"This has got to be one of the strangest nights I've had in a long time," Eshana said grinning. "I think you change umm genders when you talk to a different person." It was a plausible theory but who knows. Since the woman in front of her had turned back into a human, the intense feelings of attraction she had been feeling were returning. Heart racing, her hands felt clamy. What was going on with her tonight? Was she under some sort of curse as well? Did it related to the beautiful human in front of her?

"You think so?" Makoto switched genders again as she spoke to Eshana, once again a woman. Maybe there was some credit to this theory. "Then maybe I should try to stick with one person tonight. Would you mind if I...talked to you some more? Or would that be weird after all this stuff just happened?" she asked. It was nice that Eshana was taking it in stride though.

"My name's Makoto, by the way."

Stephanine smiled as she seemed to get a response from one of the girls but when she was touched and felt funny she closed her eyes until her friend spoke again 'No way again??' She looked up..literally at the rest of the people, "What in the great blue sea is going on and why am I so small now?" She watched as the first girl then jumped away from her into another person and the same thing happened to her too. 'Does this regularly happen?' She thought...

"I think I'd like that, Makoto. It may be a good idea to find somewhere a bit quieter around here less you keep changing genders."

Zena watched as a girl with pink hair touched another girl and turned her into a toddler. She was shocked, what kind of a place is this, why was everyone turning into toddlers? She watched as the same girl hugged the tall blonde woman, thus turning her into a toddler. 

She felt a hint of fear and looked around for someone to talk to, but she didn't have much luck. She did notice that Aurelyiah appeared to be alone as well. She walked over, hoping the girl would talk with her. Right now she felt like she could leave and no one would notice, but she had to try to push herself to be more social.

She took a breath before walking over to Aurelyiah and saying, "this is quite an interesting ball isn't it?"

Haruka screamed at the top of her lungs, as Chibiusa clung to her. Before she knew it, She was no taller then Michiru's shin.

"Goodness, Gracious, Great ball of fire!" She choked out. Now she didn't make any sense, AND was the age of two? She had to pick her words carefully, in hopes Chibiusa would be able to make out her inquiry.

"YOU'RE my alien, your touch so foreign?" She asked Chibusa-and cringed. How was she supposed to ask if Chibiusa was the origin of turning people into toddlers? Or how she was speaking in popular song lyrics? (Did they even know these songs? Haruka had heard them dozens of times on her racing tours around the world. Did any of these songs even make it to Japan?)

All she could do was try to comfort Chibiusa by rubbing her head and hope that she would at least return to her age soon.

"It might be hard to find a quiet place at a ball, but I guess we can try," Makoto said. "I wouldn't mind changing one more time though..." He sighed, before smiling at Eshana again. 

"How about over by the food table?" Deciding to do something bolder, he took her hand in his and led her over to the refreshment area.

"You would only end up changing once again upon talking to me, although if it makes you comfortable to talk to someone else so you change back to a female and remain one, by all means, I will not stop you. I'd rather you be comfortable." 

Eshana couldn't help the blush that tinged her cheeks when Makoto grabbed her hand and lead her over to the food table, where it was a little quieter. She wondered how much the action on Makoto's part was manners or if she returned her feelings...

Michiru couldn't help but smile broadly when her lover arrived. As usual, Haruka looked flawless and irresistible. Right as the aqua-haired musician was about to tell her so, Haruka spoke up and said something...extremely odd.

Feeling her cheeks flare, Michiru covered her embarrassment with a smile and said through clenched teeth, "Haruka, you are humiliating me again." Before she could berate the blonde further, a cloud of smoke next to her caught her attention. Turning her attention to Makoto, she was surprised to find a man who resembled the tall senshi very closely. After pondering a moment, it all suddenly made sense in Michiru's head and she smiled. "Ah, Makoto-san, I had no idea you were changing your gender! Congratulations on being true to yourself," she commended.

Suddenly, Makoto changed again, this time becoming a dear. Startled now, Michiru took a step closer to Haruka. "Um...has Makoto-san always been such a freak?" she whispered in her lover's ear. "I'm starting to think this ball isn't for us, after all."

