Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reality shifted, and the cold winter winds of Destiny City were replaced by a dry heat and a red dust that smelled like rust, curling around the flagstone path in little eddies as though someone were twirling their finger in the light powdery dust.

They stood in the arch way of an huge coliseum, solid and imposing, with the doorways flanked by stone bulls that stood larger than either of them, their powerful necks, shoulders and flanks decorated with what must have been meant to represent decorative harnesses and brass trimmings. Bells and blankets with flowers and spirals and hints of ornate weapons.

To one side the interior of the coliseum loomed through the end of a walk way that was once lit by torches, their sconces long empty, the interior walkway patterned with a complicated maze and lettering on the walls in something unreadable.

To the other side, broad streets with long empty shops, some of which still held battered examples of the things they had once sold.

Kairatos released Canopus's hand to glance around, spreading his arms to encompass the areas.

"Welcome to Mars, or... my corner of it. This, is the city of Kairatos, and this..." He gestured to the huge Coliseum. "Was her heart once."

At the words We're on Mars, Kairatos' waryness transformed to a grin so wide it looked uncomfortable to maintain, but brilliant with it's raw enthusiasm. "Yep!" He declared, with a certain degree of pride. "And it was, it really was. Plenty of prisons and court houses on Mars, since it was a major seat of justice and law, but none of that happened in there. No one got fed to the lions, warriors trained, athletes competed... no one went in there to die, they went in to show people from around the universe their skills, or try their hand at Bull Dancing."

He wished he could show her, but that was sort of out of the question.

"Walk around, have a look if you want. Pretty sure you can't wreck anything. The cultures are different... but the handful of other wonders I've visited, more or less like this. They seem to improve when visited... but I'm talking... more like a good house cleaning, some damage repair, not the return of... you know... people."

"...I have no idea what it would take to bring them back." He answered, a bit sollemnly. "So for right now all I get is... memories and what you see."

He looked around then pointed toward an painted mural, an white bull charging, head lowered, with an atheletic looking woman in what appeared to be mid tumble, leaping over it.

"That's bull dancing. A little different than on earth, Warriors of Kairatos trained with the bulls we bred here. They were partners, it was about skill and trust and timing inspired by skills that could apply to the battle field. That's one of the reasons for all the..." He gestured at his armor with a wry smile. "Well. You know."

"I... don't remember much of it, but I remember going to the stables with my father to see my partner when we first started working together. He was red, and I named him Asterion. I now I wasn't a born natural. There was a woman I remember teasing me. Apparently..." He walked closer to the mural and twirled his finger in an gesture to indicate the clumsy roll.

"I pretty much -rolled- over him rather than jumped. Kind of embarrassing when you're supposed to represent the entire city. But the important part was getting up and trying again, even when you screw up in front of a crowd."

Or your father, with his disapproving stare.

"Red, Black, and White were the colors they bred for, there was a lot of pride taken in getting a really good blood line going. Diluting it with outside blood wasn't unthinkable, but it probably meant your resulting bulls and cows were watched much more harshly for flaws that would cause problems."

"Ehhh. M-ostly the bulls?" He drew out the words with a sort of wince, apologizing for the past. "My mother came here from earth to marry my father. I don't have all the memories still, but I'm pretty sure there was a bit of a stir that the knight of Kairatos was reborn to someone who wasn't purely bloodlined to Mars, but if anyone outright hated it, I don't remember them getting in my face about it. It was a literally lifetime ago though, so it barely even matters now, does it? And I'm pretty sure she as a fellow student. Little older than me. She had a black bull, same color as her hair. His horn spread was...." He spread his arms apart in indication. "Like this. HUGE. He could scratch lines in the roof of his stall. Actually a lot of them could if they put their mind to it. Trying to show off. I think if she was reborn today she'd probably be an olympic athlete, she was damn good at it. I think she might have had some relatives from Themiscara."

"It is a shame, but it's also a big reason to fight for the continued health of Earth. I don't know that there's anyplace left. And there are so many things on earth that remind me of Mars that I imagine there are hints of other worlds as well."

He no longer got the idea of dismissing Senshi or Knights as 'alien'. They'd been born on earth, and it seemed obvious, even if it was largely unfounded, that Earth and these other worlds had impacted each other.

But then again, he was more than pleased to show off, tapping a finger to the amulet around his neck. "...But on a less depressing note, I can show you ONE of those, though not the Bull Dancing. I haven't exactly spent this go round training to do it.

The energy to call on Asterion felt stronger here, less limited, and he was easier to call, The Huge red bull stepping out in a flicker of light, his fire dimmer, as though he were covered in candle flames that flickered in the breeze.

The bull flicked an ear, lifting his head and eyeing Canopus warily as he moved forward, clearly unsure what to think of her, but he did not attack, only shook his horns and moved to stand closer to the Knight of Mars. Nearly the size of a horse, with a barrel shaped body and white horns as long as the Knight's arms, he moved with a surprising grace on his slender legs.

"Asterion was my partner then and my partner and summon now."

"I... don't know. No wait, that's not true. I'm... fairly sure Hvergelmer has or will have one. Themiscara's is a horse... I don't know about others, but I don't know if weaker knights have the power to draw on them. I can only summon him for a short time on earth. Probably just as well..." He reached to path the burning nose and thought better of it, drawing just short. He remembered Asterion without burning war oil, but he wasn't sure he could banish those flames even here. "Sorry I can't show you the rest, I'd rather not try and teleport us back and then drag my sorry a** to a Chiropractor." He joked. "Probably after the burn ward."

"You live there too, makes it as good a home as any." He pointed out, nudging his elbow in her direction even if it didn't make contact. "I'm not asking for payback, I just... I spent years wrapped up in Chaos's lies. I just want to make sure people know what they're fighting for, because I don't think at this point any of it has anything to do with Moon Queen's or any of that stuff, I mean it did once, but that s**t is so far above our pay grade it barely matters. The part that matters is that this..." He waved his hand around them at the empty shops and streets. "Could be Destiny City someday, if we don't figure out how to stop that from happening. And even I don't have the answers to that. I'm just... going out at night trying to stop there from being any more pointless deaths, any more life force fed to who knows what in the dark, whispering promises it won't deliver on. I'm just..." he shrugged. "I'm grateful you listened. I just wish I could do more for you."