Welcome to Gaia! ::

Megrez had seen some interesting flyers posted up around town while patrolling. An interview for people with supernatural powers in itself wasn't too intensely jarring, but the fact that the flyer had specifically mentioned "terrorists" caught her attention. What on earth did the poster mean by that? This person was going to get in trouble with some unsavory characters, asking for "terrorists" like that. Such a request was very unusual and merited investigation. Perhaps Megrez could act as a bodyguard for this person if anyone dangerous came about.

She did as the paper instructed and traveled to a park on the east side of town. It wasn't long before she spotted someone at a bench and table with a notebook in tow. Her greeting was cheerful, perhaps a bit too much so. "Hey there! Are you the one waiting for the interviews those flyers are about?" If she was wrong, well, she could hang out with a civilian for a bit, maybe escort her home and make sure no stray youma or Negaverse agents were in her way.

"It's fine, no worries!" Megrez said, waving dismissively. "In the future, instead of terrorists, call us senshi, because that's what we're called. The guys in black suits are Negaverse agents, though. Don't confuse them with us." Taking the cue, she sat down at the bench across from Angel. "Nice to meet you, Angel. That sounds really cool! So I'll be in this magazine after the interview? Sweet. You'll have to send me a copy or a link or something." She realized a bit late that providing her e-mail might accidentally leak her civilian identity. Maybe she should start an e-mail just for senshi contacts?

With a stretch, Megrez began to answer Angel's questions. "Okay, here goes! My name is Super Sailor Megrez, senshi of eggs. Of course, you can just call me Megrez, but that's my full title, rank included. Super means I'm a second-rank senshi. About my life... most of the time, I'm actually an ordinary civilian like you. I can power down whenever I'd like. I go to school, I have hobbies, things like that... I can't reveal my civilian identity though. That's dangerous. Anyway, at night, I power up into my senshi form and patrol around the city. My targets are the weird monsters around the city. Maybe you've heard of them? They're called youma. I also target Negaverse agents."

Here Megrez's expression darkened. "I know the Negaverse knows how to manipulate people into thinking they're the good guys. But we're fighting them for a reason. They're the reason the monsters are around, and they can drain people's energy. In fact, they can yank a person's soul out of their body like it's nothing. I may not have physical proof of these things, but... for the youma part, I've seen at least one general who has a monster with them at almost all times in battle."

Megrez frowned (well, pouted) a bit when Angel told her not to worry about finding the article. She wanted to see, dangit! The continued questioning distracted her and snapped her back to attention, though. "Yes, that's right! We are kind of like superheroes in that way. But no, we can't use our powers when we're civilians. That would kind of defeat the point of being 'powered down,' I'd say."

Angel's next volley left Megrez realizing that she probably lacked the knowledge to give a full and comprehensive picture of the war. The little aspects escaped her, like the origin of youma. "I don't really know much about the monsters. I'm pretty sure the Negaverse pulls them out of their headquarters and sets them loose on the town to help them hunt for people, but take that with a grain of salt. As for why the Negaverse spreads monsters around and drains energy... I don't know the full story, but they need people's energy for something, and it's definitely not a good thing. They want to get rid of us Senshi. A Knight- they're allies of the senshi, think same faction but a different class- told me that most Negaverse agents are convinced that the senshi are alien invaders that need to be eliminated to save Earth."

Rehearsing Hvergelmir's explanation nearly made Megrez forget a crucial detail, and she paused for a moment as she retrieved it. "We fight them because Chaos, the force that powers them, is the force that destroyed our home worlds a thousand years ago. We can't let them get strong enough to do the same to Earth."

Her face had gone grim for a moment, but the next section of questions relaxed her. "To be a senshi of eggs... that's kind of a philosophical question, isn't it? But basically, it means I am connected to a distant planet, and my connection to that planet has given me a magic that manifests itself uniquely as eggs. That planet is where I got my name from, and all senshi get their names from their planets. Planet Megrez, named for the star in the Big Dipper it's close to, is my home world. Now, ranks... they're power levels. There are four 'ranks' of senshi: basic, Super, Eternal, and Royal. We all start out as basics when we awaken, and progress to Super and Eternal ranks when the Guardian Cats sense that our starseeds are ready for more power. Royal Senshi are special, though. I don't think they're part of the natural progression in power levels. Like... most senshis top out at Eternal. I've only seen two Royals for our faction and I only know the name of one."

When she finished, Megrez realized that she had introduced more concepts than she had explained. "There's a lot that I need to go into, isn't there... What do you want to hear about first? Homeworlds and past lives, Guardian Cats, or starseeds? Or is there something else I missed?"