Ami approached, forcing Michiru to move away from Haruka slightly. "Good evening Ami. You look cute, as always. That neckline is rather low for your tastes, isn't it?" she said, tilting her head slightly. At Ami's question, she glanced at the deer with distaste. She didn't even notice the small child that had seemingly appeared out of no where. Shrugging, Michiru said, "I'm assuming this is actually a freak show instead of a ball and we are at the wrong place. Or rather, that's what I'm hoping."

Haruka walked away, causing Michiru to follow her with her eyes. She could hear the blonde woman's words, and the strange pattern made her knit her eyebrows in confusion. Was she singing a Hurts song? Not like Michiru listened to that music, but frequent car rides with her beloved had lead her to hearing a few different genres. As she continued to listen, Haruka started...hitting on Makoto? Anger and jealousy flared up in Michiru's stomach, but she held her ground and watched with a neutral expression. Haruka came back, and it was all Michiru could do not to slap her. "You're being disgraceful tonight," she remarked.. Looking around, Michiru's eyes landed on a beautiful blonde girl with what appeared to be a fox as her accompaniment. "You know, that girl looks awfully charming. I'm sure I could have a great night talking with her instead of you. Her hair is better-looking, anyway."

Michiru clamped her mouth shut, blinking a few times in surprise. Why was she being so mean? Well, Haruka sort of deserved it, but still! This wasn't like Michiru at all. If she didn't have anything nice to say, she simply wouldn't say it at all. What had come over her?

Her eyes met Haruka's, and she suddenly felt like something was wrong. She knew her lover better than she knew herself, and she knew that look meant that there was a problem. Come to think of it, almost everyone seemed to be having some sort of problem. There had to be some reason Haruka was only speaking in lyrics of lame songs. Haruka was an oddball, but not this odd. If she wanted to be charming and flirt with girls, Haruka would have done it in a much less...lyrical fashion.

Michiru was about to speak when Chibiusa suddenly grabbed onto Haruka, as if needing help of protection. What was wrong? Suddenly, Haruka's body began to shrink, getting smaller and smaller until she was just a toddler. "H-Haruka...?" Michiru breathed, bending down to meet the child's eyes. "What did you do?!" she said to Chibiusa, scooping tiny Haruka into her arms. She had taken care of a baby before, but this was Haruka - a grown, fully matured woman who was now reduced to a mere minor. Her little lover began to scream, so Michiru picked her up and held her on her hip. "Stop that, you're being annoying," she snapped, knowing Haruka could fully understand her. "Chibiusa, what kind of nonsense are you up to now? Change her back. I don't have the patience for your childish immaturity tonight. This ball is already giving me a headache, and I don't want to ruin this dress with all of the animal hair that is floating around."

CereCere sighed melodramatically, following Chibiusa in hope that she'd somehow change her back. "You too?" she quipped upon seeing Haruka being turned into a toddler. Something was going on. She had seen Makoto being changed into first a man, and then a deer. Now three people were being changed into toddlers. Cere let out another sigh; this was supposed to be a ball, not a circus! Well, at least she still had the diamonds.

Sheesh, how was she going to get out of this? Briefly she imagined some sort of aging potion, and before she knew it, a corked bottle filled with some sort of liquid materialized into her hands, and hope filled her. Well, if she had made the diamonds, maybe she had made an aging potion? But what if it's actually poison acid? she thought and just like that, the liquid started fizzing and the bottle started melting, causing Cere to scream and drop the corrosive liquid on the floor. Eeek! I shouldn't have done that! she thought, trying to imagine the acid away, and just like that, it vanished.

Oh, now she messed up.

Haruka hung there, like a ragdoll, limp in Michiru's arms. So she wasn't able to get through to her at all.  How Michiru commented on how she would rather be with that lady with the fox then with her. Why wouldn't she? She could feel the anger ebbing from behind her.

Haruka  squirmed in just a way that their eyes were able to meet. (Though Haruka couldn't argue with the view. This particular dress really did highlight the finer...elements...of her lover.) She sucked in a breath, and spoke again.

"I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh." YES! THIS WAS WORKING! Haruka was making sense! Finally! She kept going, squirming a bit to be able to face her lover. "I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away. I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain."

