Welcome to Gaia! ::

A nighttime snack never hurt anyone.

Sutai, Page of Polaris, was seated near the lip of a bakery in downtown Destiny City, using the small wall that surrounded the roof as a table of sorts. She was munching away on homemade crackers and cookies with one hand while using the other to point her telescope around town. Height made for an excellent vantage point and Tsui had once said she would make a magnificent strategist someday.

So why not try now?

The crystalline page hadn't spotted anything unusual yet and no foreign signals had shown up on her radar during her scans. All was clear as far as she could tell. The occasional car would pass by, headlights golden beams down the mostly-empty streets. Some businesses like convenience stores were still open this late and their neon signs helped Sutai spot movement she wouldn't normally see.

She sighed. "Hmm... well I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep taking a break since nothin's going on." mused Sutai, chewing thoughtfully. She focused her telescope on some raggedy fellows exiting the convenience store with a brown paper bag in their hands. "Let's see... Mountain Dew, Cookie Crisp, some beef jerky... sounds like gaming food to me!"

Initially, Sutai didn't notice the little kitten bounding up to her. Her focus was more on the possibly Bad Things that could go down at the gas station across the street. Kittens needed saving only if they were stuck in trees or lost far from home! Or needed cuddles!

"Hi shiny! I love and want to take you home and cuddle you and keep you forever! Please be mine!"

The Page of Polaris blinked, looked at the telescope in her hands oddly, then brought it to her ear. Did... did her telescope just talk? Like how the princess said sometimes the universe speaks to us? Is the universe speaking to me!? Sutai looked up at the stars with a perplexed look on her face. "Well, universe, let me be the first to tell you that's a weird way of introducing yourself to the peeps here on Earth that are trying to defend you from evil and all that." Another nod to herself, Sutai put the telescope back up to her eye.

The kitten beside her was awfully distracting. She turned the telescope to the kitten and giggled at how large it looked suddenly. "Well hello there, kittypie! Are you hungry? Would you like a snack?"

The kitten just talked.

The kitten just talked.

Telescope and shiny-sparkles flew into the air in a flurry of limbs and confusion. "KHKJFHKEJFLKJFHLHE am I on drugs again!?" Sutai backed up and onto her feet, catching her telescope at the last minute before it flew over the side of the building. That would have sucked. Catching her breath, she stared at the kitten like it was the alien she believed it to be. Cats simply didn't walk up to you and strike up a conversation in a language you could understand. Sure, Sutai knew a handful of cats that happened to be talkers, but this one?

This one took the cake.

"Um... mister kitten? Um... you can have my cookies and crackers but please please please tell me you're not in league with a space whale that is just so very angry and shoots lasers and eats people? Are you one of the good guys or the space whale bad guys?" Sutai hoped beyond reason that the kitten was Okay and on the side of Good, but it didn't hurt to ask. It was then that she played the conversation, or rather, what the kitten had said to her, over again in her head.

He said his name? "Pippin? Your name is Pippin?" she asked, bending over to get a better look at the little talking furball. "...well, my name is Sutai! But um... you can't have my outfit or my hair. I don't really want to be bald or naked but um..." She plucked one of her jewels out from her long stand of crystals in her hair. "You can have this?"

"Pippin, Guardian Cat of Animal Senshi?" Sutai repeated, eyes unwavering on the little talking kitten before her. Well, she thought, if princesses and wings and knights and magical roofjumping is real, then... of course talking cats could be real. I guess. She screwed up her face. This is mega weird. "So... do you... help animal senshi? OH like Tsui? Do you know Tsui? She's my very good senshi friend. She's super now! She's tigers. I bet you know her, don't you? Who else do you know, Mister Pippin?"

Then he almost exploded all over the tiny crystal she'd given him. Did he has some kind of shiny obsession? Oh no... and I'm a walking shiny. That I bet replaces shinies every time I transform... This was one of the few times Sutai put everything together and didn't like the end result. The little kitten kisses made her giggle. That tickled! So maybe this kitten wasn't too bad after all. He didn't take care of knights - he took care of senshi. And Sutai's job was to take care of a princess!

Who was, in a roundabout way, a senshi, but that was too confusing for right now.

"Oh Mister Pippin, I'll be your friend!" she said, scratching behind his ears when his rolling allowed it. "But my name is Sutai, not Shiny. It's very close though. I'll give you points for being very close!"

"Pippin, Guardian Cat of the Animal Senshi!" Sutai parroted, wanting to scoop the little kitten up for a hug. "We do get along very well I think! She is training me to get better and I have much confidence in her! She's a very good tiger and very strong too. You've done a very good job, Pippin!"

In the end it didn't really matter to the page whether she was called Sutai or Shiny. They were pretty close anyway and truth be told, she was a very brightly colored page with lots of sparkles to boot! "I'd love to go shopping with you, little kitty! You can sit in my purse but I'm not too sure people will be okay with you talking. Wouldn't that make shopping a little bit hard? And what do kittens like to shop for, anyway?"

It was a mystery.

Sutai giggled and snuggled the kitten. "I will keep you in my purse when we go shopping! Is that alright, Mister Pippin? We will go shopping for many shinies for you and your tiger!"''

The page looked up at the sky and her brows furrowed slightly. How much time had passed? Did she need to go home? Sutai sighed for a moment, snuggling Pippin closer. She did love animals very much. "We will go shopping soon, I promise! But I think I need to head home soon. But... can you promise to train me some more so I can be strong like Tsui? I would like that so very much, Mister Pippin!"

The thought of training with a cat seemed silly, but if cats could awaken senshi then Pippin could give her a lot of very important insights!