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Part One of Alise's plan to awaken her classmates as senshi was coming along nicely so far, with Courtney coming home with her after school, but things were only getting started. As her new friend talked about how she was going to adopt a cat from the shelter one day, Alise nodded along, only partially listening; she liked cats, she really did, but Alise was particularly interested in the kind that talked, the kind with the stars on their heads that held magical powers.

"That'd be pretty cool," Alise said, as they entered the house. Her mother, who had time after time again had tried encouraging Alise to make 'normal' friends, but was still unused to seeing her daughter actually bring home other kids from school, regarded the two with a confused look; Alise had not mentioned bringing over any friends today. "We're going up to my room to do homework!" Alise called out to her mother, though she was intending to do no such thing, and continued to lead Courtney upstairs, to where her bedroom was.

Upon reaching her bedroom door, Alise briefly hesitated, because not only was Etoile a secret, but her room was also home to her very large collection of plush rabbits... which was a secret from anyone outside her immediate family. Oh well, if things went the way she was hoping, she'd gain another senshi friend out of this, and it was with that mindset that Alise opened her door, leading Courtney in, and closing the door behind them. "You can't tell anyone about any of this, got it?" she told Courtney, referring to both the cat and the plush rabbits.

Etoile, the cat in question, had been lounging on Alise's bed, watching tv, the usual mix of soap operas and HSN and reality tv. Upon hearing Alise enter, she immediately perked up, and, not noticing Courtney at first, began to speak.

"Alise, you're home! Did you bring any treats? I'm starving!" the little cat whined, perpetually hungry and perpetually wanting more sweets.

... Well, Alise had technically been right when she said she had a talkative cat.

Well, that made things easier. Alise had been going to go through the whole 'Etoile is a magical cat, no really, what kind of normal cat wears clothes and has a star on its head?' spiel, but Etoile took care of that for her. "Yeah, she can talk," Alise said, as she searched for some of the candy she had hidden in her room (that Etoile hadn't already found). It was probably best to bribe the kitten with sweets first before she got started with phase 2 of her plan- otherwise, the Somali kitten was probably going to whine about being hungry.

"Her name's Etoile- she likes pretty much everyone, so go ahead and say 'hi' to her."

"You can totally come live with me," Alise immediately said, with no regard to how either of their parents would feel about such a decision. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of letting someone else borrow Etoile- not when Clem already sharing time with the Mauvian- but having another person around who knew her secret would be great. Keeping Etoile fed and happy didn’t come cheap, after all, even if Alise was more than content to spend her money on the kitten; if her test worked, and Courtney turned out to be a senshi, that would be even better.

“I can say lots of things!” Etoile said eagerly, hopeful for more snacks, “I’ve been able to talk for a very long time, before I even met Alise. What would you like to talk about? Do you like sweets? I love sweets.”

Etoile purred happily, enjoying the attention. It was always great to be doted on by other people- it didn’t happen nearly enough, given that her ventures out into the public tended to be through Alise transporting her out of the house via backpack, unless they were doing senshi things, in which case sometimes Etoile would go out with her. Senshi things were usually at night, though, which sadly decreased the number of people who would dote on such a cute kitten.

“Hmm… my favorite candies are the peppermint kind! I especially love candy canes,” Etoile answered, thinking about how much she looked forward to the holidays… and how far away they were. It was always hard having to wait, in this between period between ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘Next Christmas’, but it was a good thing she enjoyed all types of candies and sweets, which made it easier to appease her.

As Courtney continued to pet her and play with her hood, Etoile concentrated, thinking about the reason Alise probably brought her over. Most likely, she was wanting to know if her classmate was a senshi, right? Etoile just needed a few seconds, and… yes! Luckily, indeed their newfound friend was an unawakened senshi.

(Some cats may have felt guilty or apprehensive about awakening chibi senshi, but Etoile was a clueless kitten who simply enjoyed getting to awaken Alise’s friends. It meant they’d hopefully stop by more often to bring presents, after all.)

“Oh no, I don’t think I know how to dance,” Etoile remarked, pondering, “Do you think you could teach me? Since we’re friends now? I’ll even give you a little present, for being my new friend.”

If Courtney thought this was the best day of her life, it was about to get even better.

This was it, this was her moment. Etoile sat up and stretched, taking a moment to get ready, before she took a step backwards and did a backflip, magically producing a small pen that she promptly presented to Courtney.

"This is my present for you, for being my new friend," she said, nudging it forward with a paw, “A magical pen, to awaken the magical power within you!"

She was very excited, so very excited.

"Um..." Etoile was briefly stumped, having never been asked such a question before. "It's a, um, feeling? I can sense when someone is magical, and they need my help!"

It wasn't the best of explanations, but close enough, right?

"I don't know about if you'll become a famous writer, but this pen is still very special! Now, take this pen, and say 'Mary Power, make up!'~" she cheerfully explained.

"Uh, 50/50?" Alise offered with a shrug.

"Both?" Etoile added, "Some of Alise's friends have magical powers, just like you do now! Chibi Sailor Mary, the senshi of sheep- welcome~"

Which wasn't a whole lot, given that Alise didn't really have that big of a friend circle, but that was a topic for very far off into the future. Etoile wasn't really an expert on the subject, anyway, so instead, she beamed proudly at a job well done once more. She'd done the thing! Once again, she'd helped Alise awaken a friend as a senshi. Consequences? Shame or regret (for awakening a chibi senshi)? What were those?

Satisfied at the outcome, Alise took out her own pen, and transformed into Chibi Lepus, revealing her own magical identity to her new comrade. "Just so you know, I'm like you, too- I mean, my name's Chibi Lepus, but anyway."

"This is going to be awesome," she said, in a sort of self-satisfactory sort of way, "We're going to have so much fun together, you'll see!"