Patrolling seemed to be all that Ida did any more, but at least it didn’t involve thinking about the past, or the future, as it was. She could buckle down and focus on exterminating youma, or chasing off captains and lieutenants from draining people, leaving the deeper thought for a later time. The later time kept getting later, pushing back more, but as unhealthy as it was to avoid your problems, it wasn’t like that was much of a solution to be found by facing them either.

Ida bit her lip lightly as she fiddled with her compact, focusing on the nearest little start of a basic Order signature. Offering aid to first levels was easier than fighting a future she wasn’t sure she could change. Any time she attempted that particular exercise, she invariably ended up running her thoughts in circles that went no where. And when it wasn’t the future she was worrying over, it was the present past, in particular the run in with Bischofite. How do you face yourself after betraying everything you believed in? Well, Ida didn’t. Because it was easier.

Turning, the eternal senshi took off in the direction of the signature, stowing away worries and concerns for a duty she had been performing nearly as long as she’d been a senshi. Here was something she could make a difference with, something she could truly accomplish. The results were immediate and visible and something she desperately needed right now. The museum loomed up out of the darkness and Ida’s eyes swept the pale facade, tracing the arches of windows and the tall columns that rose bottom to top. She had fond memories of the place, of the few times she had visited. Museums held wonderful things and preserved knowledge for all to share… they were things to be treasured.

Glancing down at the open compact in her hand, the young woman turned a little to orient herself, fiddling with the screen again for a more accurate reading.

Quote:
Kepler was once more out at night after she finished her homework. It wasn’t her fault her teachers seemed to pile it on. Page upon page of papers due about subjects she really didn’t find interesting, but.. she had to keep her grades up. She was on a scholarship and couldn’t afford any form of slip up. Crystal Academy was expensive and her family was not rich, like everyone seemed to be.

She jumped from the street to the top of the museum roof, landing with a light patter of her heels and smiled. This was one of her favorite places. She learned a lot here, from her internship and hoped to secure a spot somewhere in the ranking. Lord knows she’d beg if the internship ended without talks of a future. ...Which she didn’t want to think about too much when it came to her powered side. She’d remembered things that startled her, scared her so bad it gave her nightmares the first couple of nights after things calmed down. Particularly a white haired senshi in all black and some Negaverse agent. The pair left quite an impression on the Senshi of Words and was hoping that she never met up with them again.

A hand scrubbed over her face and she just stayed on the roof for a bit to gather her thoughts. Yumi would tell her to keep going, to keep looking for youma to dust. Kepler was getting good at doing it by herself. “Not by myself. There’s others around,” she told herself, smiling. She could feel little spots of energy around her. If they were Chaos or Order, she couldn’t tell right now, but she liked to think some of them were Order. It made her feel better.


The feel of an order signature nearby brought a soft smile to the senshi’s face and she closed her compact with a click, letting it fall to rest against her stomach. There was no need for it now with the other so close… she could find them without it.

Turning, she opened her senses and the shine pulled her attention towards the museum. Not inside, surely…? Maybe the roof... That seemed more likely that inside, though you could never be sure with some people. Senshi, and knights for that matter, came from all walks of life and all different age groups. The signature felt like a senshi and Ida gathered herself to jump to the roof, landing lightly to the sound of her heels grinding against the gravel there.

What she found was a senshi that she vaguely remembered. A young girl with massive hair bound up on her head and a fuku printed like a newspaper… She’d seen her somewhere before, the hair at least was hard to forget.

“Hello!” Ida called as she lifted a hand to wave, making her way closer with a welcoming smile of greeting. Start off with a friendly face and you rarely went wrong was her motto with new potential allies. “I think I know you… we’ve met before, right? I was just patrolling and I noticed your aura, so I thought I would swing by and say hello, see how you’re doing.”

Quote:
The thought to check inside never occured to her, though it probably should have. Who knew if youma were inside feeding upon energy of the janitor or the security guard. That would make her sad to come in one day to that sort of accident or something. So far, nothing like that had happened.

She had only planned on pausing here before going along her way towards the alleyways where the youma tended to hang out. But she felt an energy near her rather suddenly. (She hadn’t exactly been paying attention, too lost in thought.) Just when she was about to get into an attacking stance, the other made herself known and Kepler put a hand to her chest and laughed a little. “You scared me!” Her cheeks had flushed in embarrassment at being scared so easily.

