Next morning Eliana didn't bother to have him decide to walk with her, and instead stood outside him complex waiting for him when he came down in the morning. "Morning Tsukino-san." she greeted then grinned slightly. "And good morning to you Apollo. Sleep well?"
The cat had a rather grumpy look on his face this morning and he'd not bothered to wait around for Hajime in his apartment, instead waited out on the railing outside till he was ready to go. He'd been up most of the night trying to figure out the odd situation he'd faced the night before. His conclusion? He didn't understand humans and he was irritated with himself for starting to even consider thinking like one.
Hajime smiled slightly at Eliana.
"You can call me Hajime. You don't have to use the honorific or my last name. We're friends, right?" he asked. He patted Eliana on the shoulder. "Friends don't need to be so stiff and formal." He started the walk towards school and nodded to the pack he had slung over his shoulder. "You still on for studying tonight?" he asked. At that moment, a white cat came running up, panting, a golden crescent moon sparkling on his forehead.
"Sailor Sun! I've found Venus!" he shouted, and Hajime gave Eliana a look of shock.
Eliana flushed slightly, happy to hear he considered her a friend, as well as that he didn't mind her calling his name.
Apollo- finding a bit of injustice in the fact that Artemis had just run up talking and he had yet to be permitted to speak before the boy- pounced Artemis, though he didn't hold the slightly smaller white cat down for long. Just enough to land on him and then dignifiedly step off with a slight 'hmph.'
Eliana wasn't sure if she should scold Apollo or just leave him alone since he was in a bad mood anyway- so she decided to leave that to later. "Venus? Really?" She seemed perplexed. "I hadn't expected any of the usuals..." she murmured, then shook her head. "Where is she? Ah! Sorry Hajime. This is Artemis, he's... similar to Apollo." To Artemis she gave a warning 'NOT A WORD' look before introducing Hajime. "This is Hajime, possessor of the Silver Crystal."
Hajime crouched down to look at Artemis as the male cat did a little bow of sorts.
"It is good to meet you Prince," he said, and Hajime found himself close to laughter.
"And nice to meet you Artemis," Hajime said, holding out a hand to let Artemis put his paw in it, and then shook the cat's paw in a very dignified handshake sort of thing. "What's this about a Venus?" he asked, looking up at Eliana.
"The other Senshi, she is one of them. Though... you are the first male Gaurdian of the Moon and so I was not anticipating to meet any of the Senshi that had served previously," she commented, tracing her lower lip as she thought. "You go ahead to school. I'll go with Artemis and see Sailor Venus. Is she awake already?" she asked, directing her question to Artemis now.
Hajime nodded and continued on to school while Artemis and Apollo stayed behind with Eliana.
"No, not awake yet. I wanted to notify you before I woke her. She seems to be rather spoiled..." Artemis said, frowning in thought. "She's the daughter of a pop diva, and has been doted on all her life. I don't think she will take too well to being a Senshi of love and justice..."
"And of course that would the catch to getting one of the inner Senshi," Eliana muttered with a sigh. "Let's go ahead and go. I'll talk to her a bit before we try to wake her. Right now, we can't afford to put any negative energies near Hajime," she told him. "He only awakened yesterday and his power is unstable. I can't make any predictions about it as of now." she told him. "Apollo. Stay with Hajime please."
Apollo huffed. "Very well," he grumbled before trotting off after Hajime.
Mia looked up as the white cat came over towards her again, purring and rubbing up against her leg.
"Why can't you be a prettier kitty?" she pouted, images of ridiculously fluffy white cats without a bald spot on their forehead filling her mind. A woman walked up behind the cat, and Mia glared. "How dare you? Why are you trespassing upon my property?"
'You must be joking,' Eliana thought. 'I wouldn't normally consider such a girl for the position of Senshi. Her attitude it completely wrong. Is the universe TRYING to destroy itself?' she wondered but just smiled apologetically at the girl. "Sorry. I'm with the cat," she told her, stooping down to pick up Artemis. "I didn't mean to trespass. I suppose I just wasn't thinking. Intent on following Artemis and all," she laughed a bit nervously.
