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Whilst Athene had fallen into the habit of going out to patrol on his own, Liryn had been pretty insistent about coming along with him this time round.

In fact the small, tabby bobtailed mauvian had been very insistent, which was how Athene had found himself with a furry patrol partner.

A furry patrol partner who was currently hitching a ride on his shoulder.

Their patrol route had ended up taking them in the direction of the park, although at some point Athene had found himself picking up on the aura of a senshi.

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Liryn had also picked up on the senshi's aura, with the warmth of the aura that of an Order senshi, although it was hard to tell just how close the other senshi was because trying to track auras was never an exact science.

That Athene was going to try and track the aura was never in doubt - well at least not to Liryn - given that the dark-haired eternal generally did his best to try and seek out senshi auras when out on patrol anyway.

It didn't stop him from glancing around however with curious purplish eyes from his perch on Athene's shoulder as a part of him hoped that the dark-haired eternal appeared to be continuing to head in the direction of the park meant that the source of the aura was also in that direction.

Whilst tracking auras was not an exact science, the other senshi's aura seemed to be getting closer which suggested that perhaps he was at least heading in the correct direction.

It helped that the other aura was currently stationary, although Athene knew better to think that it would continue to stay that way.

The park had been quietly as Athene slipped through the trees the and whilst dark-haired eternal wasn't making any particular effort to be quiet, he wasn't being overly noisy either.

He had been walking through the park for a little bit when Liryn mentioned hearing a voice coming from somewhere up ahead and nodded slightly as he shifted directions accordingly.

And then he reached the fountain and saw her, his eyes startled beneath his glasses as he realised that he recognised this particular senshi "You're..."

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Liryn had been content enough to continue sitting a-shoulder as Athene walked through the park, his small furry bulk pressed up against the side of the dark-haired eternal's neck as the other slipped through the trees.

The senshi's aura was the only other aura that he was picking up on - well at least apart from Athene.

Although it would have been hard for him to miss Athene's aura even if he wasn't currently sitting on the dark-haired eternal's shoulder because his friend and team mate's aura wasn't exactly subtle.

As it happened Liryn heard the voice, before he saw the senshi - the sound of water suggesting that she was close to the park fountain.

He pressed his nose against Athene's neck to get his attention, before adding at the other's queried hmm that he had heard a voice coming from the fountain.

He hadn't expected to recognise the senshi, but when he finally caught sight of her he realised that he did - his purplish eyes solemn for a moment as he remembered the why and where they had met before solemness changed to cheerfulness as he called out "Hi."

"It's okay and I'm Sailor Athene" Athene said quietly, with a smile that whilst small was friendly "Although feel free to just call me Athene" he continued, adding "And you're Sailor.."

He thought about it for a few moments "You're Sailor Ananke right?"

At least he was very much hoping that she was and that he hadn't misheard her name, which was a real possibility given that there hadn't really been any real chance to really talk during their attempts to try and Nega space...

And he had been kind of out of it afterwards, after their rescue by the white-haired woman.

He gave her another small smile before asking "How have you been?"

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Liryn gave Ananke a wide cat grin at her greeting, his voice cheerful as he said "Yes that's me."

Athene had spoken up given his name and so Liryn hadn't had to introduce the dark-haired eternal senshi that was both friend and team mate and so instead opted to cheerfully echo Athene's question.

"Yes how how have you been Ananke? Is everything going okay?"

Because whilst he didn't really know the red and yellow-haired senshi, they had been together - at least for a time - during their attempt to escape from Nega space and the subsequent rescue...

And even if she hadn't been then he would have greeted her cheerfully - because Liryn liked meeting new senshi.

Athene's smile faded into a look of concern at Ananke's reaction to his question - well really their question given that Liryn had asked pretty much the same thing.

And whilst he wasn't one to generally push, he open his mouth to ask her what was wrong.

Ananke had started speaking before he could ask the question however and at her words he found the concern shifting to sadness.

Because her words - her question rhetorical or otherwise - were familiar.

He had lost count of the amount of times that he had asked himself the same question - the amount of times that he had wondered whether ********* had made a mistake in giving him his henshin pen.

Had lost count of the amount of times that he had found himself wondering why she hadn't picked someone stronger - someone better able to fight or better at fancy words - in short someone who wasn't him.

"For what it's worth I think you were super helpful back there with the dragon youma" because Athene hadn't forgotten how Ananke had used her magic to try and protect them from the thing's scales.

"But I can understand feeling like you're not cut out for all this." His lips curved up in a small but wry smile as he admitted quietly "I told ********* - the cat that awakened me into all this - that she was making a mistake because I had no idea why a talking cat would be interested in me." He had been sixteen and at his first (and as it turned out last) summer camp and up to that point had been blissfully ignorant of the fact that magic existed. "But she was pretty insistent that she wasn't."