Then Kepler realized who this was and her grin grew wider. “Ah! We have ...At Meadowview, I believe, just before we were all ferried to the moon.” She held out her hand before offering her name. “Kepler, is myname. You’re Ida. I remember admiring your.. everything?” Ida was pretty, her fuku, the energy she gave off, how positive she seemed.. Ida was good, like a super hero.


The smile on Ida’s face eased into something wider and more natural as she laughed softly, lightly waving a hand.

“I’m sorry to startle you! I really didn’t mean to.” She chuckled, feeling her face heat up when the girl mentioned admiration for her. Yes, the ferry… that’s where she had seen this new senshi before. There had been a lot going on that night though, and a lot of emotional issues as well, so it wasn’t too surprising she didn’t remember being told the other’s name. She should, but allowances had to be made for Ida’s poor mental condition lately. “Ah, um… Yeah. My name’s Ida.”

The eternal offered her glowing hand to take Kepler’s, giving her a warm squeeze.

“We sort of lost each other once we got up to the moon. I hope you weren’t too lost through the meeting, though. There were a lot of people, and a lot of new senshi and knights too, which was nice to see. I was so busy trying to get everyone where they needed to go, I got a little neglectful. My team and I sort of make it our duty to help out the new people, I should have made sure all of you had things sorted.” She couldn’t do fifty different things at once, but she could have tried a little harder, maybe. At least this girl didn’t seem too worse for the wear, even if she hadn’t gotten to meet her properly until now.

“How long have you been a senshi, if you don’t mind my asking? Which cat woke you up? Poseidon was my awakening cat, though ********* was the one who helped me with my upgrades.”

Quote:
Kepler just waved her hand a little as the Ida apologized. It was pretty much chaos until they got to the moon, with everyone trying to figure out what they were doing, trying to get an accurate headcount for ferrying, she completely understood. The younger of the two gave a little look around before focusing back on Ida.

“The ferrying was pretty crazy, so I don’t blame you for getting caught up in things. That meeting went well. I’m excited for the work we all do together. It was… really encouraging to see everyone coming together and working towards a common goal, or at least… trying to get in order to work together.” Kepler giggled a little more and put her hands behind her back. There was so much to do that day that even she got lost and caught up in other things. She didn’t catch a lot of the people’s names that were there, and it made her a little sad, but she’d have time to meet them again later, she was sure.

“*********? No.. Snowball ..woke me up? I guess you could call it that. Got in a fight with a youma and helped Snowball and Niflhel dust it.” She seemed to light up at how she was awakened. It had been troubling at first, but now that she’d been a senshi for a while, she appreciated it. “I’ve been a senshi for a few months now. My cat, Yumi, is off and about. She often runs off ahead and lets me know where to go. Say… Does everyone get a cat?” It seemed like they did.


Snowball… she didn’t think she’d met that one yet, or a Niflhel. Not surprising, again. As singular as they all seemed to be, when you got down to a head count or people gathered in one place, the number of them was startling. It was like Order came out of the woodwork, slipping from their clever hiding places when it was needful. They had been, and probably always would be, rather adept at hiding… a skill that would keep them alive a lot longer than the Negaverse probably thought when they whittled them down to their scarcer numbers.

“Order tends to work alone a lot and its one of the big advantages the Negaverse has over us.” Ida said as she lightly clasped her hands at her waist, her brown fingers laced together. “We’ve been trying to make a difference in that and the Blackwatch is a prime example. If we banded together more, I think we would be more successful in our fight against Chaos. Less people would get hurt, fights would go our way rather than theirs.”

The eternal lifted and dropped her shoulders in a shrug. The idea proved itself in her own team and how successful they had been together, versus her times alone.

“Yumi? I haven’t met that cat yet, she has a cute name!” Ida said as she smiled, spreading her hands open palm up. “Cats are actually sort of rare. Only a handful of people have ones bonded to them, from what I’ve seen. I don’t have a cat and my team didn’t for a very long time. We were all surprised when Liryn showed up and bonded to Athene and the team. I’ve only really met Poseidon, *********, Horatio and Faust, I think… I’ve met a lot more senshi than that, and nearly all of those senshi don’t have cats either. You’re lucky you have one! I adore Horatio… sort of wish she was mine.”