Okaaaay, the part with the photograph was a bit touchy-feely for Haruka's taste, but other then that, her sentences seemed to convey the idea enough-in comparison to the way she was "conversing" earlier, anyways.

Come to think of it...why wasn't Michiru able to tell sooner? And why was she being so cruel and...snippy? Michiru was always ladylike and kind and presented herself thusly, so why was she acting particularly winy? This isn't the Michiru she knew.

Teeny Haruka's eyes widened with the realization. Michiru had to be under some odd spell too! Haruka began to kick and squirm, trying to wiggle free from Michiru's arms. She had to tell everyone!

"I think we got problems, and I don't think we can solve em!" She shouted-to her dismay, the same lines she had spoken before. Oh well, and this point who cares? Someone was bound to tell something was up with her speech eventually. "Now we've got bad blood!" She began to shout in frustration. Why was it the same dang lines?

All of that changed when Haruka saw a strange bottle appear and disappear from CereCere's now-normal hands. That had to be it! Everyone else saw that, right? Haruka began to shout to try to get everyone's attention, jabbing her tiny finger in CereCere's direction.

"NOW WE'VE GOT BAD BLOOD! NOW WE'VE GOT BAD BLOOD!"She heard herself shout. Not again!

Oh for the love of the gods, Haruka thought, Please, make it stop!!!

Ami blushed at Michiru’s words. Though Michiru was known for her cutting remarks, she didn’t usually say it so… bluntly. And then… a ‘freak show’? Had the great eloquent Michiru Kaioh actually used those words? “Michiru-san, I do think there’s something wrong with you, too,” she said, before she could stop herself. Ami clamped her own hand onto her mouth and her face burned. What had I said that out loud for?!

Meanwhile, Haruka, too, seemed to be talking in a really strange way. Were those… song lyrics? And then she watched as Chibiusa touch two more people and they both turned into toddlers as well. Meanwhile, the deer had turned into a man. A man that oddly looked familiar yet not really. Ami frowned as she thought hard. Where had she seen that man before?

Michiru’s next harsh words returned her attention to toddler Haruka, who was now in Michiru’s arms. “She’s actually even cuter in that form,” she said, again before she could really think about it. Ami spluttered. She didn’t want to incur Michiru’s wrath when she was already being so mean to everyone!

“I don’t mean I’m attracted to her or anything! I mean, definitely not when she’s a toddler. That's just weird. Not that she’s not cute. And not that when she’s not a toddler I’m attracted to her… I mean… not much…”

She finally shut up and took a few steps back cautiously, her hands raised in surrender. “I think I probably should walk away.”

Sailor Nocturnus

By the time Princess Pamina arrived, the party was in full swing. In this case, "full swing" basically meant "total chaos." She spotted several familiar faces, but none of them were familiar in the right way. Sailor Neptune looked uncharacteristically cross, and the child she balanced on her hip looked and sounded just like Sailor Uranus... although the words that came from her mouth seemed gibberish to Pamina's ears. Sailor Mercury kept saying things that clearly embarrassed her. A lot of people seemed very upset--not at all what the dark-haired child had anticipated when she accepted the invitation to the much-rumored Elysion.

Deeply worried about what could be happening to these people, Pamina ran towards them. Pamina wasn't exactly lacking grace on a typical day, but today her motions seemed almost choreographed. She dashed across the lawn with delicate skips, toes flexed with each leap inside her dark shoes. The skirts of her dark dress swished around her ankles, but somehow did not impede her movement. When she halted in front of the group, the young girl elegantly shook her tresses from her face and struck an almost balletic pose.

"Oh my! Whatever is going on?" she asked, her voice musical and trembling. The words sounded strange, even to her own ears, and she blinked with confusion.

Even that motion seemed intentional, as if she were performing for some unseen audience. Inside, her sense of worry increased.

Stephanie...still in toddler form crawled over towards the girl who changed her and said, "Please change me back and the others too? I don't wanna be in waves forever..." She then noticed her weird speech again and tried to correct it..."I meant i don't wanna be like this forever.."

With confusion Kiyoko looked up to her guardian. Was he really serious? Was that just a serious question?
 
