by Angie, Lori, and SkySong

"I can't believe you're dragging me to this thing, Rayya. You should be doing your homework," Julius whined. "You've been neglecting it again. Partying and hanging out with that Wade and that Gwyn."

Rayya sighed in her best long-suffering manner and tugged on the cat leash that she had convinced Julius to wear while they were walking in the park. "They are not thats," she replied, carefully directing her comments from the corner of her mouth. "They are my friends, Julius. Something you'd appreciate if you took the time to get to know them. They're both the absolute best." Seeing someone give her an odd look, she smiled winningly at them, fluttering her eyelashes coyly. When they had passed by, she hissed at Julius, "As for why you're here, I thought you'd like a trip out is all. Ex-cuse me."

Without another word, Rayya strode in the direction of the nearest herb stand. I want oregano, she thought. Good stuff that'll grow in my window box. As she pawed carefully through the lush plants on the table, though, she felt a tickle in her stomach. She glanced up and over to see a pony-tailed young woman also studying the plants. There was something familiar about the girl. Then she felt a harsh tug on the leash and looked down at Julius. "What?" she hissed.

"Senshi... Romanus... At 10 o'clock." Julius twisted his snout, trying his best to keep the words soft.

Oh, brother. Rayya rolled her eyes. Not again. With a sigh, she reached for a plant at the same time as the other girl.

Regina squinted in the bright light and secretly wished she had worn a hat or at least that Eva had accompanied her; she hated crowds and the noise was giving her a headache. She eyed the table in front of her, lines with various herbs, looking specifically for a parsley seedling. Her old one had finally died, despite all of Regina's efforts to save it. She finally spotted a healthy looking one, sitting on the table next to a girl who had a pig on a leash. 'Why in the world would someone want a pig for a pet?' she mused silently before reaching for the plant. They both grabbed onto it at the same moment. "Excuse me," Regina said, looking up again and meeting the girl's eyes. Immediately her inner senses started clamoring at her in an almost singsong way.

"Whoops, sorry," Rayya apologized quickly, bringing her hand back abruptly. That momentary contact was enough to confirm Julius' words and she wasn't very happy about it at all. This girl was, well, just a kid! She didn't need this sort of mess. Suddenly, Rayya realized she had been staring blankly at the girl for a few seconds. Shaking her head, she smiled in her best friendly manner and offered the plant to the girl with a wave of her hand. "You found it first," she declared.

Regina nodded slightly at her before picking up the plant for closer inspection. "Thank you." She said softly, while trying to ignore the increasing chattering of her inner sense. Regina focused on the small plant she held in her hands to block out the 'sound'. It seemed healthy enough, it wasn't sick or wilting.

As if sensing that Regina was doing her best to ignore it, it clamored even louder, intentionally painful, and Regina did her best to keep her alarm from showing; it had never deliberately hurt her, it had never hurt at all!

Rayya studied the girl with concern, trying to ignore the almost painful jabs that Julius was delivering to her calf. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Before the girl could reply, however, Julius' thin thread of patience snapped and he stepped down hard on Rayya's toes with his hoof. Pained, she yelped and spun on him. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Julius?" she hissed, temporarily forgetting the girl in her anger.

"She's a senshi," Julius retorted, just loud enough for the girl to overhear him. He glared around and then dropped his voice. "Just drag her somewhere and let's do this. I'm still looking for a semi-decent senshi, you know."

"I'm a what?" Regina asked, looking down at Julius, before focusing on Rayya again. "Is it just me, or did your pig say something?" she asked, seeming a bit baffled.

Rayya forced a laugh, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "My pig? Say something?" she repeated.

"You're bloody right I said something, girl," Julius hissed, once again stepping on Rayya's foot. "Now let's go somewhere out of the way, alright?"

With a defeated sigh, Rayya shrugged and whispered, "Yeah, he talks. He doesn't shut up ever actually... But he's right. Would you mind awfully stepping behind some tree with me so I can try to explain?"

Regina chuckled softly, a surprisingly deep sound for someone her age. "No, I wouldn't mind. The stars talk to me all the time so why not the local fauna? But would you mind if I paid for this first?" She gestured to the plant she still held in hr hands. Why am I telling her this?' she wondered silently. 'Normally wild horses couldn't have dragged that out of me. I haven't even told my own mother about that!'

Rayya smiled in relief. "Sure, no problem." She pointed over towards an old oak tree. "Meet you over there in two shakes?" she asked. Without waiting for an actual affirmative answer, Rayya tugged hard on Julius' leash and headed for the mentioned tree to wait for the other girl. Geez, I hope she takes this well, she thought hopefully. Nothing like a talking pig to ruin your day...

Regina watched the girl and her talking pig head off to the tree before paying for the parsley plant. I bet the cashier heard the whole thing, and she probably things we're both nuts as well, Regina thought with a small mental chuckle as she headed to the large oak where the girl and her talking pig waited for her.