Ida laughed lightly as she dropped her hands again, feeling an easiness slipping over she hadn’t felt in a good while. Chatting like this, it was nice… easy. Light. She had forgotten how good it felt to just be a young woman, talking about things that weren’t fighting and death and blood.

“I keep a window open for her to stop by, and always leave some food out just in case.”

Quote:
“I don’t mind working alone. I remember from the meeting how many of us there are out there. I have Yumi now, and I’ve met a few others, so I’m at peace. I like it, actually. I feel like I’m.. stronger on my own right now? Not necessarily stronger, but.. I’m gaining my sea legs, as it were. Boosting my own confidence.” If she were to fight with others, she might get distracted and try to impress them or grow too nervous to do anything.

Maybe she needed team building exercises. Then Ida said that cats were rare and Kepler tilted her head. Oh, well then. “..Yumi may find her way to you. She jumps between people all the time. Tries to help everyone, get me connections, I suppose. She’s a strange one.” Very much child like, but it was relaxing. “She is very distracting when I’m trying to be serious. I don’t think she likes those grim, quiet situations.” Her own shoulders rolled in a shrug and Kepler pushed her bangs from her face again. “She’s a bit of a mystery to me right now.”

Ah, so Ida had a team. Kepler heard whispers of another team she wanted to join. She needed to look into it more, but she definitely wanted that sort of bond with other senshi. It seemed like a good way to call someone if you were in a serious amount of trouble, or maybe just needed someone to lean on. She realized this was contradictory to what she’d said, liking to work alone, but everyone wanted to have friends, right?


Ida tilted her head as she thought over what she wanted to say, her bangs sliding against her cheeks as her fingers flexed lightly.

“Its not a bad thing to build confidence in yourself, in learning you can do things without needing help…” She said as she felt her way through it, trying to make sure she said this the right way. “But there is also… a lot of danger out there, especially for basic and even super senshi. Really, anyone in the lower levels. Negaverse generals are powerful and most are ruthless in how they approach this war. Being alone when facing one of those is a dangerous thing.” She knew that better than some. She had the scars as proof. “I used to spend a lot of time on my own as well, thinking I could handle myself since all I was doing was hunting down youma to dust… but then I ran into a general named Painite while I was by myself and I very nearly died. I was lucky there was a civilian woman there who distracted her while I called one of my senshi friends for back up… He had to carry me to safety, I had lost so much blood I couldn’t do it myself. I very seriously considered giving up on being a senshi, back then… I was afraid to power up, worried she’d sense my power signature and hunt me down to finish me off.”

Anella had been so worried when she had Chaonis drop her off at her friend’s apartment, scared of going to the hospital. It had been silly, but the pair had humored her, patching her up as best they could. The twisting scar across her ribs was her punishment for that foolishness, one she would always wear.

“Its good that you have Yumi around, even if she is distracting. The poor cats… they’re in even more danger than we are, not even able to really stand up to the weakest Lieutenants. You can keep her safe. I would suggest, you know, if you feel up to it… finding at least one other person to do your patrols with. Things that would put you in danger alone could be overcome just by having that one partner… you’re twice as strong with them. I know its not an easy thing to do, finding someone you can get along with and fight beside but… I’d really hate to see you get hurt. Once you reach higher levels you’ll be safer on your own, but there is just… so much that can hurt you right now.” Ida shuffled self consciously, a self-deprecating smile on her face. “I know, I probably sound like a worried mother… I just want to make sure you at least consider it, you know?”

Quote:
The conversation took a sad turn and Kepler’s face straightened out as she listened. So Ida had been seriously injured doing the same thing she was doing herself? Kepler bit down on her bottom lip and just let it all sink in. She.. had ran into a lieutenant in her dreams, a man with dreadlocks and piercings everyone paired with a corrupted senshi. ….That could be in her future. So Ida’s advice was taken completely seriously. Finding a partner would become something she sought to do quickly.

Her hands moved to the front of her fuku, twisting the skirt in her fingers a bit before she dusted it off and tried to pull the wrinkles out.

“...I’ll do that. I’ll have Yumi help me find someone that I can fight beside. I don’t.. want to almost die.” She would learn from Ida’s mistakes, from her stories. That’s what elder’s did. They taught the fledglings things they learned the hard way and for that, Kepler was grateful. She was sad that no one had helped Ida that way, that Ida learned it too late to save herself a painful experience. Slowly the younger offered the Eternal a smile and just nodded again. “Hopefully it won’t be too hard. I know there were senshi around my level at the meeting. It wouldn’t be impossible to find one.” She’d definitely have Yumi help her. Yumi could figure out Order and Chaos energies better than she could.