Not sure what to think of his bad joke, Kiyoko just turned her head back around and walked towards the group of people she saw earlier. It sure was weird – who had a deer as a pet, after all? And why would you bring toddlers with you? They don’t enjoy the ball at all, do they? And what was with–?
 
Suddenly Kiyoko stopped walking. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened. Did the deer…just transform into a man? The tall blond was surprised, no rather startled, about what she just saw. What kind of place was she in? And what was that again? Did the other girl just changed into a toddler as well?
 
Kiyoko was uncertain. Should she really go there? It didn’t seem normal anymore. But on the other hand…
…This had to be a misunderstanding. Yes, certainly. There was no other explanation for that.
 
As far as possible she reduced her prejudices and went on. However, the more she came closer to the group, the less she knew where exactly to go. This group was bigger than it looked like. And everyone seemed to be in a conversation. Did she really want to bother them?
 
Yes, she thought. She had to. She wouldn’t sleep tonight if she didn’t know what was going on there.
 
After picking up the courage again, Kiyoko eventually arrived at the graceful lady with the sea green hair and the toddler on her hip. With a friendly smile on her face, she tapped her on the shoulder and greeted her. “Good evening, Miss! Is everything alright? I just saw that your friend turned into… a toddler?!” She tried to say it as normal as possible. But she couldn’t. She just hoped her smile wouldn’t compensate the weird salutation.

Michiru's eyes widened in alarm at Haruka's childish outburst. In one fluid motion, she covered the child's mouth with her hand and smiled nervously at those who were staring. "She's...troubled," Michiru explained.

At Ami's words, Michiru's head whipped around to stare at her. The thought that something was wrong with her, also, hadn't crossed Michiru's mind as much as with Haruka and Chibiusa. But she seemed to have no control over the honesty of her words. Michiru was ripped from her thoughts by Ami's next words, and her gaze suddenly turned cold and hard. She continued to glare as Ami blabbered on, trying to hide the fact that she was obviously attracted to Haruka. Everyone was attracted to Haruka, and Michiru knew that, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "Yes, perhaps that would be best," she snapped, lifting Haruka slightly on her hip.

The blonde girl Michiru had been referring to earlier suddenly approached, and Michiru smiled warmly. "Actually, I...I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but everyone here seems to be..." she paused, searching for the right word. Charmed? Altered? Strange? No, that wasn't quite right...

"Enchanted."

Small Lady looked on in distraught at the scene. She looked around with tears in her eyes. "I-I-I'm so sorry!" She reached out to apologize at Haruka, now being held by Michiru, and lightly touched her arm, "I'll figure this ou--" and with a poof, Haruka was suddenly her normal size again.

She heard the other two she had inadvertently turned into toddlers and turned back towards them. Look at her hands, then back to Haruka, then to her hands then to the toddlers, it clicked in her mind.

And with a touch to CereCere and the poor girl who she had just met they were back to normal.

"PHEW!" Small Lady was relieved. She hoped everyone would figure out how to get back to normal...she coudn't believe the way Michiru and Ami were acting tonight, not to mention Mako's gender changes and everything else!

Stephanie turned back into her normal size and looked at the one who helped her. "No need to worry miss...I am sure the surf will get back to normal soon, but I need to go find the ladies room so i will be back.." She bowed and turned to find the ladies room. After a little bit of searching she found it but to her shock the door handle was iced over, she knocked on the door, "Hello!! Is anyone in there..I need to use this room...please open up"

Sailor Nocturnus

There were even more people, now, and Small Lady had just magically turned two toddlers back into their original more mature selves. Pamina reacted dramatically at the smoke and transformations, fanning herself with elegant hand gestures.

"Good gracious!" she exclaimed, the phrase lovely and spoken just right. Incredibly unlike herself.

What the taller lady had said was obvious: they were enchanted!

And somehow, as Pamina went to agree with Kaioh-san... she burst into song. Eyes wide, she found herself regaling the assembled group with recitations of their current woes, desperate to stop but unable to do so. There was accompanying music, too! Could the others hear it, or was it only her? A few birds flew around her, chirping in tune, while she danced and twirled, her song continuing. She felt dizzy and upset to have so little control over her own actions. Her mother was an excellent performer, but typically Pamina was too shy to act like this in front of a large group. As she continued to dance and sing, her dark skin blushed a brighter and brighter pink from embarrassment.