"Isn't Artemis a girl name?" Mia asked impishly, brushing her very light blonde hair out of her blue eyes. Standing, her long slender legs unfolded from beneath her, as she had been sitting on the ground, reading. Tucking her text reader into her bag, she crossed her arms. "And what's your name?" Mia's eyes narrowed as she looked Eliana over. In truth, she was jealous of Eliana's beauty, but would never admit it. "Following the cat? Why? He's not yours."
'And how would she know that? I should have asked Artemis HOW he found her,' she thought. "I'm Eliana. It's nice to meet you," she greeted with a smile, completely unaware of the jealousy the other girl was feeling. "As for why... I guess you could say he's sort of a friend of mine." She didn't address the 'girl's name comment' as she couldn't argue it. Artemis was the Greek Goddess of hunt and animals as well as a few other things they'd added. Like the protector of young women. "May I ask what your name is?"
Mia glared at Eliana for a few more moments, then gave a dainty little huff, as if giving her name was a chore and that she felt that she shouldn't even have to give it to a commoner.
"I'm Mia," she finally said. Holding a hand out for Artemis, she was surprised that he just meowed and cuddled closer to Eliana. "Well since he seems to like you better, I'll just have to ask you to leave." Her eyes sparkled with a suspicious wetness, but she did not give Eliana a chance to observe this. "If you don't leave now, I'll have the guards come and get you, since you are in fact, trespassing."
'Since he likes me better?' she thought, confused for a moment how him liking her more meant that she now had to leave. "Oh! Because you like him," she said her realization aloud without thinking. "Is he yours?" she asked. "Artemis... should I leave you here or run with you?" she asked under her breath so only the cat could hear her.
In answer, Artemis just smiled at her, and then jumped down, twining about the pale blonde girl's ankles as he meowed and started purring. Mia grinned and bent to pick him up.
"Well Artemis, I guess it is okay that you're around," she said. Turning to Eliana, she frowned again. "But you..." She felt like she was ugly in comparison to her. "You can come back later. I want to talk to you. But not right now." Mia turned her back on Eliana. "Leave."
"Um... alright. I'll come by after school then," she told her, giving a bow. "Have a good day Mia-san." She then turned and hurried back to the school. She'd have to postpone her plan to study with Hajime till after she talked to Mia again.
She got to class and of course was late. Thankfully she was still new and was able to use that to her advantage to get out of detention. She sighed, getting out her text reader. "Um... Hajime?" she whispered, glancing at the teacher before she looked back at him. "I'm going to be going somewhere after school. So I'll see you after for studying," she told him. "Sorry to have to change plans on you."
He smiled.
"No problem," he said. "It has to do with that Venus girl, right?" The question was innocent enough, as he didn't know what Eliana's experience had been with Mia.
She sighed. "Yes. I will fill you in on details when I have more to tell. For now... suffice it to say first impressions are not promising."
After school she headed back to the mansion she'd been at before, slipping through the main gate. She closed her eyes and focused on the energies around her. Finding Venus and Artemis was easy enough to do and so she made her way to them.
"Hello again Mia-san." she greeted, again giving the girl a smile.
Hajime nodded and went back to the school work.
Mia looked up at Eliana, forcing a slight smile.
"Hello Eliana-san. Glad that my guards could recognize you," she said. Artemis sat in her lap.
"Yes...um..." Eliana ran a hand though her bangs, bushing them from her eyes. "So, Mia-san. Was... there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?" she smiled down at Artemis. "You look rather content at the moment."
"I just gave him some tuna," Mia said, ignoring Eliana's question for the moment. After a short pause, she looked up, taking in Eliana's appearance and feeling that jealousy again. "Where are you from that you have such features? I've not seen anyone in Japan that looks even close to you."
"Oh, I'm from Rome," she told her. 'Of course I'm from Ancient Rome.. or what later became Rome at least.' she thought. "I only just moved here, so I'm still new to the area."
"Almost like a Goddess..." Mia murmured softly to herself. Realizing that she had spoken aloud, she shook her head. "Listen. I'm doing a modeling project and need a partner. You are perfect for it. It'll pay well too. Are you up for it?" It was evident from her tone of voice that she thought that Eliana wouldn't be able to handle it, and she seemed like she was a tad disdainful.