“I’m glad you came to say hello. I learned something new.”


Offering a warm smile, Ida stepped forward to reach for Kepler’s hands, giving them a warm squeeze in each of hers.

“I don’t want to scare you, really. I just want you to take it seriously, and be prepared. If nothing else, you can always call me after this and I’ll come out with you when I don’t have class.” Ida gave the younger girl’s hands a pat before she let them go again, her hands clasping behind her back, just under her white wings. “I also have teammates who would be happy to fill in when I’m not available, and we’d all come if you had an emergency, so you should register me in your phone. You could also contact the Blackwatch, see if there is anyone else looking for a patrolling partner. That’s sort of what its for, right?”

Dropping her hands, Ida suited words to actions and summoned her phone out of subspace, lifting it as she gave Kepler a questioning look.

“Is it okay if I register you in my phone? You know, in case I need to reach you? I like to have as many people in my contacts as possible, because you never know when you’re going to need to reach someone, or someone that one of your contacts knows.” She said as she thumbed her screen on and pulled up the camera, waiting for permission before the picture was taken.

“I assume you’ve already got a pretty good grasp on what your magic does, at this point… You probably have a pretty good idea of how much stronger and faster you are than when you’re powered down. Testing those things out was always the first thing I did when I gained power, just so I knew my limitations. Have you visited your homeworld yet?” The eternal’s face lit up from the inside as that question came up, a new sort of excitement entering her demeanor. Homeworlds were endlessly interesting, to Ida. Not just her own, which held a uniquely special place in her heart, but all of them.

Quote:
When her hands were taken, Kepler just gave a smaller smile with thin lips. She knew Ida didn’t want to scare her, but it still made her a bit nervous.

Either way, Kepler appreciated the gesture of comfort and took just that out of it, comfort and warmth. “Mm. I don’t mind you registering me.” She even posed for the picture before it was taken and Kepler just grinned and summoned her own phone. Taking it in hand, she held it out in front of Ida and snapped a shot before grinning. Ida was the first person in her phone. A little sad, but someone had to be a first, right? Who better than Ida, who was making sure she was informed and alright. She was just glad that the topic was slipping back into something light and easy.

“Oh yes. I’ve practiced my magic many times. It comes in handy! I’ve also learned how to fight without it because my magic seems really limited at the moment.” She suspected it got stronger as she did, so she wasn’t really complaining. As for the being faster and stronger, she had fun with that. She could get to the places she needed to be really quickly and jumped way higher than should be humanly possible. Then Ida mentioned homeworlds and Kepler’s brows raised and she shook her head.

“Not at all. I’m not even sure how to travel there. I’m… not sure if I need Yumi or more than one cat, or even what my homeworld is like! I’m… nervous about going honestly.” What if she got there and didn’t know how to get home? What if she got there and it was desolate, or decrepit? These things bothered her a great deal. In her nervousness, she tugged on her skirt a little more before sighing. “But I suspect I’ll be going there a lot the longer I’m a senshi. ...So I should probably get the first visit underway some point in the near future.”


Her face brightened up as she clasped her hands in front of her chest, very nearly bouncing on her toes in her excitement. It was something of her old self coming back, a feeling she hadn’t had in far, far too long.

“Oh, the travel is easy! There is a button, or app I guess now, on your phone and all you have to do is concentrate on your power source and press it. The Mauvian technology will teleport you to your world, its easy as that. When you’re done, you just concentrate on home and hit the button again and it’ll bring you right back to where you left.” Her face eased into a happy smile as she dropped her hands to her waist. “There’s really no reason to be nervous. Every planet is different, of course, but its yours. Even if its a run down pile of rubble! There was life there a thousand years ago and its sort of like a treasure hunt, finding out what it was like.”

Reaching for the compact around her neck, she showed it to Kepler, the bit of plastic-looking purple cupped in her hands.

“I found this compact there and ********* got it working for me, as an example. You can even get memories, sometimes, of your life in the past. Not as strong just starting out as you are, but they get clearer as you get stronger. You won’t be able to visit very often to start out, but your time between visits will shorten as you go up too. I honestly can’t get enough of visiting my homeworld… I feel so at peace when I’m there, like the whole world is my own special place.”