Ami moved slowly away from Michiru, who was now positively glaring at her. Also, she was trying to make sure she stayed away from Chibiusa, whose touch was apparently turning people into toddlers. Obviously there was some kind of magic running rampant in this place. Where was Helios? Certainly this was not part of tonight’s events?

When she heard singing, at first she thought that was part of the festivities. But it was just one guest randomly bursting into song, and wasn’t that… Sailor Nocturnus? She knew that girl who had come to Crystal Tokyo asking for help. She didn’t seem to be enjoying what she was doing very much, though.

Ami, confused and dazed, moved further away from the others and bumped right into the back of the man she had thought familiar earlier. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” she quickly apologized to him.

"You're right, I would just change back, I didn't even think about it..." Makoto admitted. "But I don't mind staying like this for a little longer. As long as I'm not stuck. So..." he started. "If you were invited to this ball, then I'm assuming that you're a senshi too, is that right?" He then felt someone shorter bunp inot his back, and he turned to see who it was.

"Ami-chan!" Makoto said, happy to run into someone familiar. He disappeared in another burst of smoke, and reappeared as female. "I was wondering what happened to you."

"I am. My senshi name is Sailor Sedna, how about you?" It was interesting to find out that the people here were senshi. She didn't know why she had responded to the invitation, she had just followed her gut instinct that it was the right move to do. 

When a petite blue haired woman bumped into Makoto, Eshana watched as her companion poofed back into a female before whirling around and began to chat with the blue haired one. I guess they know each other. Knew each other really well it seemed. She could feel jealously clamoring up, but she squashed it down ruthlessly. She had no claim on this woman who turns into a man, no matter what she may be feeling.

What?

Ami was confused when the guy she’d bumped into exclaimed her name happily as if he knew her. A moment later, after a puff of smoke, Mako was all that was left. “Mako-chan?!” she said in surprise. No wonder that guy had seemed so familiar! It was Mako all along?

“Wow, Mako-chan, you look amazing. You even let your hair down! Really gorgeous!” The honest words of compliment came out of her, again without any chance for her to tone it down. Ami felt her cheeks warming up again. Oh gosh, was that too much?! Was that weird coming from a friend?

She had heard the girl Mako was talking to introduce herself as Sailor Sedna, and she quickly latched onto an opportunity to change the topic. “Oh! Nice to meet you! Sedna… that’s one of the distant planets, right? From here, I mean. If I’m not mistaken, she is also featured in mythology as an ocean goddess.”

She blushed again when she realized she’d practically spewed out facts about someone else’s home planet. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to be… a walking encyclopedia. I don’t usually talk this much… I’m Ami, by the way. Um… Sailor Mercury.” Since they were introducing their senshi selves, she figured it would be only polite to do the same.

"That's quite alright, although call me Eshana," she smiled as the girl apologized for the facts. "Not very many people know that the trans-neptunial object Sedna event exists or that she was named after my mother."

What in Sedna's name had possessed her to tell a complete and utter stranger that she was the daughter of the Goddess Sedna? It was usually a closely guarded secret, one that she had only shared a few times in her long life.

Kyan arrived late to the party, wearing an strapless orange evening dress and of course her trademark pair of white headphones over her sensitive ears. Attending a party -in the forest of all places- hosted by a complete stranger was not exactly her idea of a fun evening, but it was better than sitting around in a laboratory listening to her colleagues argue over long strings of mathematical equations. At the very least she could keep an eye out for humans to target and take advantage of. However, it seemed that the party had already fallen into utter chaos.

As she quietly navigated her way through the crowd of strange people, Kyan started feeling unusually agitated.

"I think you change umm genders.”
“Would you mind if I...”
“...Interesting ball isn't it?"
“What did you do?!”
“Oh! I’m so sorry!”
"I was wondering what happened to you."

There was so much background noise with all of the chattering! How would she hear the difference between a soul and a song? What if somebody tried to attack her from behind?--Or even worse expose her ears to all of the dreadful noise! How would she ever hear again?