When she got there, Regina sat down at the base of the trunk and cradled the parsley in her lap before asking "Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Cutting Rayya off with an officious smirk, Julius announced, "You, my dear, are Sailor Urania, senshi of the stars." He beamed. "I am Julius, guardian of Sailor Bacchus." He paused and nudged Rayya. "Introduce yourself already, girl."

Rayya sighed and then smiled her most friendly smile, extending a hand to the new senshi. "I'm Rayya," she explained obediently. "Sailor Bacchus, too, senshi of," she paused to roll her eyes comically, "Wine if you can believe it. Welcome to the Romanus team."

Regina hadn't even blinked the entire time. "A pleasure to meet you Rayya, Julius, I'm Regina. If you wouldn't mind I have some questions I'd like to ask." Regina then dropped the genial mien she had put on and developed a more serious expression. "OK, so I'm the senshi of the stars. What's a senshi and what does it do? Are there any others that I should know about or is it just Rayya and I?"

Julius swelled with importance. Finally, a senshi who took this seriously. Someone who wanted answers. Hallelujah.

However, his joy was short-lived since, when he opened his mouth to answer the questions, Rayya squealed and waved her hands high. Bored with Julius's ego, she had been gazing around the area, looking for a distraction. She wanted to talk to this girl as a human being, not a superhero. It was frustrating. Relief came in the form of a vaguely familiar teenage girl walking a rabbit nearby. "Hey! Hey, you!" Rayya called. "Priscilla, right?"

"Priscilla..."

"Not now, Aeneas."

"Priscilla..."

"Shut-up! Someone's talking to me," the raven haired girl clamped a hand over her rabbit's mouth as she sauntered over to her, "Hi, Rayya. What're you doing here?"

"Just chilling and walking the pig," Rayya grinned. "This here is Regina." Then she pointed towards Julius. "And this is Julius." The pig opened its snout, an almost human look of frustration crossing his face. "How about you?" Rayya continued as her hand came down to snap the pig's snout shut forcefully.

Before she could go on with her friendly inquiry, Priscilla's hand was bitten rather unceremoniously by a frustrated Aeneas, "Bleck! Your hand is as tasty as—erk..."

Rayya stared at the talking rabbit. "Oh. You have one, too," she muttered. Then she released Julius' snout. "Go ahead, pig. I know you're just dying to say something."

"Of course, I do." Julius nodded to Regina and Priscilla. "Urania meet Clio, I believe?" His voice raised slightly in question.

Regina nodded slightly towards Pricilla. "Pleased to meat you. And Julius? I have a name aside from ‘Urania,’ I would appreciate it if you would address me by it." Regina paused, a slightly annoyed expression on her face. "And no one has answered my questions."

"So sorry, Regina." Julius bobbed his head apologetically. "My manners were thrown by the appearance of... The rabbit." He smirked. "Who also happens to be a guardian. Isn't that right, Aeneas, my boy?"

Glaring angrily at the pig, Aeneas flattened his against his back, "Yes, I'm the guardian of the Romanus Senshi of History, Clio."

Giving a deep bow, Priscilla flashed all that were gathered a quick grin, "Howdy, my name's Priscilla to those who don't know me, and I'll be here all week. Now then, are you guardians picking on some other helpless soul?"

Rayya giggled. "Of course they are," she replied, yanking Julius backwards on his leash slightly. "Behave," she hissed down at him, prompted by the smug and provoking looks he was aiming at Aeneas. Then she smiled back up at Priscilla and Regina. "So now that we're all a big happy family, what do you guys want to do about it?" she asked lightly.

At this, Aeneas decided to take a shot, "Well, Jules, I see you're not training your senshi for action," the bloated rabbit smirked out. He was silenced by Priscilla's hand once more and a blush stained her face, "Sorry about that, Rayya, but he has a point. Lets find a Graikos or two for Regina here to test out her powers."

"That's a bit on the callous side, doncha think?" Rayya commented gently. She leaned against the tree trunk, loosening the leash in her hand enough for Julius to sit down sulkily. "Why can't she just practice them on... Oh, this tree?" She reached behind her and patted the trunk.

Julius sighed. "She's completely hopeless but, believe it or not, she's getting better," he added dryly. "She fights back now."

Regina, who was now thoroughly lost asked, "What is a ‘Graikos?’"

"Graikos are the enemy!" Julius responded hotly, his eyes narrowing even more. "They're vicious and brutal and attack without warning..."

Rayya hugged herself and shook her head. "He's getting carried away but I guess that's the gist of it," she murmured. "They're one of the teams that we're -supposed- to fight." Again she hugged herself, momentarily lost in a memory of a Graikos encounter. Then she shook her head. "But there's, uh, two other teams, too. Right?" She glanced at Aeneas and Julius for confirmation.

Aeneas nodded his obese head, "Affirmative. Astronomia, and Angelus...however, our main concern are the Graikos."    Priscilla nodded viciously, "Yeah, and I have -yet- to do battle with one, so we have, basically, two newbie senshi who need to practice their powers. Lets go find us some Graikos, folks!"

