Welcome to Gaia! ::

As was very much his habit, Athene had picked up a hot drink from the late night diner near the hospital – one white chocolate caramel mocha – and was alternating between sipping from the flavoured hot drink and using the insulated cup as a heat aid.

Unlike the Venus Page it was possible that you could say that the dark-haired senshi was out for trouble – or at least keeping an eye out for trouble – given that he was looking out for youma, which were nasty things and tended to come in even nastier packages. After all dusting youma was kind of part of the (very much) unwritten job description.

It had been a pretty quiet patrol so far though and the flare of a non-chaos aura was a welcome distraction. The source of the aura seemed to be heading in his direction and turning Athene back tracked his steps in an attempt to try intercept – maybe whoever it was wouldn’t mind a spot of company for a little bit.

The source of the aura turned out to be a copper-haired woman, in an outfit of mostly pink with some orange and gold.

“Good evening Aventine” Athene returned the Page’s greeting – at least the aura suggested a Page – with one of his own. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Sailor Athene” he held out the hand that wasn't holding the hot drink “I’m the senshi of beads.” Although he’d met a few of the Knights, the Page wasn’t one that the dark-haired senshi was familiar with.

“Yes beads” Athene said with a nod. He gave Aventine a rueful smile “My senshi ability can trap things in beads for a bit – at least when it works.” Despite working better since his upgrade, his senshi ability still seemed to have a mind of its own and didn’t always work.

He gave Aventine a rueful smile at her question of how did senshi get to be that way, “To be honest I don’t know” he shook his head slightly as he spoke, the movement causing the beads woven into his braid to click-clack against each other gently. “No, I’ve not met a senshi called Tsui before.” At least he was pretty sure he hadn’t. “And no beads wasn’t something I chose.” If Athene had been given a choice in the matter he wouldn’t have chosen such a unreliable senshi ability. “I was given a pen, a henshin pen, from a talking cat and discovered that I could power up into this” he indicated his outfit, before adding “Well it was a pretty much a shorts and t-shirt get up to start off with.” The trousers and gloves had come after he’d upgraded a rank.

"And I don't mind being asked questions, although you'd probably be better off asking a guardian cat about how senshi get to be senshi" he admitted.

“I’ve not met Zirconia either,” Athene admitted. “Although I’ve only met three guardian cats, ********* pretty friendly though.” She was also the talking cat in question who had taught him how to power up that first time.

“Actually when I started out I pretty much didn’t have a clue” Athene admitted. “I went to summer camp” his first and only to date. “And while there met a talking cat who gave me a henshin pen and told me that apparently I had this alternative secret identity and was supposed to protect people from having their soul crystals stolen by the Negaverse.”

He gave Aventine another rueful smile “I um didn’t take it very well.” Actually the dark-haired senshi’s initial reaction had been that ********* had somehow made a mistake. “Unfortunately, this stuff doesn’t really come with a how-to manual so I’ve ended up pretty much muddling through.”

He shook his head at Aventine’s mention of strength “Actually I wouldn’t say I’m strong – not yet” the dark-haired senshi still felt that he had a way to go. “I upgraded to this during a fight against a youma – a pretty nasty one. It had cornered a civilian” He bit his lip – that civilian in question had turned out to be a friend – one of his good friends.

“********* upgraded my henshin pen and after that I was able to power up to this. I’ve heard that it’s different for Knights though.” Although he didn’t have that much information on Knights the dark-haired senshi had picked up some information from the senshi and knight meeting.

Athene shook his head “I’m sorry I’ve not heard of her either” the name seemed vaguely familiar though, although the dark-haired senshi wasn’t quite able to place from where.

He nodded in agreement at the ‘too much’ comment “I still find the whole thing pretty crazy at times,” he admitted. “But it’s hard to argue about things like youma – not after encountering them face to face. Even if they do sound like something that should come out of some sort of horror tale. By the way I’ve heard that knights can find rings” Polaris had mentioned it at the senshi and knight meeting “which they can use to send messages somehow. Although it seems to be connected to your wonder.” Small as it was mayhaps Aventine would find the information of some use.

Athene frowned in thought. “I guess it probably sounds a little crazy, but I’ve always thought of youma of kind of like monsters” they certainly preyed on people like monsters out of a horror movie. “And I’m not sure for certain but I think the Negaverse has something to do with them.”

For a moment he looked at the takeout cup in his hands before continuing “Last year the Negaverse crashed a city council meeting and killed a bunch of civilians and they had youma with them there which they let loose on the civilians. They crashed one of our meetings recently too – them and the Dark Mirror senshi. They had youma there too.” He looked up from the cup with a sigh “The youma seem to come in all shapes and sizes though and some are easier to dust than others.”

“I guess” Athene agreed. “Then again I guess the authority equivalent” or what passed for one “Would also be seen to have supernatural allies.” After all talking cats probably didn’t fall under mundane and that was before you took into account the variety of senshi and knight abilities out there.

He looked thoughtfully at the takeout cup in his hands before continuing “By the way you should be careful with the Dark Mirror senshi – for some reason some of them seem to have a real grudge against knights.”