Eliana started to refuse, but then stopped, considering. 'Well I've never done anything like that... but if it pays well... I'd be able to pay for rent and food...' she bit her lip slightly and then smiled. "Yes. Thank you, that would be wonderful." She gave a smile. "When is it?" she asked. She'd see if she could manage any research before the actual job.
Mia smiled and stood.
"It's in two days. Be sure to be here or I might not ask you again," she said. Holding Artemis in her arms, she didn't extend a hand to Eliana in comradeship. It seemed as if she was used to getting her way, and thought that this was like everything else: Eliana agreeing to do what she wanted because of who she was.
'Maybe... I should have said no... but I need the money...' she thought. "What time do I need to be here?" she asked.
After she made her way to Hajime's apartment. "Sorry to make you wait." she told him with an apologetic smile. "Um... I'm going to try and get to know Mia-san, the Senshi of Venus. She's... difficult. I'm going to see if that's just first impressions or if she's really just like that?" she told him. "Artemis is staying with her for now."she pulled out her text reader. "I'll be going with her to a modeling job on saturday." she told him.
"Meet me here at about eight in the morning." This was all Mia said before she turned and walked away.
Hajime smiled.
"It's fine. Don't worry about being late." Hearing about her modeling job, he raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You've got the amazing looks for it, but I don't think you've the personality." When Eliana gave him a blank stare, he shook his head. "Most girls that I know who have been in that business either are mean to begin with, or become mean."
"Oh. That's odd..." She didn't understand why someone would get mean just for having a photo taken. Then something else registered and she tilted her head, giving him a curious look. "Amazing looks?" she asked. And then after a bit farther thought remembered that models were considered beautiful or at the very least pretty. She blushed. "Really? You think that I'm, pretty?" No one had told her that- not that she could remember. She didn't really remember much about her life before she became Sailor Sun- and she'd never been told she was pretty as Sailor Sun.
"Yes. You are quite beautiful," Hajime said matter of factly, looking back down at their math homework. "I'm thinking that Venus asked you along because she liked your looks."
Her blush grew and she heard a soft snort from behind her. Turning she saw Apollo watching her, his tail twitching with a slight smirk on his catty mouth. She sent him a glare before turning back to her text reader. A breathy 'Ah' was all she said about the matter before starting in on her homework. Her body was doing odd things. It must have been because she was not in her Senshi form. Her heart was beating faster than it should have and she had an uncomfortable fluttering happening in her stomach. 'When did I last eat?' she wondered, thinking perhaps she was faint from hunger again or something.
It was about seven thirty Saturday morning, and Mia found herself waiting with Artemis outside of her house. She had her hair up in a super stylish way, as the modeling shoot was based on mythical origins. She and Eliana would be dressed as goddesses.
Eliana had attempted to study modeling, but in the end she found that she wasn't going to be able to understand just from reading about it. She'd have to watch, listen, and rely on her senses to figure it out. She made her way to Mia-san's house with a simple white sundress with pale yellow trim, lace up sandals, and her long hair pulled back in a low ponytail as was her usual. She assumed that there would be people there to dress her out however they wanted, including her hair. "Good morning Mia-san." she greeted with a polite bow. "I hope you slept well last night."
"I slept fairly well," Mia said with a nod. She didn't ask about Eliana, not really thinking of it, as she had never extended courtesies to other people before. "Today, we are shooting some sort of mythology based thing. The photographer says that you'll be dressed as a sun goddess of some sort, and I will be dressed as the goddess of love, Venus." She threw a smirk in Eliana's direction. "I think that we're both well suited for our parts.
She was actually struggling not to start laughing. "Oh you have no idea," she murmured under her breath. "Yes, I think that it's almost fatefully suited," she agreed, a slight laugh conveyed in her tone. "I've never done this before so please take care of me." She gave another polite bow.
Mia scowled, looking away.
"You're too polite. They won't take you seriously."
"Eh?" she tilted her head. "Really? Hmmm..." She considered this. "I suppose if I just spoke more relaxed like when I'm with Hajime it would be alright... that shouldn't be considered rude," she mused, thinking aloud.
