Gramarye here. I have had some free time lately and I decided to write something different than normal. Yes, I know that I usually do long, drawn-out stories of mini-series proportions, but this time I wanted to do a short first person dialogue. I hope everyone likes it! Disclaimer—Sailor Moon isn’t mine and that’s about it. See, I can be brief with disclaimers as well! Aren’t I just overly talented? (That’s rhetorical, so don’t answer it.) Listening to You By: Gramarye gramarye@rochester.rr.com Rating: G ------------------------------------------------------------------- Listening to you, I get the music Gazing at you, I get the heat Following you, I climb the mountain I get excitement at your feet. Right behind you, I see the millions On you, I see the glory From you, I get opinions From you, I get the story… --“Listening to You” from the musical Tommy The mystical divinity of unashamed felinity Round the cathedral rang—“VIVAT!” “Life to the everlasting cat!” -- “Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” from the musical Cats ------------------------------------------------------------------- What do you want to talk to me for? I am old. By normal life span estimates I should have been gone a long time ago. Even quasi- immortals have their limits, and I’ve certainly tested mine on many occasions. When the next generation takes its rightful place it is our duty to fade quietly away into history and legend. I’m not fading just yet, mind you, but give me a little time. Honestly, young people nowadays... My view on perpetual life? Highly overrated, if you ask me. I mean, there’s only so much that you can do in one world and in one lifetime. Most immortals would agree that tedium does set in after awhile unless you have a vivid imagination and endless amounts of energy. These days, it’s a wonder if I can even stretch my legs in the mornings. There are times when a small chair seems as insurmountable as, well, Mt. Fuji, and twice as difficult to get down from without your bones making funny noises. Artemis makes rather odd noises even when he’s not doing anything overly physical. He could be sleeping and still complain in his sleep that he’s too tired to move. That cat——still as bone idle as the day we first met. The day we first met...ah, that’s a key to open the memory chest. I’m not one to reminisce, but lately I have been thinking more and more about the past and less about the future. If that isn’t an ominous sign then I don’t know what is. Sorry about that. I’m in a rather morbid mood today. Diana is quite the young lady nowadays. She’s not as boisterous and rowdy as she once was, thank goodness, but then again neither is her young mistress. Or perhaps I should drop the young from that. Neo-Princess Serenity reminds me so much of her mother at that age, right down to the odango. I almost slipped one time and called her Usagi, but then again the light was dim and it was an honest mistake. Only the Senshi, Their Majesties, and we cats remember the old days now. Everyone else who knew Old Tokyo is long since gone to dust, and the history texts taught in schools barely mention anything before the Neo-Queen’s ascension. The monarchy is as established as any major power structure can be. Life has become routine, with a revolution of state matters and court functions coming and going as swiftly and painlessly as the revolutions of a spinning wheel. Oh sure, flashes of the Tokyo I knew will appear for mere seconds in a girl’s laugh or a baby’s cry or a man’s smile, but in time these too will fade. But why am I babbling on about this? I’m sure you want to know everything that’s happened since the last of the invaders were driven out of Crystal Tokyo and the city was restored to its full splendor. To tell you the truth, it’s nigh impossible for me to tell everything, so I’m don’t plan to try. History is recorded in the books of schoolchildren; legend is passed down in song and story. If you want that, do research, don’t ask me. I’m just the cat. The worst of the evil has been removed from our land, but things aren’t fairy-tale peaceful here. We’re not a perfect society. There aren’t any serial killers or multiple homicides or vivisectionists here and never have been, and yet I can’t say that everyone, everywhere, is happy all the time. Frankly, I’m glad. No one wants to live with a bunch of smiling robots——insanity would set in rather quickly. Oddly enough, my memories of the Silver Millennium have not faded. In fact, they’re clearer and stronger than ever, and occasionally something will awaken in me deep thoughts of things I had forgotten I ever knew. The Senshi listen with interest to the stories I tell them, and yet I often wonder if they don’t go away asking themselves if I have gone completely senile. Poor old thing, they’d say, nothing left for her to do except make up stories. At least I try to remember, try to be of use. Not like that lazy bag of white fur asleep on the hearth beside me. Everyone is kind, though, and Serenity still asks my opinion every so often. But I know that I don’t really belong here. Their Majesties and the Senshi are Old Tokyo born and bred, and a thousand lifetimes of ruling here will never change that. The Neo-Princess and Diana are firmly entrenched in the thriving world of Crystal Tokyo, and no amount of time travel and past echoes will ever change that. Artemis and I—we are the last of the royal house of the Moon, the keepers of the Silver Millennium, the link to where the story began. Her Majesty Queen Serenity entrusted us with the care of the future, and I would not disappoint her for my life. I know my place too well to do anything so foolish. When we are gone, Queen Serenity will be able to rest with the assurance that I have trained her daughter well, that I have fulfilled my solemn pledge to her and her lineage. She and I will be reunited, and in time the others will join us in the gleaming white palace on the Moon, where the white and red roses blow softly in a gentle breeze. Where the laughter of a young girl echoes through the halls. Where fireworks light up the sky with a thousand twinkling stars. Where a couple sit on a marble bench and pledge their eternal love. Where a good and gentle queen rules over her tranquil land. Where we can be at peace until the stars fade and the last light is gone from the sky. I await your call, my Queen. Please let it be soon.