"I wonder too," Megrez said, nodding at the implication of the Negaverse's media grip. "They must have some sort of publicity department. If only Order could get one of those..."

"About homeworlds... well, while our current selves are born on Earth, in our past lives we were born on our homeworlds. We reincarnated. Every time we go to our homeworlds, we can see visions of our past lives." Where Angel went after that made Megrez confused. "Working together...? Nnnno? They're trying to corrupt Earth and take it for themselves and make it a haven for Chaos. We can't let that happen. The threat to Earth comes from whatever they're planning to do. The whole 'saving the world from senshi' thing is just propaganda. They're not saving anyone from anything." Her face creased into a thoughtful frown. "I don't know if they seek to destroy Earth so much as take it over. And... no, I don't know how Chaos destroyed my homeworld, or how it even got to there in the first place. I'm pretty sure one of the Royals I mentioned earlier knows how Chaos got to his homeworld, but... I don't know so much about it." All these knowledge gaps were starting to get irksome. She was a Super Senshi. Shouldn't she know these things already? Somehow this lady knew how to ask all the right questions.

Megrez tapped her chin as Angel unleashed another volley of questions. "Oh, no, it's fine. Everyone's been a little tired recently, I think. Must be the weather. Anyway, a starseed is basically the physical manifestation of a soul. They look like little diamond-things. Negaverse agents can eat them, and that's... bad. Obviously. I don't know the exact mechanics of them. Yes, Guardian Cats are actually cats! They have stars on their foreheads that indicate that they're special. They can awaken new senshi, upgrade us, provide us with our senshi phones and henshin pens... they're invaluable to us."

Taking a breath, Megrez shifted a little in her seat to get ready to go on about past lives. "Okay, here's the fun part. Past lives... like I said, we senshi can travel to our homeworlds, and when we do, we get visions of our past lives. They can be in first person, third person, or they can start out as one and turn into another. I've had all three happen to me. My first visions were in first person, and I saw the people of my world from the ruins of this village I had landed in. The next ones were in first and third, and I finally got to see what my past self looked like. She had a uniform almost like mine, but her pants were plaid instead of Faberge-print, and her boots were more practical... I remember her scar the most, though. She had a big one going down the side of her face. I still don't know how she got it when she seems kind of domestic. On my most recent trip, I got to see her spend an entire day souvenir shopping in some resort town." That last bit was something Megrez was still a little sore about. She wanted real details...

"They take energy from people. How can that be good at all? I don't know what they're using it for, but it can't be good." The energy-stealing alone was horribly flimsy proof that the Negaverse was out to hurt people, but it was all Megrez could think of aside from one other thing: "That and they can drain people to death, or just pluck their starseeds right out of their chest. If you want proof, check the seedier alleys at night. Chances are that there's a Negaverse agent taking advantage of some poor girl. Or guy. Oh, and did I mention that I was nearly killed by a General in my early senshi days? The higher-ups can be really dangerous." The draining-people-to-death was sort of a guess based on what she had been told, but the rest seemed to add up (even though it probably still wasn't enough for real proof).

Megrez frowned when Angel called her out on her lack of concrete information. It kind of hurt, being inexperienced and out of the loop on the hard details. "I'm going to visit my homeworld more, and if I see any visions of what happened to destroy it and I see you again, I'll let you know." When Angel pushed the notebook over to her, she shook her head. "Not a diamond like that. More like... um... an actual diamond. The shape. Not like the gem, the shape. Sorry, I'm not really sure how to explain it. And that's right, the agents are chomping down on souls, or at least the thing that contains them and allows them to reincarnate."

Megrez couldn't help herself when Angel said she might leave out the past life and starseed parts. "But the past life stuff is the coolest part! Can't you at least say that we can go to our homeworlds and see visions?" When asked for parting remarks, Megrez scratched her head. She really didn't have much more aside from what she had told. "If you don't have any more questions, I think it'd be best for you to think everything over. The lowdown on being a senshi is a lot for a senshi to take in, let alone a normal person."

Honestly, Megrez was kind of wowed by the sheer amount of alternate perspectives Angel had to take into account. And she hadn't even been aware that 'Setians' were a thing until this moment. It was a little embarrassing. She wasn't going to argue against the moral issues at all; they were a little too overwhelming for her to face at this moment. "Um, well... I'm pretty sure I still have your flyer, but it wouldn't hurt to have another copy of your information." She brightened up when Angel made her deal, and shook her hand to seal it. "Deal! Next time I find out something cool, I'll try and give you a call. And when you're available and I can go to my planet again- there's kind of a cooldown between visits- I'll let you know so you can come see for yourself what it's like up there."