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"All senshi are meant to be senshi" Liryn chose that moment to speak up as he padded over towards Ananke and leapt up so that he was up on the edge of the fountain next to her.

He butted her gently, trying to offer comfort in his own way because he hated seeing senshi sad.

"And Athene's right you really helped us back when we were in the Nega place."

His purplish eyes were sincere as he continued "And you can always ask me questions if you want to know stuff." He looked over for a moment at Athene who nodded and then back as he added "Athene too - after all we're both here."

Liryn was generally easy about being scooped up and this time was no exception as he made no attempt to avoid the hands reached down to lift him up...

And whilst he didn't actually answer Ananke's question about whether he minded, the purr that rumbled from his throat as the senshi gently held on to him was perhaps answer enough.

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Athene for his part hadn't followed Liryn's move of sitting on the edge of the fountain, however he had listened quietly whilst Ananke spoke to them..

And whilst his eyes had widened slightly from beneath his glasses at her admission of having amnesia, he didn't comment, instead waiting until the younger senshi had finished speaking before opening his mouth to speak.

Even so he didn't say anything immediately, his eyes thoughtfully as he thought things over.

"I don't know" he admitted at last, because Athene thought it best to be honest. "I know the moon is important to us as a place where Chaos can't go and there is a chance that it might have been important to the previous senshi" he thought about it before adding in an attempt to clarify "The people who were senshi before us..."

He fiddled with the part of his hair that was braided absently as he continued "But whilst I know that the moon may have been important to the previous senshi to have the role, I also know that we aren't the same people as the people they were then" his quiet voice turned awkward "We're us."

Athene shrugged "Perhaps" he admitted. "But it's not really any more weird than the rest of this to be honest."

Because there was no getting round the fact that powered life, magic, talking cats and the whole of it was weird.

Athene had kind of gotten used to it however over the five-ish years that he had been doing the senshi stuff.

He wasn't sure how to respond to Ananke's comment about there being something she was supposed to be looking for, but at her comment of wanting to protect people he absently tugged at his braid.

"I think that's a good goal to have - to protect people" he admitted.

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Liryn looked up at the sound of Athene's voice "It is a good goal" he agreed, his cheerful voice tinged with purr as he added "And I know you helped us all out back with the big fight with the dragon."

He rubbed his head gently against her hand as he continued "Your portal magic is really neat."

Athene smiled "There's no need to apologise" he said quietly as he took Liryn and let the small mauvian settle on his shoulder "And whilst I didn't do much I'm glad that I managed to help you a little."

He nodded at her admission that she had to go, because there had been a time when he had had to be careful of sneaking in and out.

"I understand - but would you mind if I scan you into my senshi contacts before you do?" He summoned his senshi phone and held it out as he added "I'm happy for you to scan me into your contacts too."

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"I'm happy to be scanned into your contacts too" Liryn cheerfully said as he jumped down from Athene's shoulder. "That way you can always dial me up without having to send a message to Athene - that is if you want to."

He continued "And also I have something for you" launching himself into a movement that looked suspiciously like back flip as he spoke, causing something to fall tumbling.

The 'something' turned out to be a pearl phone charm which Liryn carefully picked up before padding over to Ananke and laying the phone charm by her feet.

"I'm not sure which senshi phone model you have but if you have the old model then this will let you travel to the Moon" he explained "But it will only work on the day of the full moon, the day before the full moon and the day after the full moon."

He continued "And whilst you have to get home, maybe we can meet up again at some point and I can check your senshi phone for you?"

He made it a question.

"He pulled it from subspace" Liryn said in answer to Ananke's question. "It's kind of like a magical pocket."

He added "You can pull things out by kind of focusing on the item you want" and demonstrated by pulling out a small stone that he had picked up on one of his rambles because it looked interesting. "And put it back by thinking about putting it away."

Again he focused and the stone vanished back to his pocket.

He continued "And the cat that gave you your henshin pen should have given you a cell phone too - the one that Athene's holding is the latest model but not all mauvians know how to do the upgrade and so they give out the previous model."

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Athene had opened his mouth to answer Ananke's questions but had instead ended up finding himself listening quietly as Liryn took it upon himself to try and answer instead.

"I know that you said that you have to head home" he said quietly "And I don't want to delay you in that - but if you don't mind having a bit of company for part of your trip back then Liryn and I can try and explain about senshi phones and the moon pearls."

He continued "Or we could maybe meet up somewhere on a day when you have more time if that works for you - because senshi phones are really useful."

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Liryn's purplish eyes were serious as he looked at Ananke "I'm happy to explain stuff but at the very least I can give you a senshi phone if you don't already have one - because they're really useful and every senshi should have one."

A part of him couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at the mauvian that had been responsible for awakening Ananke - because whoever it was really should have taken time to explain things like senshi phones.