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Ilse Renier was not a festive person.

Ilse also wasn't much of a patient person, either. Dodging holiday crowds wasn't particularly her thing, and as someone who always had other things to do, someone who had a set schedule as to when these things would be done by, having to wait was getting old really quick.

Today, Ilse was on her way to the post office, aiming to pick up some packages she had ordered that, if the postal workers valued their jobs, would be here on time, waiting for her, and not late, such as the last time she had ordered materials for cosplay. On the way, however, Ilse had allowed herself some time to stop by a nearby cafe, and pick up one of their seasonal mochas.

Unfortunately, this also meant waiting in a big line, waiting for her drink to be made (were they making orders that had come after hers?) and pushing her way the line again because they had made her coffee wrong (or, rather, she had grabbed the wrong drink, but Ilse was never wrong.). After all of that was all said and done with, Ilse was now belatedly on her way again to the post office, cursing the fact that she had been delayed.

Just what else could go wrong today?

Ilse had mixed opinions when it came to animals; she'd taken her fair share of equestrian lessons as a child (the more talents she had, the better, after all), and one of her uncles happened to own quite a few exotic cats, as well. As today's mission was to get to the post office before it closed, it was safe to say Ilse didn't have time to be dealing with stray animals bumping into her...

Except for the fact that Pippin looked far too well-fed and well-groomed to be a stray. The star marking on his head was unusual, as well, and was that cat smiling? It had to be her imagination.

... Ignoring that for now, Ilse carefully crouched down so that she could get a better look at Pippin, looking for any tags or other forma of identification; while she wanted to hurry up already and pick up her package, a lost cat returned to its owner could provide Ilse with a much-needed ego boost for today.

"Tell me, cat," she began, not expecting an answer; she was talking to herself more than Pippin. "Who do you belong to?"

The cat talked back.

The cat talked.

The cat was talking, and it was not offering to grant her a wish in exchange for a contract. It was, however, talking about a 'Sailor Draconis', as well as 'sailor senshi', and Ilse managed to put two and two together to figure out this little cat was referring to the 'terrorists' the news almost always talked about.

But first, to backtrack things a bit--

"You can talk," Ilse commented, in a tone that was more of a statement than a question, "and you're talking about 'senshi'."

The mail could momentarily wait. Standing back up, Ilse stared down at Pippin, arms crossed, trying to look as imposing as possible.

"Alright, cat, you've got my attention." Go on, the words implied.

Excited? Possibly. While Ilse could do without listening to Pippin chatter on, there was a feeling of enthusiasm somewhere in the mix if things Ilse was feeling, yes. This was a dream come true, after all, or at least one of them; She was a magical girl. She was a sailor senshi.

It wasn't exactlty the same as being contracted to become a Puella Magi, but Ilse would take what she could get.

"I'm a senshi," she repeated, liking the sound of that, "A magical girl..." Perhaps she could put up with this talking cat a little longer.

"Alright, so what do I have to do? There's some kind of incantation- Mew Mew Ichigo, Metamorphose- some magical relic, isn't there? That's how it always is in fandom, anyway."

This was it. This was her chance, the moment she had been waiting for. In her dreams, she was the star; it's her. Ilse was thankful that nobody else was around at the moment, as there was a certain feeling of giddiness building up inside her. It was like being a little girl all over again and winning that Ultimate Grand Surpreme title complete with the huge crown and sash, except now she was about to have her true potential revealed, one of a magical girl.

Taking the pen and phone from Pippin (how did he do that, anyway?), Ilse held up the pen, and with what felt like all the conviction in the world, shouted those fateful words- "Deneb Power, make-up!"



... After it was all said and done, Sailor Deneb looked herself over the best she could without a mirror, inspecting her new outfit. "Not bad," she admitted, looking pleased, "It's almost like I imagined."

The senshi of bubbles? It didn't particularly sound like a pretty powerful thing to be a senshi of, but then again, it was a whole different realm of possibilities for a magical girl, and so Deneb accepted her newfound title with all the grace of a former pageant princess.

That is, until the youma showed up. Although she couldn't have seen it coming (or identified via energy aura, being newly awakened and all), there was still the part of Deneb that was the same as when she was Ilse- she was a glory hog who hated being shown up by other people.

Sailor Deneb's first impression of Chibi Euphrosyne was not a positive one, even if all he did was knock the youma back a few feet.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle things from here," Deneb retorted, sounding, well... annoyed that the spotlight had been taken from her, on her big day.

It didn't matter that she didn't have things here, it was the whole... being 'saved' by a little kid that got on Deneb's nerves. This was her moment, her chance to shine... and a little chibi came along and blew it.

It was embarrassing, and Deneb stared at Euphrosyne, highly displeased.

"And help you did," she finally said, with a small huff. And now you can go right back where you came from, she thought to herself, though she refrained from voicing that thought outloud. Argh, whatever, the youma still needed to be destroyed, and thankfully the pipsqueak hadn't stolen that honor from her.

Turning to Pippin, Deneb looked at the chatterbox guardian cat expectantly.

"Well?" she pressed, "Aren't you going to tell me what to do next?"