"This is already so stupid! How am I going to find a good human to target at this pathetic excuse of a party? What if I get a headache? What if they attack me? Is it even worth it? Why am I so worried about this all of a sudden!?" She grumbled quietly to herself in her mind.

In her sudden fit of paranoia, the agitated woman tripped over a root and nearly bumped into Stephanie who was waiting in line for the restroom. Kyan's facial expression was far from amused as she sat there sprawled out on her hands and knees.

Handful? Trouble. Haruka was more then heartbroken. No words could describe just how hurt she felt. Nobody even thought to try to understand her-especially Michiru.

Why? And she could only facepalm when Michiru said that everyone was enchanted. That's what she was trying to say all along!

Haruka felt so useless in her whole life. Nobody cared what she had to say-even Ami didn't seem to attempt to decipher her words. And Michiru-gods Michiru-was acting like she was ready to break up with her right then and there. "Do you gotta hit me where I'm weak?" She mumbled, and sighed. The only time she made the most sense is when she talked to herself.

Either way, whenever Haruka would get her hands on the monster who caused all this, she would destroy them.

I promised Small Lady that I'd be here, and I can't let her down. 


Setsuna calmly walked in through the door to the party, and hoped that Small Lady wouldn't mind that she was a bit late. She'd felt a strange disturbance at the Door of Time earlier, and had to sort it out so the timeline wouldn't be strongly affected. 

Thankfully, the party hadn't ended yet, and Small Lady was.... surrounded by several children. 

That's odd. It's also quite odd that they look like miniature versions of Haruka and Ceres. 


Is something at this party affecting the timestream and corrupting Elysion? It does feel quite strange in here....


"Is everything alright, Small Lady?" she asked as she walked over towards her princess, hoping that she wasn't hurt. On her way there, she noticed a few foreign Senshi and heard someone complement her on her dress. 

I don't sense anything malicious from them, so they're most likely not impostors. 


Small Lady didn't answer, and appeared to be preoccupied with the child-versions of Haruka, Ceres, and someone she didn't know. Setsuna tapped her on the shoulder.... only for her to suddenly collapse onto the floor as a cloud of dust appeared. 

When the dust cleared, she could see an old woman standing over her. 

What did I do to you, Small Lady?! Have I been sensing myself, and some force has given me the power to bring people to their future state? 


Who is responsible for this mess? 

CereCere watched as Chibiusa changed Haruka back to her regular self, and let out a sigh of relief as she realized that she would be saved. "Yes! Thank you!" she chirped as Chibiusa tapped her and she grew back into her old self. "Oh, it feels so great to be me!"

I just need to make sure, though. I need a mirror, she thought, fleetingly imagining a small, handheld mirror. Just like that, a mirror exactly like the one she'd imagined appeared in her hand. Sure enough, she was back. So, if Chibiusa's touch turned people to toddlers, and many other people were talking strangely, then Cere's own enchantment...imagining things and having them appear. First the diamonds (which she still had, thank goodness), then the other amazons (though they disappeared), then the bottle of acid, and now this mirror.

Cere smirked, imagining the mirror away. She could use this power. She imagined beautiful birds singing as they flew around her, flower petals blowing in the wind, and as she flipped her hair, lost in herself, she imagined butterflies taking flight. She felt like a true princess, and despite the setback earlier, she was definitely ready to have some fun.

Provided nobody turned her into a toddler again, or an animal.

Or an old woman, apparently, as Setsuna appeared and tapped Chibiusa, turning the pink haired girl into an older woman. Cere gasped and moved closer (though careful not to touch either of them), and said, "Oh my goodness! Are you okay, Chibiusa-chan?"

Stephanie was waiting and thinking of something to get in when she heard a noise behind her and turned to see a girl in a orange dress on the floor. "Excuse me miss...do you need water? Can I help you splash?" 'What the heck...this again...why can't i speak straight I should just bend down to help her up..i will figure this out later i hope' She then bent down reaching her hand out to help the fallen girl...

Haruka dashed to where Pluto and Chibiusa were. What took Pluto so long!? She's gotta know what's happening here!

But the unconscious Chibiusa was priority. Haruka would attempt to talk to Pluto later. She lightly shook Chibiusa, and was able to call out her name without any altering. At least she was able to say names and not mess them up.