed itself. In the mist, she could recognize a fair crowd around her. Though they were dressed to the nines, Perseus couldn't make out any faces. Turning her attention, the scout looked puzzled at the scene that started to play out before her.

A young girl dressed in white with long blonde hair stood alone in front of the pool. She looked briefly back, locking eyes with Perseus. Even though she knew it wasn't really happening, chills ran up and down her spine at the somber and slightly scared look in her eyes. Someone stepped out of the shadows behind Perseus to hand the blonde child a small dagger holster which looked almost exactly like the one that Perseus wore on her own hip. As the girl moved to clutch it tightly, her own gloved hand reached down to do the same.

It eventually dawned on her that this was a ceremony. Turning her back to the crowd, the girl in white took a step closer to the waters edge. Legs moving almost of their own accord, like they'd done this before, Perseus followed. When she came up behind the apparition, she realized there were shallow steps leading down into the water. Moving in tandem with the girl who must have been Perseus in the past, her boots made a little splash as she stepped the first stair down.

She waded down as far as the stairs would let her, took a breath, and dove into the glowing water. It rushed around her like a welcome embrace, filling her heart with light, and the sound of her planet echoed in her ears. She stayed suspended in the water for what felt like hours and lasted only seconds before surfacing, using the stairs to pull herself up.

The apparitions were gone, and so was Super Sailor Perseus. Stepping out of the water to a room filled with only Kurma, Eternal Sailor Perseus emerged in her place, still clutching at the small holster. With a small gasp, she examined her new fuku before looking up at her mentors smile.



It didn't take the pair nearly as long to get out as it had seemed to enter, and Perseus was still shell shocked from what had happened and the new surge of power running through her. Once up on the surface the pair departed for earth, exchanged a few words, and parted for the time being.

Figuring she would test her new powers, Perseus headed for the rooftops and a brief patrol.