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Gwendolyn Caspian had to admit that a visit to the library was completely overdue, and she wondered how she could have been living in Destiny City for six months without once setting foot in a library. She wasn't illiterate or hated books; she enjoyed the occasional choose-your-own adventure books, some fantasies, and if she had to say which book series was her favorite, she'd sad the Redwall series. There were cute animals set in medieval times, filled with riddles and adventures. What was there not to love?

But today, she wasn't going there to read fantasies or adventure books. Today she was there for one purpose and one purpose only. Research.

'I've been a Senshi for at least three weeks now... and I still have no idea what on Earth I'm suppose to be doing!' Gwen thought to herself, walking in solitude up the stairs and admiring the size of this library in silence. The one back at home couldn't compare to this one, and her heart sank. That meant that there were a LOT of books in there, and she guaranteed that by the end of the night, she'd likely get lost in there, and she didn't bring provisions. She sighed, "So much for light reading..."

There was no real guarantee that the information she'd need would be there, but Wikipedia hadn't offered anything useful. In fact, it seemed barren, almost none existent, but of course, it was Wikipedia, and anyone could go in and change it. She read one time that Darth Vadar trained the Chinese general Gan Ning, and she knew that wasn't right... But, the library was the best chance to research on the Senshi, or at the very least, what was covered in her sphere.

She was Sailor Tsui, Senshi of Tigers. And she was damn proud of it, at least at first. Given her recent illness and mistakes, she knew she needed to pick up the slack, and perhaps some research on tigers, both biological and mythological, could help? 'It certainly couldn't hurt... I mean, I can't get any worse than I am now, right?'

So, with that in mind, the black-and-white haired girl looked at the library's map that was in the lobby, skimming through the details and looking for the section that would likely hold the answers for her. Why couldn't there just be a 'How to be a Senshi for Dummies'?

'Well, this map is utterly useless to me! Might as well just walk around and pretend I know where the hell to start!' Gwen thought to herself, looking at the map and feeling incredibly stupid. So much of it made sense, but with the construction and rearranging going on, and not to mention this damned cold, made her completely disinterested. Not to mention there were other people starting to crowd around the map, so she gave up and walked to the first section that was closest to her. 'I should start with mythology, I guess... or astronomy?'

That was quite a question, and another possibility popped up. 'Wait, should I look up just tigers instead? So that'd be wildlife. Biology?'

In the end, she had decided to go with astronomy first, as she couldn't think of any real mythos or fairy tales regarding tigers, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out what importance the tigers themselves would offer her. Well, besides possible strategies on how to use her powers or combat. She had to admit to herself that she lacked the stealth and prowess that a tiger might have had...

'Now, I'm looking for Tsui. Tsui... that's Chinese, I know that much, so maybe looking through Chinese astrology would help?'

It seemed like the best place to start, and seeing as the crowd had yet to move away from the map, she figured she'd have to rely on either an assistant or another library goer such as herself. And, of course, there was no librarian in sight.

Her golden eyes caught sight of a small mountain of books (though maybe it was a plateau?) and she had to crouch lower to see a pair of legs under the table to see that there was someone sitting behind it. Never one too shy to approach a total stranger, Gwen stepped forward and leaned to her right, speaking up before ever once looking at the young, dark-haired man that she was addressing. "Excuse me, given by the amount of books you have, you seem to know your way around here. Could you..."

She finally got a good look at him, and her heart almost leap out of her chest. She did little to hide the surprise, and relief, in her voice, though she didn't mean to shout as she said, "You! Anming's classmate! You're alive after all!"

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"Yep, Gwendolyn Caspian, though you can call me Gwen if Gwendolyn is too long," Gwen said, elated to see that he was alright, though ashamed that his name didn't immediately come to mind. Given all that she's been through in a past few weeks, she was surprised that she could even remember him at all! Finally, it hit her, and she said his name in a manner that she even fooled herself into thinking she remembered it all this time. "It's nice to see you again, Arian!"

In response to his question, she shrugged, not inviting herself to the open seat just yet in case he was too busy to talk. After all, she wasn't really hear to socialize, but she would never turn the chance down. "Research. I have an assignment on tigers, though I have no idea where to start."

Now she looked at the pile of books he had, especially the mythology one and the beads, and she made a guess. "You're doing some research too? Maybe we could help each other out?"

Gwen, never the one to be told to do something twice, plopped herself down onto the chair, dropping her heavy booksack without a thought or care to the ones around her. She did, however, keep her voice down, as she didn't want to get kicked out of the library before she got any of her work done. Maybe after she got what she needed, but until then, she decided to be on her best behavior.

She grabbed one of the books that he had on the side and gave it a look over, admiring the design of the beads on the cover in silence. "So, Greek mythology and bead crafting. What kind of project does your teacher have you on to combine the two of these?"

Gwen wasn't the most knowledgeable about Greek mythology, but she figured she knew enough to pass the topic. She continued to admire the beads, her mind wondering off into a not too distant memory of one of the two Senshi that had saved her life that day. What was his name again? Sailor Athene, wasn't it? I'll have to see how he's doing one day, to properly thank him.'

