"So what is it exactly that you two are trying to accomplish here if it has nothing to do with the Sailor Senshi?" Ami now really wanted to know.
"That is a really long story," Artemis warned.
"I have lots of time," Ami assured him.
"As you know our homeplanet Mau was destroyed and the power of its only defender had been stolen by Galaxia while Artemis and I were frozen in cryogenic sleep after the fall of the Moon Kingdom," Luna began to lecture. "There were of course other survivors who had been off-planet at the time, but with Galaxia still in possession of Mau's start seed and her influence still lingering on the ruins of what had once been our beautiful home there was no hope of ever rebuilding it. So our people have lived dispersed among the stars without a place to call home for many generations."
"But Usagi changed all that," Ami insisted. "She cleansed the taint of chaos from Galaxia and set the star-seeds she had collected free."
She felt a bit guilty for never having considered what the news of Galaxia's attack on their homeplanet must have done to the two cats. She had been far to self-involved with her own death and resurrection to pay much attention to the problems of others.
"Yes, Usagi did all that," Luna agreed almost reverently. "She gave the Mau the chance to rebuilt. She gave us a new start and hope for the future and we will be eternally grateful for that, but it will be some time before Mau will be returned to a semblance of its former glory or even support a large population. Only few can work in the rebuilding effort at this time and not all Mau are contend to wait now that hope and the spirit of adventure has been returned to us. Many young Mau have decided to move out into the universe and make a difference. Quite a lot have expressed the desire to come here to Earth."
"Earth?" Ami asked shocked.
Given humanities lack of capability for interstellar travel in recent ages Ami would not have thought that Earth would very well known or much of a point of interest outside her own solar-system.
"Yes, Earth," Artemis affirmed. "The planet where the Destroyer was finally defeated — by warriors trained by a pair of Mau no less. Also hearing those Coronians tell it you would think..."
"Please Artemis," Luna interrupted. "I think that neither we nor Phobos and Deimos are laying any claim to being responsible to Usagi's achievements, but many others out there have gotten the wrong impression."
"Anyway," Artemis continued. "Earth is like famous or something. If you are looking to make a difference it is the place to be."
"And training young magical girls seems like the thing to do for young Mau in search of a home and a purpose," Luna concluded.
"So you opened this shop as a sort of placement agency to give some of them a chance to actually come here and do just that," Ami realized. "Are you doing it in secret because you fear that the Outers might accuse you of starting some sort of Invasion?"
"This has nothing to do with the Outers or the Inners," Luna reiterated her earlier point.
"And according to the old laws we aren't doing anything wrong," Artemis added. "Every Mau that leaves this consulate will have sworn allegiance to a magical girl who according to the rules are considered minor nobility. Perfectly legal immigration into the confederation of inhabited celestial bodies of the solar system. We are even going to keep paperwork and everything."
It was a bit surreal that in their desire to do things by the book the Mau were now trying to adhere to policies that nobody actually born on Earth still remembered. Still Ami had to give them points for trying.
"Then why have you not said anything to anyone about your project," she still wanted to know.
"Because it has nothing to do with our service to the royal house of Mars or the Moon," Luna tried to explain. "We have taken pains to make sure that we would not be braking our oaths or coming into a conflict of interest...."
Ami finally understood.
"You do realize, that Usagi would never complain about you doing something for your own people even if you have sworn to serve only her?" Ami asked her earnestly. "She would never make you abandon your fellow Mau. In fact she would be the first to cheer you on and try to help you. After all this time you should know that Usagi does not care very much about rules but very much for her friends. And so do Minako and Rei."
"Yes, of course." Luna admitted almost ashamed. "But still, this is not easy for us. When we first came to Serenity's court we left behind all bonds and allegiances. Nobody can serve to masters. We realize that none of you girls would mind or even see the problem at first, except perhaps Pluto perhaps, but it is still a delicate situation for us."
"Setsuna has been around here for some time," Ami pointed out. "If she had a problem with side your project she would have said something by now. Nobody has a problem and we are all going to support you and the crows."
Luna and Artemis nodded embarrassedly.
"Ah, who cares about the birds," Artemis tried to change the topic.
"I thought Phobos and Deimos were in pretty much the same situation as you?" Ami wanted to know. "Why don't you four work together on this?"
"Cooperation would be the logical thing to do," Luna admitted. "But it is not that easy."
"Why not?" Ami wondered. "I know that you are cats and they are birds, but that doesn't have to mean anything, does it? I mean you are all sentient creatures."
"You wouldn't understand, Ami," Luna lamented. "For felines it is a matter of instinct. As an ape-descendants you probably only get occasional urges to climb tall structures, pick up random objects to see if they are edible and fling poo. That is all very easily suppressed."
"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Artemis asked and then proceeded to mumble something about Minako and alcohol that Ami couldn't quite make out.
Luna ignored him with practiced ease and continued her explanation: "But for felines it is different. The instinctual feline reaction to birds is very strong and harder to suppress. It involves sneaking, pouncing and then quite often dinner. Artemis and I of course have the self-control to rise above that with Phobos and Deimos for the sake of protocol, diplomacy and teamwork but it is not always easy."
"I still always make sure to have Minako feed me before a meeting at Rei's," Artemis interjected helpfully.
"But if you are trying to get some Mau to act as familiars for students and Phobos and Deimos have the same plans for their fellow Coronians won't they end up meeting in the school?" Ami brought up what she thought was a good point. "If they don't have the same experience at controlling their instincts that you and Rei's crows have that might result in some ugly incidents."
"We hadn't really given that much thought," Luna admitted. "We probably should give them some instructions on proper behavior. before we let them go."
"Maybe it would help if you set an example yourself. As the heroes who instructed the primitive ape-descendants to defeat Galaxia you would probably make good role-models," Ami could not help teasing. "And keeping the prospective familiars here in the shop together could give them a chance to get better acclimated to each other."
"That is just what I have been trying to say!" Artemis exclaimed.
"No, your arguments were that we would have to spend less time working behind the counter if we joined forces," Luna corrected. "Your laziness does not quite carry the same weight as Ami's well reasoned arguments."
"But I was still right," Artemis insisted. "And it was worry about effective management of our time and resources not laziness."
"So you are going to do it?" Ami wanted know.
"Fine," Luna finally relented. "We will contact Phobos and Deimos about cooperating. The shop is too big for just us anyway and it will give us more time to work on other things. But we won't call it the "Little Petshop of Fear and Terror!" and that is final."
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(Posted Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:56)
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