Artemis was getting somewhat concerned over his charge’s behavior; after she’d recounted what had gone on in the meeting (and confirmed that Ranma was definitely going to be with the Senshi for a while, which meant that he and Luna would have to find some way to circumvent the Neko-ken), the normally excited teenager had become somewhat melancholy. “Minako? Are you alright?”
Rather than answering the question directly, Minako posed one of her own: “How much do you remember from the Silver Millennium, Artemis?”
“Well, my memory about specific events is rather fragmented…”
“It’s not about anything specific,” Minako clarified. “I just want to know what I was like.”
“What you were like?”
“Back then. What my personality was like, how I acted, that sort of thing.”
“Where’s this coming from?”
“I’m just curious, that’s all.”
“Well, from what I remember, Genevieve had a pretty typical temperament for an aristocratic teenager, except she wasn’t nearly as snobby—but then, most of the Senshi lacked the air of superiority that sometimes caused friction between the upper and lower classes. She was fun-loving—she had a reputation as a bit of a party animal, in fact. And when I say “party,” I don’t mean a ceremonial ball, or something like that; I mean actual parties, where you didn’t have to worry about decorum, and could ‘actually have fun,’ as she put it. Of course, that meant she spent a lot of time with the commoners, as they were the only ones who would throw a party simply for the sake of having a party—and that meant she became romantically involved with several people outside of the aristocracy, causing several scandals in the process.”
The white mooncat was starting to move towards Minako’s area of interest, so she pressed forward. “Oh? So, why were they scandalous?”
“Well, like I said, there was a lot of friction between the upper and lower classes—Genevieve’s mother, in particular, was worried that she would be ‘debased’ by the commoners. Of course, she couldn’t really say that openly, because Genevieve was also extremely popular with the lower classes. I know that there was at least one instance when she managed to single-handedly stop a massive riot—and that was before she became a Senshi.”
“So, that was it? My—I mean, her relationships were only controversial because they were with commoners?”
“Well… pretty much.”
“So, none of them were… girls?”
Artemis’ eyes widened at this. “Minako, is there something you haven’t told me about that meeting?”
“Um, well, you see… Setsuna, she sort of… came out of the closet. She said she was bisexual, and then said that we might not have considered the possibility that we might not be totally straight because of what Haruka did and that sort of got me thinking that maybe all the problems I have finding a boyfriend—”
Artemis held up a paw to stop his charge’s worried monologue. “I think I understand. But I doubt telling you about Genevieve’s sexual history will help. The Silver Millennium was a completely different culture than this one, and it had different social mores—especially among the aristocracy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that during the Silver Millennium, nearly every person in the upper classes engaged in sexual activity with persons of both genders—aristocratic teenagers were expected to experiment, as they could be protected from unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases using magic, and this experimenting often continued into adulthood. In fact, this was especially true on Venus, where some of the aristocrats’ ‘extracurricular activities’ could shock a porn star.”
“But you said they were all about decorum—”
“Publicly, yes. But behind the scenes, the Venusian nobility was a veritable cauldron of debauchery. The reason Genevieve’s behavior was so scandalous wasn’t because it was wild—it was actually pretty tame, compared to most nobles. Rather, what drove high society nuts was that she had the gall not just to acknowledge her activities to the commoners, but to occasionally include them.”
“So, what you’re saying about being straight or gay or bi in the Silver Millennium…”
“…is that those terms would have had absolutely no meaning whatsoever among the aristocracy. I can tell you that Genevieve had several long-term partners of both genders—but that was what her society expected of her.”
“But… how did she feel about them as people? Was she in love with any of them?”
“I’m sorry, Minako, but I tried to keep my nose out of her private life unless it was absolutely necessary. I’m afraid you’ll have to figure this out on your own.”
Minako sighed… she’d really hoped to gain some sort of insight by learning about her past self, but she was no closer to figuring things out than she was ten minutes ago. Thus, she asked a rather obvious question: “How am I supposed to figure this out? Am I supposed to just have sex with a girl and see if I like it?”
“Well, you could ask Haruka, Michiru, or Setsuna how they dealt with it. I’m sure they can give you advice.” Seeing that his charge was not exactly satisfied with this answer, Artemis tried again: “You should also keep in mind that ideas about sexuality have changed before, and there’s no reason to think that they won’t change again. I’m sure that by the time Crystal Tokyo is established, our current notions of heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality will be completely obsolete. If you can’t figure out the answer now, maybe you’ll be able figure it out later.”
This didn’t totally ease Minako’s troubles, but she did look a little bit more relieved. “I guess that will do for now. Thanks for trying to help, Artemis.”
“Believe me, if I could do more, I would.”
“I know.”
“Now, I suggest you get ready for bed. You do have that test tomorrow.”
Minako responded with the most horrifying pair of words a teenager can utter: “What test?”
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(Posted Sun, 10 Sep 2006 21:01)
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