"Well, that's the thing. I'm looking up tigers, you know, for a project," Gwen said, propping her chin on her hands and looking at the mythology books he had stacked up. They were all heavy and thick, and she did not envy him for having to go through all of them. "But I'm not sure where I should start."

She mused aloud what she had already came up with on her own accord, hoping that he could at least point her in the right direction. "I know that there are various subspecies of tigers, but I don't think that'll turn up anything useful for my project. So, I narrowed it down to tigers in mythology, or astrology. Or even astronomy."

Gwen shrugged, leaning back in the chair and glancing about, already feeling overwhelmed and she hadn't even looked at a real book yet. "Between those three, which one do you think I should start?"

'I should go with astronomy... but I don't want to risk him finding out who I am. What if he's heard of Sailor Tsui?' She thought to herself, eagerly awaiting his reply.

"Well, it's definitely a start. But I don't recall tigers being predominant in the west, given their origins in the eastern part of the world," Gwen pointed out, observing the section that he had pointed to and thankful to hear that it covered all parts of the world and not just the west. That was a constant problem back at home, as any time someone was looking for anything to do with media, mythology or stories, they were always Western focused, never Eastern focus. It was one of the benefits of living in a big city, Gwen figured.

Without wasting another moment, she motioned for Arian to follow her, not meaning to be dependent on him for such simple things but in truth, knowing she needed all the help she could get and also desiring the company. She needed to figure out her goal as a Senshi, but more than that, she wanted friends, Senshi or not.

"I'm guessing we'll want to look for something Eastern base, or covers all of the world mythology, right? Tigers live in China and India, so we should probably look there." Gwen said, musing aloud when they reached the mythology section and looking at the books and the challenge they offered. Then, she thought to herself, 'Tsui is Chinese, so maybe I should look into the Chinese mythology and see what they have there.'

Gwen's eyes caught the Greek treasury book from that distance and she couldn't help but comment aloud, letting Arian hear her good humor about it. "One of these things is not like the other! I guess someone got the G and the C mixed up, right?"

He showed her the three books that he had found and Gwen took them from him, relieving him from the weight and thanking him again before observing them even closer. "Thanks... you're a real life saver."

'Getting guys to look up stuff for you? Maybe I am as evil and vile as Maddy says...' Gwen thought to herself, looking at the books and flipping through them briefly, thankful to find that they were all in English (well, for the most part, cut at least the translations were present on the same page below it). 'I'll find a great way to help him out, too... I may not know much about Greek mythology but I can skim pages pretty well.'

The book that caught her interest the most was 'The Tiger and the Wise Man (Traditional Tales with a Twist)', mostly due to the cover and the 'twisted' part of the title. She was definitely going to look through that one, though she wasn't sure how useful it would have been as far as research went. Then, her eyes fell onto the ‘The Chinese Book of Animal Powers’, and a quick glance through the book told her that it would certainly be useful to her heavy research. 'Maybe looking into what powers they believe the Tiger would have would help... definitely keeping this one!'

Lastly the book ‘Animals in the Stars: Chinese Astrology for Kids’, and she never once scoffed at the idea of it being for kids. She was fifteen years old; she was practically a kid in some people's eyes, and in truth, she needed all the help she could get, even if she was hesitant to be put on the same academic level as a kid. Given how her namesake was a constellation, it would have been foolish of her to not pick up this book as well.

"Yeah, all of these could over some interesting insight on my research. Well, this one would be good for a light read, though," she said, lifting up 'The Tiger and the Wise Man' for him to see. Not wanting to feel like she was using him, she pointed to the misplaced book he had. "So, what could I help you with? Any particular god or goddess?"

"Athene?" Gwen was a bit surprised to hear that word again, and immediately her mind shot to the long-haired Senshi that had saved her from the youma weeks ago. A Senshi could not be forgotten, at least not easily, and Gwen tried to fight down her excitement, not wanting to yell across the library, especially with such a sensitive matter. "Um... I don't know of anyone named Athene in Greek mythology, but... do you think it'd be related to Athena? I know who she is... well, not personally, obviously, but maybe they're related in some sense?"

She didn't want to bring up the truth, though, not sure if Arian was looking up information about the Senshi, or if it was a mere coincidence. If he was looking up information on the Senshi, then why? What did he want to know about Athene? Was he saved by him as well, or... 'No... he can't be a Negaverse lieutenant... that just doesn't seem right. Right?'

She kept these thoughts to herself, holding the three books close to her and standing up to return to the desk. It would make some sense, why he was looking for Athene and at those books about beads. Wasn't Athene the Senshi of beads? 'Calm down and don't jump to conclusions. I'm sure it's all a coincidence. Or he's just an admirer... yeah! Admirer! Athene was pretty level-headed and cute, surely that's it!'

"Maybe that book will have something about Athene? What have you learned thus far?"