"Hajime?" Mia asked, leading Eliana towards the dressing rooms. "Who's that?" She sounded curious.
SInce she wasn't ready to have this girl awaken as Sailor Venus she decided to go with a more general answer. "He's my friend from school. I'm still adjusting to live here and he's been helping me out," she told her. Of course she was talking about life on Earth in general rather than just Crystal Tokyo, but of course, Mia didn't need to know about that right now. Same as she didn't need to know that he was the new Guardian of the Moon.
Mia nodded, and then opened the door to the fitting room. Two elegant looking Ancient Roman-style dresses greeted them, both distinct in color. The dress that Eliana would be wearing was a deep amber-gold color. It was shimmery and slightly sheer in some places. A tiara was settled on a stool next to it, gold glittering with amber jewels. A matching set of earrings, necklace, and bracelets were with the tiara, and a pair of straw sandals that laced partway up the calf sat underneath the stool. Mia's dress hung next to Eliana's dress, a deep rose color. On a still that was to the left of her dress, a set of gold jewelry set with rubies sat, the tiara a tad more extravagant than Eliana's tiara. The straw sandals that sat under the stool matched Eliana's.
"Wow..." Mia said, the word coming out breathy and appreciative. "They really went all out today..." She blinked, blushing, then grabbed her dress and went behind a changing screen to change into the deep rose dress.
Eliana raised her brow at the dresses. They were quite stunning. She saw Mia get her dress and so she did the same. Once her dress was on she tied her sandals on and then then started to put the jewelery on. 'Perhaps she doesn't have anyone do hair for us... oh well. I suppose... I braid my hair and coil it... or should I just leave it down?' she wondered playing with it a bit as she looked into the mirror. She thought for a moment about taking out her contacts... 'I could claim they are the contacts I suppose.. but... such a pale color...' she considered her eyes in the mirror as well.
"Here's some contacts," Mia said as she finished with her jewelry. "You put in yours while I fix your hair." Mia set to work with a brush, marveling at how soft Eliana's hair was. She proceeded to braid it, and start to pile it on the top of her head. Fixing the tiara into the soft curls, she nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect." She turned to another mirror and proceeded to put in her own contacts. Turning back to Eliana, her eyes looked to be a pale pink in color, rather than the original blue.
She opened her own contact case and couldn't help but smile. Her eyes would have been a little paler than these, however it would work quite well without them it seemed. She pulled out her own contact case while Mia was distracted and then pulled out her contacts, leaving her eyes their natural pale color. "So they are doing this photoshoot here at your house then?" she asked, admiring the work she'd done with her hair. "You're quite skilled," she compliment with a smile.
"You have very beautiful hair," Mia said in return, feeling slightly awkward about it. She'd never complimented anyone before. "Come on, let's get to the house. There's a set that the photographers have put together in the living room." Leading the way inside, she showed Eliana to the living room, which, although it had a very realistic looking Roman-esque column and palace set, also had the trappings of wealth: a black grand piano, crystal, silver, and gold in every corner. "Here we are."
"Thank you," she told her before following her out. She looked the room over. 'Wow... she's really a rich girl...' she thought, gently touching on of the pillars. She had a vague memory of such structures, but couldn't place when exactly she'd seen such a thing. If it had been Eliana that had seen it or Sailor Sun. She saw the photographers and then stood just behind Mia, waiting to follow her cue on what they were supposed to do. Both for greeting these people and for the shoot itself.
Before Mia could greet the photographers, an ungodly screech sounded from outside the window, just before a shattering of glass sounded, and something crashed through the set.
"Oh for the love of... What the hell?!" Mia shouted, stomping forward. The photographers did as well, until an inky black creature jumped up out of the mess, stalking towards them and screeching that screech again.
"Mia-san, Eliana-san!" one of the photographers shouted, picking up a thick metal pipe that protruded from one of the broken pillars. "Run!" Mia cast a terrified look at the creature and turned, running from the room.