Nikhil was prancing about in the thin, light green grasses in an odd rain coat; it was bulky and leathery with majestic stripes, queer shapes, and rainbow-colored polka dots everywhere. Why, it looked as if Nikhil had colored on it herself! She had a matching detective-looking hat—scarlet red and emerald green with a homely plaid design on it. She was quite a sight. The entire neighborhood seemed to know the sweet, chipper girl with carrot-colored hair that glittered in the smoky sun of the daylight.

Meanwhile, her mother sat in her silver Mercedes Convertible, lightly giggling at her little girl playing around in the grass like a toddler just learning how to walk, skip, and run about. It brought tears of pride to her green eyes, seeing her hyperactive daughter skipping and rolling around everywhere in an unnecessary raincoat (because it was, obviously, not raining). "I just can't take it anymore!" she screeched, carelessly wiping her tears away with her large hands. She hopped out of the convertible and jumped into the grass with Nikhil, trying to not wreck her outfit. She certainly didn’t want sticky grass, and perhaps even sludge, all over her plain, long, white shirt or her hot pink exercising pants. Mrs. Coralie's dark locks bobbed back and forth looking almost magical against her daughter's thin, silky, orange wavy hair. It was like Halloween colors all over again! Nikhil began to scream and leap about, making noises and pounding her chest like King Kong until something caught her wide, luminous, gold-flecked hazel eyes.

"Wait here, mommy!" squawked Nikhil, looking towards a crowd of three girls, two of whom carried animals. One looked her age or older with extremely kinky, thick, dirty blonde hair in a ponytail. She was unbelievably tall to the five-foot-two Nikhil. Nikhil skipped toward the crowd of girls.

"CAN I PET THE PIGGY?!?!" she screamed, jumping about at the opportunity to pet an animal, especially an adorable pot-pellied pig.

Without even letting Rayya reply back, she jumped onto the pig like she did to most animals and starting hugging him and kissing him on his wet nose. Yes, she was torturing her fourth animal today without meaning to, all right.

Covering her mouth as she tried to hide the giggles that the girl's sudden appearance brought on, Rayya merely nodded, realizing at the same time that the younger girl wouldn't have taken "no" for an answer anyway. Besides, the look of pain on Julius' face was worth anything in the world... A flash of matching pain, however, sped through her own body then and she squatted down beside the pig and the girl contritely. "His name's Julius," she offered as she covertly reached back to rub at her neck. Why on earth was she so tense all of a sudden?

With a jump and a half scream at the girl's presence, Priscilla tried to keep from maiming her out of irritation. Her hazel gaze went from Rayya to the girl torturing Julius with cruel and unusual punishment, then back to Rayya. A nip from Aeneas brought her back to reality. Hissing up to her from his place in her arms, he glared. "She. Is. A. Graikos."
  Half wanting to laugh her head off, the other half hoping he was right so she could give the girl a good wallop, she resigned herself to soft giggles and a whisper, "Her? Look at her, Aeneas...she couldn't hurt a fly."
  "She's a Graikos, that's good enough. Now, get out of here so you can transform." Flattening his ears against his back, he gave her the glare to end all glares. "Or if you don't, you'll be finding rabbit surprises all over your room."

With a soft growl, she whispered, "I'm going, I'm going..." Sighing, she gave the girl one last glance before speaking so that Rayya and the girl could hear her, "Ah, I'm supposed to be back now, because the -rabbit- needs something, okay Rayya? So I'm gonna go..."

Giving Rayya a look, and smiling half-heartedly at Julius and his tormentor, she slid off in the direction of a small grove of trees.

Rayya frowned in puzzlement at Priscilla's sudden departure. Did it have anything to do with this sudden sense of unease? Had she felt it, too? Rubbing Julius' back to keep him from attempting to trample the young girl currently tugging on his ears, she studied the cooing stranger. There definitely was something unsettling about her, for all her cute adorableness. It was rather like... Could she be a senshi, too? Rayya glanced up at Regina. "Hey, Gina," she asked softly. "Do you know this girl?"

Regina shook her head "no," her eyes not leaving the girl who was so thoroughly annoying the talking pig. Her inner sense was jumping around screaming bloody murder but she ignored it and instead focused on the slight tingling in the back of her head. It was familiar, and in her experience often preceded the bouts of fury she had become prone to recently. She quickly schooled her face back into it's normally passive state, though she found little she could do about her clenched hands so she shoved them into the pockets of her cut-offs. Glancing at Rayya she murmured, "I'm going to go find Priscilla and her… pet. If you'll excuse me." Without waiting for an answer, she turned and ran after Priscilla.

Perturbed to the extreme, Rayya watched her new friend leave. The look on her face had been just a shade too strained to be normal. She's probably feeling what I'm feeling, Rayya thought to herself as she bit her bottom lip hard. If that's it, then I've got to chase down both of them and figure this all out. "Um, yeah, excuse me," she murmured, breaking through the series of coos and cuddles the other girl was lavishing on Julius. "Sorry, kiddo, but I've got to get going now. My friends went thataway." With a flick of her hand, she indicated the direction the other two had gone. She grabbed tight hold of Julius' leash and stood. "Catch ya later." With that and a friendly wave, she had skittered off after the others.

