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A couple more pieces from the etsy shop had sold and Arian had duly dropped them off at the post office, dropping off a text to his cousin to let her know that he’d posted them.

He didn’t usually patrol as his senshi counterpart this early, preferring to generally leave it to more on the early-ish evening side, but he was out and about already so had figured he may as well.

It was warm enough that he’d skipped over his usual pattern of buying a hot drink, opting to simply power up. He’d reached the vicinity of the North Park as Athene when he felt the aura of a nearby senshi – it felt like a base rank senshi.

Despite the fact that Athene felt that he was still trying to feel his own path, the dark-haired senshi had found himself starting to seek out senshi at base rank since his return to actually patrolling and trying to share what he knew with the new senshi. Although he knew that being base rank didn’t mean new, sometimes it did and Athene wouldn’t wish his days of stumbling around into things on anyone.

The dark-haired senshi had gotten a bit into the park, when he heard it – something about planting. The aura seemed to be in that direction too and Athene broke into a run, although he was a little puzzled – he hadn’t sensed any youma nearby, or any Nega or Dark Mirror auras.

Then he saw them, a blond-haired senshi and a wraith-like thing that Athene recognised as one of the mirror wraiths used by the Dark Mirror Court, although it was weird one being around without a Dark Mirror senshi being there.

“Hey leave him alone!” The dark-haired senshi couldn’t be sure but the other senshi looked like he was in a bit of trouble and after a couple of moments Athene moved closer and tried to clock the wraith as best he could.He didn’t know that much about the wraiths but if it was solid enough and he was able to hit it then mayhaps it would be enough to smash it.

“It was a mirror wraith” Athene said quietly in answer to the other’s question. “The Dark Mirror Court uses them to steal energy, but they’re easy to break when they’re solid like that one was. It’s weird one being out on its own like this though – usually the Dark Mirror senshi should be around somewhere too.”

He gave Thraen a slight smile, his voice friendly “Nice to meet you Thraen” he said. “I’m Sailor Athene, senshi of beads but you can just use Athene.” There was a concerned look in his eyes as he took over the condition the other senshi appeared to be in. “Are you okay?”

Athene nodded “Yes, the Dark Mirror Court are senshi that are led by Princess Ares” he said quietly. “They’re different from corrupted senshi – they don’t have holes” not like that creepy red-haired senshi that it had turned out had belonged to the Negaverse. “And they can walk through mirrors. They’re also allies of the Negaverse.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment before adding. “I don’t know how strong the alliance is though.” Remarque had seemed to imply that he didn’t care much for the Negaverse, but they hadn’t seemed to have had any problems working together at the senshi and knight meeting that they gate-crashed. “Most of them seem to hate the Knights” he hesitated, thought about it and then changed it to “Well make that a lot of the one that I've seen seem to hate the Knghts.”

He smiled slightly, “Yes I’m part of the White Moon” his voice friendly, “And I guess beads don’t sound very intimidating.” he admitted ruefully. “My senshi powers can trap things in beads for a little bit though when they work.” At least his base and super senshi abilities could. The dark-haired senshi had yet to use his eternal senshi ability, although logic would suggest that it would probably follow the same route.

“And I’m glad you’re okay” he added, wondering if gardens had anything to do with the other’s sphere. Thraen had mentioned gardens, but hadn’t specifically said that he was the senshi of gardens and Athene didn’t like to make assumptions. “You’re right about the wraiths – they do drain energy. It’s easier to break a wraith than dust a youma though – at least when they’re solid it is.” Much easier given the fact that one hit seemed to shatter the wraiths once they’d taken enough energy to turn solid.

“I guess you could call it that” Athene said quietly, although he privately wasn’t sure that inspirational was a word that he’d use to describe the whole thing.

He nodded at Thraen’s question, rank had never really been that big a deal for Athene so it wasn’t something that he tended to mention. “Yes I’m an eternal senshi.” He said quietly. It wasn’t something that the dark-haired senshi was completely comfortable, but the butt wings were kind of a dead giveaway. “The wings seem to be more of a more elaborate addition to the outfit though.” Albeit an elaborate and somewhat bulkier outfit addition.

He gave a slight smile “It’s okay, I don’t mind answering questions” he said when Thraen apologised for asking lots of questions. “It’s better than stumbling around trying to find answers.” Athene had had to do that – a lot. “And I don't think any of us are really warriors.”

He added because he felt he should “I can’t promise that I’ll always know the answers though and to answer your question yes I’ve met some of the royals. There’s” he thought it over for a moment. “One Prince and three Princesses that I know about. I haven’t seen Prince Castor in a while though.” In fact he hadn’t seen Castor since he arranged that youma dusting session about a year or so back.

A thought occurred to him “Has anyone shown you how to scan other senshi into your phone?” It was something that Athene wished he'd learnt earlier.

“I think it's an awakening thing” Athene said with a nod. “I've had to pretty much stumble my way through things.” He'd been given a henshin pen, a cell phone and told that his purpose was apparently to protect soul crystals from being stolen. He hadn't a clue what he'd gotten into.

“And all senshi get phones I think” he continued quietly. “At least I think the White Moon senshi do.” He added after thinking on it. “You can use your senshi phone to call or send messages other senshi” he added. “It can be useful in a pinch – like if you need back up or something.”

He summoned the blue-green and jade phone, with the small pearl charm that was his own phone and showed it to Thraen. “Scanning a senshi is kind of like taking a picture and seems to add them into the equivalent of the phone’s phone book.”

“To be honest I don’t know what happens to the senshi phone when a senshi gets corrupted” Athene admitted, a thoughtful look on his face. Thraen did have a point though – something must happen to the phones of the White Moon senshi that got corrupted.

“I could try asking around – see if one of the others do though if you want?” He made it a question, leaving the offer open, although Athene was curious enough that he thought he might try asking around anyway.

“And yes I’ve heard that apparently the Negaverse have some of the guardian cats that they’ve corrupted,” he continued quietly “Although admittedly I’ve never met one.” He smiled slightly “And actually ********* is the guardian cat that gave me my henshin pen” and upgraded him to super and then eternal. The smile faded, his path hadn’t crossed that of the guardian cat since the night of his eternal upgrade – not that he’d been particularly trying to find the silvery-furred cat. The opposite in fact.

At Thraen’s mention of phone he nodded, holding up his phone, “After holding up the phone as if taking a picture of the senshi you want to scan, you press this” he indicated the correct button. “If you wouldn’t mind me scanning you into my phone, I can show you it in practice. You can scan me back if you want too.”

“I wouldn’t say I know a great number of the other senshi” Athene said, “But I’ve talked to a few senshi while out on patrol.” Some of them, like Tsui, he considered friends while others were more like acquaintances, seen at a distance at a few shared meetings. “I’ve talked to some of the Knight too, although admittedly I’ve talked to more senshi than Knights.” Not because of any personal preference mind – but more because it had seemed to have fallen out that way.

“And I’ll try asking around about the phone thing” he continued with a nod. Maybe a guardian cat would be able to tell him more.

Then Thraen was stepping back a little so Athene took the opportunity to scan the other senshi in, his lips tilting up slightly at the other’s mention of his driver’s license photo, bringing up Thraen’s details before offering his phone over. “Here this is what it looks like.”