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Megrez was getting really frustrated with songwriting recently. She could have gone back to her planet and performed the ritual nearly a week ago... except she couldn't have, because there was the whole fiasco at Avalon. She liked that Gillitie Squire...

Wandering through one of the parks as was her custom, the needling of a second-rank Chaos aura made her stop still in her tracks. It was no ordinary Negaverse aura, however; it was that of a Corrupt Senshi. At first she was curious to see what kind of Corrupt was out and about tonight, but when she saw who that Corrupt was, her blood ran cold.

Blue hair. Tattoos. A toga kind of fuku. She had seen this one before, and she remembered what he had done to her. She wanted to tell herself that she was slowly working her way to being beyond regret, that her love for the world would protect her and everything else, but a prominent part of her wasn't so sure. If he used his attack on her again, would she be able to take it? Unsure of whether to go confront him or not, she hid behind a tree and peered out occasionally to watch him.

Megrez inhaled sharply, trying to steady herself. Her next bout of peering from behind the tree allowed her to see the bottle of vodka in the Corrupt's hands. He was drinking? Drunk? That put an interesting twist on the situation. Would he be more or less volatile? Either way, he knew she was here. She was going to have to face him sooner or later. Maybe she could show him that she had gotten stronger, that she had developed an understanding of the world that allowed her to come to terms with herself.

She stepped out from behind the tree and took a few steps closer to him. "I'm here," she said flatly. "Remember me? The senshi you attempted to corrupt? The senshi you nearly destroyed the mind of with your magic?" It was a dramatic turn of phrase, to be sure, but she could think of no other way to describe what his magic had done to her. It had nearly driven her mad, sending her on a crazed run through the city looking for lieutenants to kill, and that had led to her encounter with the tall yellow rainbow senshi.

"It was a painful thirty seconds. Maybe you should try using your magic on yourself sometime and see how it feels." Megrez's tone sharpened. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, because if she was expecting this one to be diplomatic at all, she was going to feel mighty silly. The jab at her pants made her roll her eyes as obviously as she could. "Well, gee, at least it's not a skirt like you're wearing. You should be glad you haven't been saddled with a short skirt like some of the ladies have. Just imagine the breeze between your knees and everyone wanting to flip your toga up for fun. Hell, I'd do it, if only for a clear shot at your a**." Maybe we should figure out how to modify male fukus into skirts and short-shorts, Megrez thought, a twitch of an amused smile appearing on her face. "But no, I can't purify you or anyone else. It would make my work easier if I could."

Megrez gave a short, sharp chuckle. "You have a boyfriend? Really? And no, I'd rather not have a drink if your corrupt cooties have been on it." She wanted to give him a good few rounds of assery to counter him, but when she heard him, she hit on something. "Huh. You know, since I encountered you last. I learned something. You said you have a boyfriend, someone who cares about you... I learned that, as long as you have some sort of love in your heart, Chaos can't truly take over. If you care for your boyfriend, and if he really cares for you... you know, maybe there's a little hope for you yet. Unless something happened with him and that's why you're drinking?" Now might have been an odd time to start getting preachy, but it was starting to hit her stronger than ever: some Negaverse members weren't just ruthless starseed-filching energy-sucking jerkmonsters. Some of them kept their normal lives, were in love, had people who loved them. And if they had love, perhaps they could be spared?

"It was a joke-" Megrez didn't even get to finish before Kerberos went on his spiel, and she frantically and vainly tried to get a word in edgewise as he went on and on. "No- you're thinking too- specific- oh- geez- hey- wait-" and then he finally concluded just in time for her to blurt out an exasperated "Oh my god slow down for five freaking seconds geez!" She took a breath to steady herself and try and pick apart the massive blob of stuff the corrupt had just blasted her with.

"A future... I'm guessing you had a vision, too? Let me go back to where I started. It's not because you're 'banging someone.' It's because you have the capacity to love and care and worry, and you haven't let hate take everything over. Let me tell you something... I nearly got taken over by hate in my vision of the future. I killed many Negaverse soldiers and didn't figure out that things weren't so black and white till it was too late. I've gotten warnings from people in the present, too. When I went to my planet one time, I saw something that changed me. In my past life, I forgave someone dear to me who had done something terrible. I could have killed him and allowed the hate to consume me, but I didn't. I let him live because I loved him and wouldn't let myself be taken over."

"I guess what I'm saying is... you're still human, still you. Chaos might not have so strong a hold on you. Maybe that future can be averted." Megrez took one step closer, thought about sitting on the bench next to the Corrupt, but then decided against it. "You know, I don't think I ever got your name. I'm Super Sailor Megrez, Senshi of Eggs. And you are?" Names were humanizing. Perhaps putting names to faces would be a help, if a small one.

Birdbutt? Megrez didn't stick to mulling over the strange nickname, as there were more pressing matters to attend to. "Right... that would be a problem, wouldn't it." She slipped into a contemplative silence. Once again, she had not accounted for every possibility. "I... I guess that's not quite it. Not quite part of the principle, I mean. If love isn't pure, if it gets twisted somehow, I guess it won't be the kind that can heal. But you're fine right now, aren't you? I don't know how much it'll help, but try remembering how you feel for your boyfriend every day. Keep a log of it, maybe, and if you notice anything that doesn't seem right, try to get back to your previous state. It's like... mindfulness." Swallowing nervously, she added, "I guess what I'm saying is... stay gold? Stay gold, and maybe you'll end up in the right place."

Megrez just nodded, but she froze when Kerberos said that her parents had already "lost one kid." "I... I'm sorry," she said, though at the back of her mind she wondered if the loss of that child had anything to do with the war. A stolen starseed, perhaps? "Can't you still keep in contact with your parents somehow? At all?" She was unaware that purification meant an identity change and a need to break away from their family for the sake of the family's protection. "There's got to be something you can do. It's not easy to just completely drop out of the war... do you Corrupts use Henshin Pens, too? But I bet if you broke yours, they'd make you get a new one right away."

This young man was a sad, sad case. He seemed to be trapped between a million options, none of which led to a true "good end." Megrez's distress made itself apparent as the frown spread across her face. She couldn't help Kerberos, and that hurt. The only one who could save him through any sort of movement or decision was himself. "Nnn... okay. Get home safe." She paused, and added, "Goodbye, and good luck."