After a few minutes of searching, Rayya found Priscilla and Regina sitting on a park bench hidden amongst the trees. Heaving a sigh, she dropped herself down next to them and released Julius' leash. "That girl," she said slowly and softly, "Gave me a headache."

"She's an enemy." Regina said softly. She was on the edge of the bench and was facing away from the other two girls. She could still feel the other girl who had so enthusiastically glomped Julius. She wasn't far away and her presence irritated her to no end, almost like
an itch she couldn't reach; or a roach she wanted to stomp on and be rid of.

"So, if she's an enemy, shouldn't we transform?" Priscilla queried, "I mean, we transform, thus forcing her into transforming, and then we can beat her up!"

With a smirk at Julius, Aeneas nodded his head quickly, "Yes, I suggest you all transform, and quickly."

Smacking her darling guardian lightly, Priscilla grinned at the other two girls before covering a silver ring on her right hand with the left, "Clio Soros Power, MAKE UP!" After the swirling and the sparkles were finished, there stood Sailor Clio, hands planted on her hips, and eyes staring at the other two girls expectantly, "Your turns."

"Yes, Rayya," Julius drawled with a slight smile. "Go on and transform."

Rayya shook her head and twisted the ring on her finger uncomfortably. "Well, gee, everyone I would just love to, you know, but..." With a raised eyebrow, she flicked her hand up and over to indicate the sky and the park. "You really think it's such a hot idea to do this in broad daylight in the middle of a populated area?"

"Rayya," Julius growled warningly. "Don't be such a... Pain in the nether regions. Just transform."

"Why can't we just tag her or something? Why can't we just all patrol here later and hope we hit her?" Rayya waved her hand in the air again. "Hello. We're supposed to be secret about this."

"I suppose that makes sense," Regina said turning around to face the group. "we can't just transform—" It's not like I know how to anyway, she added silently— "and attack her. She probably doesn't know we're her enemies anyway, and she seemed relatively harmless."

"But, she's a Graikos, and our enemy! Do we have to just... not fight? I mean, can't we just rough her up a little? Or maybe just scare her? We don't even have to hit her!" The now transformed Priscilla protested, "Seriously, any other Graikos would've sought us out and maimed us by now."

Rayya shook her head. "First off, as I'm sure Julius is about to whine about, harmlessness is not the problem. She -is- on the other side and she -is- our enemy." She bit her lip and then continued, "And not all Graikos are that vicious." While she still ached at the thought of the pounding Hyperion had given her, Rayya also remembered Persephone and Aphrodite's tentative involvement.

Julius snorted. "You have -got- to be kidding me. They're the enemy. They are out to hurt you or worse. Get that into your damnably thick head, girl!"

"Oh, just shut up, will you?" Rayya's face clouded over abruptly and she inhaled deeply. "I'm not denying that we have to do this. I'll do, fine, sure. I just want to be smart about this, for crying out loud. It's broad daylight; she's one girl. What do you think is going to happen if we attack her? Hmmm, the police'll show up maybe?" She raised an eyebrow darkly. "So if you don't mind, my vote is to just wait before we beat up that little kid. Thank you very much." She huffed, visibly calming after having said her piece. Then she pointed to Regina. "And, if I'm not mistaken, she still doesn't know how to transform."

"I can tell just one thing I'm not going to like about you, Rayya," Priscilla grinned, "You make too much sense."
      As she detransformed, Aeneas peered at Regina. "Ah, you are Urania, are you not? Well then, you would simply shout out ‘Urania Soros Power, Make up.’ As for you," he turned his gaze on Rayya, "I can already tell you'll be a bad influence on Priscilla, however, you do make sense. I suggest waiting until dusk to transform and attack. What do -you- suggest, Julius?"

Julius nodded. "As much as I hate to encourage Rayya in thinking too hard - Ow..." Quickly, he skittered away from Rayya's quick foot. "Yes, well, as I was saying before someone decided that I was a soccer ball... I agree. We should wait until dusk and then hunt that girl down."

"So that's settled then." Rayya smiled as she turned to Priscilla. "And that'd be the first time that anyone accused me of making sense. I'll have to think on how I feel about that."

"Enough of this, then." Julius turned to Regina. "First attacks would be a good thing, too, for you to know." He frowned in concentration. "I know you have two, but... Let's see, I know Star Break is a defensive... Aeneas? Can you remember the other one?"

"Ah-hum." Aeneas twitched his ears back and forth, while trying to grasp the other attack, "Star Break... and... It's like that delicious candy Priscilla eats sometimes... Star Burst! That's it!"

Priscilla smirked, winking at Regina, "Leave it to the pudgy rabbit to associate your powers to food."

Regina chose not to remark though the corners of her mouth twitched upward in amusement.

Rayya smiled infectiously, glad to have put off the fight until later. "Speaking of food, ladies, anyone want an ice cream while we wait? My treat," she offered.

Regina grinned at her, finally having something to smile about. "Sure, but let me warn you I can eat a lot of ice-cream…"

"It's almost nighttime now."

"Shut-up, Aeneas."