Eliana muttered an oath under her breath. Shed have to take care of this thing before it killed someone! No one was paying her any mind and so she changed where she stood into Sailor Sun. But when she raised her staff to attack the creature she felt pain course through her as her body siezed. 'You must be joking?! I'm not allowed to attack?!' she thought, gasping as the pain that had driven her to her knees vanished. That really left her with only one choice. She looked behind her. Mia hadn't made it out of the room yet. Good. In an instant she was in front of Mia and held out her staff. Light enveloped them, leaving everything beyond the small sphere they were in to turn to dark shadows that seemed to stand still. "Mia-san I need you to listen to me. I can't hold this spell for very long." she told her. "I'm Sailor Sun, you meet me earlier as Eliana." she told her, her eyes serious. "You are Sailor Venus, a protector of this Universe. I don't have time to give you all the details now, and if you don't want that thing to kill those people or you then you need to do exactly as I say." She took a breath and murmured under her breath with her staff before her face. Light shimmered in front of her and then an orange pen with a heart shape on the top appeared and floated over to Mia. "Take this and call out 'Venus Power Make Up. Everything else should come to you naturally after that," she told her. Though she was a bit hesitant to believe that herself; so far the Universe seemed determined to no longer exist at this rate.
Mia gave Sailor Sun a terrified look.
"What?!" she shrieked. "You expect me to risk my life for people I don't even know?!" At that moment, something slammed against the orb, and Mia yelped, jumping up and grabbing the pen. "K, I'll do it..." she whimpered. Holding the pen above her head, she said the phrase that Sailor Sun had told her. "Venus Power Make Up!" she shouted. In an instant, she was dressed in something other than the deep rose dress that she had been wearing seconds earlier. An orange skirt with a lighter orange bow at the back, a white shirt with a blue bow on front, and an orange circular shape in the middle of the bow, an orange sailor flap, as if in a school uniform. A gold tiara with an amber jewel graced her forehead and a blue mask covered the top half of her face. Her elbow high gloves had orange accents at the top, and she was wearing a pair of laced up orange heels. "This is hideous!" she exclaimed, then flinched a bit under Sun's gaze. "Right... That doesn't matter right now..." she said quietly.
Sailor Sun sighed. "I will give you a greater explanation later. For right now- go and destroy the monster. If helps, you might want to do so before it completely destroys your house." she told her, the sphere dropping. 'If only I was permitted to fight... but the rules of my observance are still too strong. This is the most I can do for now,' she thought.
Words formed in Mia's mind as the sphere dropped, and after dodging a furious attack by the inky creature, she stood and faced it. Pointing a finger at it, she said the words.
"Crescent beam!" she shouted. A beam of golden light shot out from her finger, and hit the creature square in the gut. It screeched one last time before disappearing, and Mia let her transformation go. She was back in the deep rose dress, looking slightly disheveled.
Sailor Sun sighed and then closed her eyes, letting her own transformation go. 'Finally. something went right,' she thought. "Well I suppose the photo shoot is ruined now," she commented, smoothing out her gown. "And you and I will have to have a talk Mia. But we'll discuss this another time. For now, you must tell no one about it. Understand Sailor Venus?" she spoke quietly from right behind Mia so that no one else would hear.
Mia was shaking, slightly terrified about what had just happened.
"I understand..." she whispered, then turned, glaring at Eliana. "But what I don't understand is why you would come into my life and then subsequently ruin it! Why?! With your looks and your everything?! You're far more beautiful than I could ever hope to be, and with looks like that, you're bound to have boys hanging off of you, girls too! Why would you do this to me?!" With that, Mia ran from the room and up to her room, Artemis, who had heard the commotion and had run to the living room, giving Eliana a sad look before running upstairs. The photographers hadn't heard a word of the outburst, but had seen Mia run away from Eliana, and so assumed that Eliana had done something to upset their star. They gave her angry glares before turning to pick up the mess that had once been a beautiful set.
Eliana just looked very confused for the most part. Something... had just happened... but she didn't understand what... The outburst had not made any sense to her at all. She got that she'd just been told she was pretty again- this time even so far as beautiful. But... she's ruined her life somehow? And somehow her looks made it totally unreasonable... She tried to figure it out, but in the end decided it was the logic of a selfish little girl. She gave the camera crew a bow and ended upstairs. Finding Mia again was rather easy. She nodded on the door. "Mia. It's Eliana. May I come in?" she asked. "I'm sorry you feel that I ruined your life for some reason, but I didn't choose you. Honestly I'd have rather it not be you. But the universe chose you and there is nothing I can do about that. Nor is there anything you can do about it," she called through the door. She wasn't good at handling people like her.