It was far too easy to wax on about that wonderful asteroid and the love she felt for it.

Quote:
Maybe she would try it one day, when she felt far more ready. Right now she barely had the hang on being a senshi. Balancing things wasn’t exactly easy when you came home injured and had to pretend like nothing was wrong, but then again.. Ida would know about that more than Kepler would. Still, she would definitely try it sometime in the very near future.

Kepler looked at the compact and gave a little grin. Plastic looking it might be, but it was still cute and served a purpose. Maybe Kepler would find something similar on her home world. The energy between the two seshi was high and she couldn’t help but giggle a little more before clasping her hands behind her back and giving Ida a bright smile. “I might just do that. When I’m a bit stronger, I wouldn’t mind taking you there. ..I mean, if there’s anything to really see. I don’t want it to be a pile of rubble..” But were there planets there with thriving civilizations? Kepler’s mind automatically went to all the books she’s read on space travel and the sci-fi fiction she dabbled in. Wouldn’t this prove them wrong?

“That is if you’d want to go. I’m sure you’re very busy with helping the other new senshi, so it’d be entirely by your schedule.” Kepler didn’t think anything would happen to her planet. Now she definitely had to study up on what scientists had discovered of Kepler and then travel there to compare and contrast.


A laugh broke from Ida as she nodded enthusiastically.

“I would love to go to Kepler! I would love to see more worlds out there… I’ve only been to Shangri-la and Ida, so far. I would definitely make time to go, whenever you wanted to! I might be busy, but I would squeeze time out of my schedule for that.” She said with a warm chuckle. It was an exciting prospect, to get to see another world besides her own. She wondered what it was like, what sort of things could be found there and just what sort of environment her people had lived in, once upon a time. Shangri-la had been beautiful, a land of lush forest and glorious waterfalls. Ida remembered standing with him on the bridge, arm in arm, watching the water fall the staggering height from cliff top to the base of the valley.

“I would be happy to take you to Ida in exchange. I really enjoy showing Ida to people and I think it… well, it might seem silly, but I think the asteroid benefits from having people there. It used to have a whole thriving civilization and people came from lots of other worlds to visit it and get treatment. I find something new every time I go there and its a lot of fun to share it with people. I admit, I’m kind of in love with space travel.” The eternal was easily able to laugh at herself, well aware that she might find these things more exciting than some other people. That was okay, too. Not everyone had to love it as much as she did.

That was also most of the questions and advice she had, for the moment. Unless Kepler had more questions she wanted to bring up, Ida figured they had made a pretty good start of things so far.

“I should probably let you get back to your patrolling, unless you’d like some company for the remainder of the night! I don’t have anywhere to be, and if you have any more questions, I’d be happy to answer them for you.” She said as she spread her hands in invitation.

Quote:
“Wow…” She’d been to Shangri-la? Kepler would have to look into that one too. Ah, now she wanted to go to other people’s planets! It was right up her alley considering she worked for the science museum and looked at stars in her spare time.

Then Ida said she would be able to go to Ida and her eyes just lit up and the smile on her face grew even wider. “Oh, man.. I would absolutely love to explore Ida with you!” The very idea of space travel was starting to sound more soothing than when the subject first came up. It would be easy with their magic. Logic went out the window the night she found out she was a magical girl and she was still trying to tell herself that anything was possible now.

As much as she’d love Ida to stay with her the rest of the night, she did have a cat to find and needed to head back to sleep soon. “I would love it if you could stay…but I do have a few things to do back at home when I find Yumi.” Kepler sighed at that and just shrugged. At least she had Ida’s information now! She would definitely use it next time she was in a pinch.


Ida smiled brightly as she clasped her hands at her waist. The encounter had eased tension in a way she had not expected, though it was sorely needed. This was what she needed to do… get back into helping people like Kepler. Not as a nurse, maybe, but as a mentor. This is what felt rewarding, what she enjoyed; spreading knowledge and helping those who were new find their feet in this war. The more prepared they all were to start out, the safer they were and more likely to stay that way.

“That’s okay, I’m used to patrolling by myself. When you have some free time, please give me a call! We’ll set up a time to go planet exploring or patrolling or something. It was really nice to meet you, Kepler. I look forward to seeing you again.” She said as she offered her hand to the other girl in farewell.

She’d see her again and the promise to go world hopping was enough to keep Ida buoyed up on good feelings for the rest of the night.