"There's a Graikos out there."

"I said shut-up."

"But..."

Priscilla glared down at the rabbit in her arms, "You know, rabbit's feet are a great fashion statement now-a-days." With a smirk at Aeneas's sudden silence, she bit her lip before turning to the other two. "Y'know, he's right. I think we'd better get the transforming bit over with, and maybe just wait for our little friend to make her own appearance."

Regina shrugged in agreement but didn't say anything. She had eaten a little too much mint chocolate chip ice-cream and was feeling a bit of a sugar rush.

Rayya nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so." She glanced up at the darkening sky. "It's getting dark enough and we can stick to the trees."

"Why do you only use reason and sense when I want you to attack the enemy?" Julius snorted.

"Because I don't believe in suicide and you've told me time and again how dangerous they are." Rayya rubbed at her stomach. "And I believe you... I don't like it but we'll go see if that girl is hanging around." Setting off with quick steps towards a stand of trees and pulling off her ring, she added almost inaudibly, "I hope she isn't. She's too cute."

Regina snorted at that, the girl's presence had made her slightly nauseous and it wasn't just because she was a Graikos. That didn't mean she wanted to hurt her though and Regina was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that she and other people like her had `Superpowers' and that animals really could talk. Her carefully blanked her face of expression as they reached the tree line in a tense silence.

Priscilla rolled her eyes at Rayya's remark. "I think she was psychopathic, but that's just me. Anyway, down to business."

Aeneas nodded, flattening his ears against his back, "Yes, now, remember, don't take this fight out in front of other people. We don't want the civilians thinking they've gone insane when four girls in mini-skirts start duking it out."

"Yeah, gotcha, Aeneas," Priscilla once again covered the ring on her right hand, "Here we go... Clio Soros Power, Make up!"

Still amused by anyone else's transformation, Rayya grinned brightly as she watched Priscilla go through her steps. She had to admit the ribbons were a nice touch. The outfit was cute, too. "Okay, next," she claimed, tossing her ring skywards and calling out "Bacchus Deus Power, Make-up!" Flashes of laughter and purple later and Bacchus stood next to Clio. She grinned at Regina. "Your turn, sweetie."

Regina winced internally at being called "Sweetie." Taking a good look at her companion's outfits, she really hoped that hers didn't look so… odd. "Alright. Urania Soros Power, Make-Up…" Appearing a few moments later from a black energy ball, Urania blinked disorientedly for a moment before taking a step and promptly tripping over her staff. "Ow!"

Smiling, Bacchus bent down and scooped up the staff while offering Urania a hand up. "Lucky you got a far more protective get-up," she commented lightly. Pulling the other girl to her feet with a faint grunt, Bacchus handed her back the staff. "How's it feel?"

"Very odd…" She shifted her staff to her left hand before planting the end of it firmly in the ground in an unconscious gesture. "And I can't move my neck."

Bacchus giggled. "Could be worse," she commented lightly. Then she ballet-pointed a foot at the ground and gracefully lifted it high, displaying a well-shaped but barely-clad leg. "You could move -everything- around far too easily." She dropped her foot again and smiled. "You've got some protection."

"At least." Regina commented before craning her head to look at the sky. Twilight had been taken over by night, and for some reason the stars seemed brighter than before. Is it because I'm transformed? she wondered. Still scrawled across the heaves were the signs that meant POWER. They had been up there for almost a month now and Urania finally understood what it meant. Even if it was a little late…

"I think you can remove that thing around your neck, dearest," Clio finally decided to speak up, "And at least you didn't get a peacock feather sticking out of the back of your head."

Julius snorted in exasperation. "If you're quite through with your fashion show, ladies, I suggest we initiate Urania into her powers." Somehow, he managed to convey the impression of a raised eyebrow as he studied the three senshi. "Ready?"

Urania looked down at Julius and nodded. "Yes."

Julius nodded back graciously. "Right, then. Star Break and Star Burst are your powers as we mentioned before. Pretty simple, really. You just shout them out and direct them. I'm sure it'll all come back to you when you start."

"It did for me," Rayya agreed, absent-mindedly tugging on the skirt of her toga.

"Okay, so lets go find this chick and get Urania settled into her powers. I haven't had anything to eat all day besides vegetarian food, not that there's anything wrong with it, but I want some meat," Clio shifted her weight impatiently, tugging on her skirt, "Besides, for all we know, she could've snuck up on us while we were chatting away."

Rayya chuckled. "I don't think that little thing could sneak up on anything to save her life." Then she raised an eyebrow. "And you're not allowed to eat her, Clio."

"Just pound her within an inch of her life," Julius cut in. "Let's go."

"Is that necessary? The pounding, I mean," Urania asked, looking a bit disturbed at the idea of deliberately beating someone and also appearing every inch of her fourteen years.

"Unfortunately, yes," Clio grimaced slightly, giving Urania a somewhat maternal look, "As the Graikos are our sworn enemies and we are on malignant terms with them, we have to kick their asses, or we'll get a bunch of grouchy animals on our cases."