Mia slowly opened the door, peeking out at Eliana.
"Sorry... Not used to everything being upset the way it has been..." she said. Her voice was subdued as she said this, and she opened her door wider to let Eliana in. "It's all very new and strange."
"I understand that. Believe me, you are not the first Senshi to be confused and don't think you'll be the last," she told her, stepping inside. "Well... where to start. I suppose for now I should find out how much awakening had called to your memory. Oh and Artemis. Would you mind helping with my explanation. She'll find out soon anyway and who knows. She might trust this more from you."
"Artemis?" Mia asked, confused. Artemis jumped up on the bed next to her and nodded.
"I am here to guide you in your growth as a Senshi," he said. Mia blinked, then shook her head. "After that inky black creature, I don't expect much to surprise me anymore..." Artemis started to jointly explain things along with Eliana, and Mia slowly began to understand.
Eliana sighed. "I am sorry that this has distressed you, but I'm afraid you really don't have a choice. But I'll give you some time to think this over. I can introduce you to Hajime later, after you've come to accept things better." In truth she just didn't want this girl's potentially negative energy mixing with the already negative energy that Hajime had displayed the day the iron beam nearly crushed them.
She got to her feet. "And I'm sorry the shoot was ruined. I was looking forward to it. It had seemed like it might be fun." She offered a small smile to the girl.
"You truly looked beautiful," Mia offered, motioning towards the disheveled but still wonderful shimmery golden dress. "Quite like your true self maybe? Were you ever considered a sun goddess? Ever?" Mia seemed to instinctively know that Eliana was older than her, much older.
Eliana thought for a moment. "I believe... at one point a Sun Goddess was created based off me.. but I myself have never been a Sun Goddess. I'm just an observer of this universe who tries to keep it from collapsing," she said. "You shouldn't sell yourself short. You look quite lovely in your own gown." She smiled. Perhaps... her selfish and petty attitude was something like a barrier that she wore. She might not be such a terrible choice as a Senshi after all.
Mia looked down at the deep rose dress that she still wore, and blushed.
"Really?" she asked. "I feel like I'm always trying to live up to my mother's impossible standards..." Immediately, her face grew clouded, and she seemed to grow childish and selfish once again. "I think it's best that you leave now maybe."
'Her mother,' Eliana realized. As soon as she mentioned her mother she went back to being the girl that Eliana felt could never been a true Senshi. "Very well. Artemis will know how to contact me if you need me," she said and headed back to the room where her clothes were. She decided to leave her hair as it was, since it was rather pretty and then went to Hajime, to let him know that while Sailor Venus had awakened she would not be joining them just yet. The Guardian of the Moon had always been the center of the groups, and so she tried to keep with that tradition.
Hajime nodded, the reached up and touched her hair.
"Well, whatever her faults, she really does know how to make women look even more beautiful." He smiled and then turned back to the English homework. "So, the teacher wants us to print off a handout from an elite American university, and then to translate it. It can be a page about anything. What do you want to print out? We can do the same thing and work on it together."
She started blushing again. "Y-yeah... you know... I'm really not use to people talking about me like that..." she told him, knowing her red face was rather obvious. "Um- assignment. Right. H-how about we look through some of the topics. Since we're both good at English it should be fine regardless of what we pick right?"
"Maybe we should do a page from the science part of the site. It would give us somewhat of a challenge," Hajime said, not noticing her red face.
Eliana agreed and with a task to focus on she called quickly. From the watching she had done, she had learned a few things about human interactions. And one was that often when a male was attracted to a female they often complimented her appearance. But Hajime didn't seem to think anything of it- so the thoughts that he might have interest in her were quickly dismissed. It would only complicate things so if was for the best anyway. She'd just have to get accustomed to him giving her such compliments and take them as statements of fact- which was how he seemed to mean them.