Aeneas snorted to the best of his abilities, "Yes, well, if we didn't have chickenhearted senshi to look after we wouldn't get so angry. Anyway, enough chit-chat, lets start pounding."

Bacchus shook her head. "Geez, is it just me or all guardians anal-retentive Rambo-wannabes?" Sobering at a deadly glare from Julius, she sighed. "Right, then. Guards up, I guess," she continued. "And let's try not to do anything too stupid and vicious? I don't fancy the idea of hurting anyone myself."

Urania pulled the end of her staff from the ground and shifted it to her right hand before making a vague motion with her left and said, "Lead the way."

Bacchus nodded and pointed dramatically in the direction of the bandshell. "Let's go skulk, ladies," she announced. "The critters can back us up." With a flash of teeth at the guardians, she spun on her heel and led them all into the trees.

Urania followed her teammates into the cover of the trees. It was a bit too dark for her liking though, and she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. I can’t believe this is happening, she thought. I’m fourteen years old and there are already people out there who want to kill me for some reason. Why am I doing this anyway? Because a couple of talking animals said so? A small frown touched her face, but she kept the thoughts to herself. I guess I’ll have to find my reasons.

Persephone shuddered, her nearly transparent skirt wafting about her legs. When all this is over, I will find Percy, and I will turn him into barbecue. She shifted her weight in the tree she happened to be sitting in, brown eyes scanning over the scenery. Ugh, there is nothing going on. Why do I—wait a second— Peering towards the three advancing figures, her stomach leapt into her throat. Great, here came four Romanus, and she was all alone. Why was life so evil?

Huffing out a sigh, she hopped out of the tree, straightening up to her not-so-threatening full height of 5"4. "Hold it right there, Romanus."

Urania nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been feeling something for the past few minutes, but hadn’t been able to locate it. Of course, now "it" was standing in front of her.

Cocking her head to one side, she planted the sharp end of her staff into the ground—something that was in danger of becoming a bat habit— "And you are…?" she asked, voice soft and low as she leaned against her planted staff, regarding Persephone with an almost bored expression. C’mon Gina, you can do this, she thought. Oh great, I’m talking to myself again.

"Sailor Persephone, and you are trespassing on my territory," she growled, her eyes narrowing. Good grief, where am I getting this crap? Persephone shook herself to keep the sarcasm out, and tried focusing upon her opponents. One looked vaguely familiar. Finally, she placed the face. "Hullo again, Bacchus."

Bacchus shifted her weight to one hip, nodding in a not-completely-cold manner. "Hullo, yourself, Persephone," she replied. Carefully, she studied the other girl. "I don't suppose you'd consider, uh, not doing this tonight, would you?" She gestured to her companions. "You're pretty much out-gunned here, Sweetie."

"Sweetie?!" Julius exploded. "This is the enemy. You do not trade pet names with the enemy, Bacchus. Attack."

"Shut it, pig." Bacchus pushed Julius away with one golden-sandal-shod foot. "I'm merely giving her an option." She turned back to Persephone. "What d'ya say, girl?"

Persephone shifted her weight, peering at the Romanus. She seemed sincere enough, and she was out numbered by a whole bunch. However, Percy's irritating voice grated in her ears. Frowning, she nodded to Bacchus, "I would like to leave, but as you seem to know, those irritating animals never shut up, so, I'll give you three a deal. I'll fight one of you, and if that person needs help you can jump in, and I swear I won't do enough damage to kill." She winced, picturing the upbraiding she would get for saying that. "Don't spread that around, though."

Urania shrugged. "No prob. Ehh… who wants to go first?

Clio frowned, "Well, since you're the newest one of us, maybe you should go ahead and go, and we'll get your back. What do you think, Bacchus?"

"Well, Urania, if you feel confident enough..." Bacchus smiled. "It's not a to-the-death duel so it's the best chance you're going to get to test yourself. How about it?" So quickly it was almost precognitive, Bacchus dropped to one knee and clamped her hand around Julius' snout. "I don't even want to hear it, you," she cautioned. "No one said we have to go to the death every chance we get." Her free hand rubbed at her stomach, deliberately ignoring the memory of the serious pounding Hyperion Knight had given her. "So Urania? Fair enough?" A faint smile flitted across her face. "Graikos or not, Persephone isn't so terrible. Especially compared to some."

Urania shifted nervously for a moment before pulling the end of her staff from the ground with a "how the hell did I get into this?" expression. She gave an experimental twirl of her staff before holding out in front of her horizontally in a defensive position. "O-kay… let’s start." She said, sounding calmer than she felt.

Persephone nodded, getting into a defensive position. "Just remember, I'm not out to kill you, so don't try and kill me." Shoving her right fist into the air, she glared at Urania before shouting "Persephone Life Drain!" Opening up her fist and thrusting her left arm out to the side finished those irritating required movements—just in time to send several vines whipping towards Urania's torso.

Urania let out a startled squeak— most of the vines hit her on target, causing her to stumble, though not fall. Urania quickly dropped her staff in favor of having both hands free to tear away the vines that were starting to strangle her.

Julius bounced up and down in utter frustration. What a group of twits he had for a team, he thought. "Pick up the damn staff, Urania!" he scolded hotly. "Throw something at her!"

"Like what?!" She snapped back, her voice tinged slightly with panic and raised several octaves higher than it's normally husky alto. Pht, duh girl. One of your attacks. You're supposed to be able to do something similar than what Persephone did, her common sense reasoned with her while her emotions were in a state of panic. Okay then.

"Star…" she automatically planted one end of her staff into the ground, leaning onto it with one hand raised to the sky for a few moments. After a few seconds passed she thought, Wait, isn't something supposed to be happening? before looking up and paling slightly. Oh dear… The sky's moving…

Noticing the puzzled look on Urania's face, Julius grimaced. Oh, for the love of... "Concentrate!" he ordered. "You can do this."

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Urania focused again on what she was supposed to be doing. Lights were now floating about her up reached hand, and the sky was completely devoid of stars. Such an amazing thing, she thought, lowering her hand and letting the stars scatter themselves about. ‘What do I do now— oh yes.

"Burst!" and the world was bathed in blinding light.

"What in the—Erg!" Persephone brought her arms up to her face to shield her eyes from the blinding light. What were those things? Suddenly she felt this horrible burning upon her skirt and her legs. Chancing a glance downward, she gasped at the terrible blisters that were already forming—and at the fact that her skirt was now several inches shorter.

Groaning in pain, she leaned against the tree, pausing for several minutes to catch her breath. I. Refuse. To. Cry.

Urania blinked now that the light show was over. Everything seemed fine except for the fact that several trees were now charred. "What—oh!" she gasped slightly, before rushing over to Persephone. "I'm sorry!" she had dropped her staff yet again and was wringing her hands slightly. "I didn't know it would do that!"

"Get away from her!" Julius bellowed, trotting forward angrily. "And pick up your blasted staff already."

Bacchus grimaced and shook her head. "Knock it off," she muttered to her guardian. "This is their little party."

Clio glared good naturedly at the newbie, "Yeah, unfortunately, the pig is right. Better get away from her or you'll never become a good warrior. C'mon, she'll be fine."

Deliberately ignoring the chattering of her team mates, Urania reached out one hand to help steady Persephone.

Persephone backed uneasily away from Urania, leaning against the tree instead. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't trust you enough to let you touch me."

"Dear Gods," Julius muttered as he stepped back into the shadows again. "Why does the enemy always get the common sense?"

Urania sent a glare back to Julius as she stepped back from Persephone. "I think that’s enough." She announced to no one in particular.

Clio shook her head, glaring over at Persephone, "We should just go ahead and kill her, but... a promise is a promise. I think we should leave. What do you think, Bacchus?"

Visibly horrified at the notion of killing the girl, Bacchus shook her head. "No way, no death," she replied, shaking her head. Then she half-smiled at the downed Persephone. "We'll see you some other time, kiddo. I suggest you go and get some ice for those bruises now. Walk safely."

"Let's just get out of here before Bacchus decides to exchange freaking friendship bracelets with that little girl," Julius muttered sourly.

Clio reached forward and gently grabbed Urania's arm, leading her off in the other direction.

As the trio marched off, Persephone sighed, gripping her sides for a bit. She half expected them to come back and finish the job, but after waiting for fifteen minutes, she shrugged and sauntered away. She'd be sure to maim the bird after this.

After they had gone a good few meters away from Persephone, Urania plopped herself on the ground and laid back to stare at the sky, not saying a word.

Bacchus propped herself against the nearest tree, long leg bent to rest her foot on the trunk behind her, and looked down at the younger senshi. Then she glanced at Clio. Studiously, she ignored the guardians. Finally, something seemed to flash into place within her and she slid down the tree to land on the ground with a dramatic bump. "So, hon, are you okay over there?" she asked Urania softly.

A few moments passed, before Urania finally spoke. "Regina's brain is not in at the moment, please leave a message at the tone and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Beep."

Bacchus giggled. "Well, I guess that's not the worst answer in the world." Then she cleared her throat dramatically. "Well, this is Rayya and I just was checking in to make sure that Gina was okay and not hurt at all in the preceding events. Give me a call back. Thanks!"

Urania remained still for a few moments before sitting up. "Yea, I guess I’m okay, considering my whole concept of how the world works has been drastically altered." She then offered a weak grin. "Now how about someone telling me how to get out of this thing?" she ran one finger along the top of her chest guard. "All this metal is starting to chafe a bit."

Bacchus smiled faintly. "Just think about what you were wearing before," she replied. Closing her eyes, she demonstrated. A faint shimmer ran through the air around her and then she opened her eyes with a smile. "See? Back to normal?" she beamed.

"Maybe close to normal for a call girl," Julius muttered.

Glaring at her guardian, Rayya stuck her tongue out. "Oh, and never listen to speaking sides of bacon, okay, hon?"

Urania grinned, and after a brief shimmer Regina took her place. "Got it, that was easy enough."

Another shimmer ran through the air and Priscilla came back, "I wonder if I could use this to come up with a new wardrobe."

Julius merely snorted eloquently; his disappointment in his team obvious without words.

"I quite agree, Julius." Aeneas glared at his odd charge.

"Shut-up, animals, or it's gonna be a foot in the mouth for both of ya." Priscilla glared at the two of them, running a hand through her now free hair. "I tell ya what, the peacock feather just doesn't do it for me."

"I must agree on that account." Regina said, nodding slightly. "It looks absolutely absurd."

Rayya chuckled gently. "Ladies, if nothing else, the outfits we get to wear for this party should prove that the supreme being in this show is male," she quipped.

Priscilla grinned, "I think that's why most of the guardians are male."

Regina made a face that spoke volumes but said nothing.

Noticing the look, Rayya grinned. "You've said it, sweetie," she teased. Then she stretched her arms above her head and sighed. "But I'm thinking that it might be a good idea to call it a night. What do you ladies say?"

"I'm with you," Priscilla grunted, popping her knuckles, "I have work early tomorrow. The grease in the vats is getting kind of old, and the boss man doesn't want to dirty his pretty lil' hands."

"I agree, I have to return home soon, as I'm late enough as it is and Mother will start to worry about my whereabouts soon." Regina said, pushing herself off the grass and to her feet.

"Well, then. First things first, however." Rayya quickly tugged a small tablet and pen from her back pocket and passed it to Priscilla. "I want everyone's phone number so we can hang out and get to know each other."

Priscilla grinned, "Great, we can have parties and I'll sneak fresh fried food from beneath the heat lamps. My number is..." After dishing out her digits, Priscilla grimaced, "That bit of alliteration was icky."

Regina nodded, taking the pen and paper from Pricilla and writing down her phone-number is messy handwriting. "Yes, it was, and I’m not all that partial to fried food as it is."

Rayya accepted the pad back with a bright smile. "As I've been told many times by a certain friend, 'ya shouldn't eat that stuff... 's bad f'r you.'" Tucking the notebook back in her pocket, she then squatted and reattached the leash around the unhappy Julius' neck. "Anyway, I'd much rather cook for both of you than make Silly, ahem, appropriate from work," she continued. "How's that sound some day?"

Priscilla snickered, "I see how it is, don't like my offerings of greasy tacos and such, eh?" Grinning, she shrugged, picking Aeneas up by the scruff of his neck and shoving him into her backpack, "Sounds good to me. What d'ya say, Aeneas? Am I allowed to have a social life as long as it includes other senshi?"

Aeneas popped his head out of the bag, "Alright, alright, as long as you pa--" Unfortunately, he didn't get any further, do to the fact that the bag was suddenly zipped up.

"It sounds fine to me," Regina said, stretching her arms over her head with a soft sighing/squeaking sound.

Rayya beamed at her teammates. "Excellent. Then I'll just be giving you all calls later on." She paused for a second. "Oh, by the way, does anyone need a ride home?"

"I would appreciate one." Regina said politely. "It's a far walk back home, and it's getting chilly."

Rayya nodded sunnily. "No problem." Then she turned her smile on Priscilla. "You need one, Silly?"

"Nah, I parked a couple of blocks over." Priscilla grinned back, though she was suddenly come over with a bemused expression, "How do I keep getting these nicknames?"

Julius snorted. "I can't answer for any other nicknames but I know for a fact that Rayya is the laziest person on the face of the earth and avoids calling anyone by the correct name if it's longer than one syllable."

"Oh, well, forgive me, -Julius-," Rayya sighed. "Not all of us are as socially aware and refined as you." Then she turned back to Priscilla. "If you don't like it, hon, I can drop it. Really."

"I was kidding, Rayya. Honestly." Priscilla grinned mischievously. "Silly is a great nickname and it's a conversation starter. As for you," she glared down at Julius, swinging her leg to and fro threateningly, "I may have to babysit you sometime so Rayya can get some rest. So leave her alone or deal with me."

Julius glared at her and edged back towards Rayya. "Why are all of you new senshi so abusive?" he muttered. Then he raised his voice, smoothing it into wheedling tones. "Rayya? Can we go now? I'm hungry."

Sighing, Rayya nodded. "Yeah, okay, Jules." Turning to Regina, she smiled, "Ready to go, hon?" she asked.

Regina nodded. "Yes." My mom’s going to kill me, she thought distractedly. Coming home this late and hitchhiking with a "stranger." I’m never going to hear the end of it.  "Lets go."

Rayya waved brightly at Priscilla. "I'll give you a call then, hon," she announced. "It's past time for all good little senshi to be in bed." With that and a final giggle, she disappeared back into the trees, dragging a sullen Julius and a bewildered Regina behind her. Her clear voice echoed back at the other senshi, though, with a final "goodnight."

After waving until she was sure they were out of sight, Priscilla huffed a huge sigh. That was...interesting. Moving slowly to her car, she popped her knuckles, going over the night's events. She'd been harassed by two grouchy animals on power trips, and somehow, she hadn't killed either. With a shrug, she got into her car and drove off. There would be other days.