Sailor Venus

Venus Power, Make Up!
This phrase said when holding her transformation pen allows Amina to transform into Sailor Venus. It does not need to be shouted or screamed, it can merely be whispered under her breath, so long as there is the intent to transform. Orange and yellow light spirals up from her feet to above her head when she changes, though the transformation only lasts the blink of an eye, so it seems more she is surrounded by light for a moment, then Sailor Venus is standing where she was.

Chain
Passed down through the generations of Venusian senshi, the zinxhir (chain) is a powerful device. Gifted to the first Venusian senshi by her patroness, the goddess Aphrodite, it was the goddess' most treasured possession from her husband, Hephaestus, he of the forge. Though the chain had initially been forged by Hephaestus to capture Aphrodite and her lover Ares in order to shame the pair in front of the rest of the gods, it was hard for them to call shame down on the pair, for the other gods were also known to have indescretions. Thus after the initial shaming, Hephaestus forgave Aphrodite, presenting her with this chain as a reminder. The golden chain responds to a Venus' will and desires, though at times it seems to have a mind of its own, moving independently of any spoken or thought command, but still following a secret desire she is unaware of even having. While in the possession of Aino Minako, the zinxhir was given to Aino Rei (Hino Rei) in order for the Martian senshi to use her psychic abilities on it, using the soulbond between the two women to make the zinxhir deadly to any who touch it without permission of the current Venusian senshi, severely burning them, even to death. During the Crystal Tokyo era the zinxhir was used most often in the spell-attacks Venus Love Me Chain, Venus Love and Beauty Shock and Venus Wink Chain Sword. While ordinarily worn at a coil attached to Sailor Venus' waist, the chain has been known to coil itself at Amina's feet like a dog, and has a tendency to appear for her even when she is not transformed, leading to the fashion designer to seem to wear a gold chain belt with near every outfit. Thankfully, as a Venusian her addition of a metal chain to her wardobe is not remarked upon.

Sword
The Holy Blade of the Silver Crystal is, as Aino Minkao once referred to it "just a sword". While initally in her time it was engraved with the explanation about binding Chaos and Beryl away, subsequent work with the sword returned it to the state it had been in the Silver Millenium, without engraved words, merely a symbolic design. There is a simple explanation for why only Aino Minako could remove it from the stone it was planted in on the Moon. Beyond her gift of metalurgy (explained in greater detail below), the sword was in a similar manner to the zinxhir bound to Minu, and thus to Aino Minako. The very balance of it determined that it could only be wielded by a Venus, for only her metalurgy would allow for a single-handed broadsword to be lifted on the battlefield whereas most broadswords because of their sheer size require both hands on the hilt. The sword has been used by the zinxhir when Aino Minako was unable to continue in combat using her own bodily strength, in a formation similar to the spell-attack Venus Wink Chain Sword. Before Crystal Tokyo the sword was used by Aino Minako to kill Beryl and by Tsukino Usagi to kill herself and Chiba Mamoru. For the sake of remaining undetected in battle situations Amina Venth is more likely to use merely sword, chain and brute force rather than any spell-attacks.

Rolling Heart Vibration
The only full magic-only spell-attack in Aino Minako and Amina Venth's arsenal. It produces a large orange heart that 'rolls' on a magical wave towards an opponent and goes off much like a high-powered flashbang grenade, either severely stunning or outright killing an opponent. Amina has personally not used it yet since her awakening, because the use of it would produce such a high magical energy spike and it would be immediately noticable by the Eye in the Sky.

Metallurgy
Metallurgy here is not the same as the more common usage of the word, that of extracting metals, but of manipulating metal. While not a spell or physical gift, this ability has like the zinxhir been passed down through Venusian senshi as a talent, for the first Venusian senshi was in truth Aphrodite and Hephaestus' unmentioned child. As the Master Smith, Hephaestus had this power over metal and gifted that to this daughter. It was subsequently passed down through the generations of Venusian rulers, only showing up in the senshi. The extent of this power has never been fully tested, though Aino Minako once hypothesized that much like Magneto from X-Men, she might well be able to use sub-atomic metal particles.

Bond-Sight
Due to the heritage of the Venusian senshi as a daughter of Aphrodite (however many great- might be involved), she bears one of the lesser magical gifts of Aphrodite. She can see the magical bonds between people at all times. No manipulation of the bonds can be done unless they are her own bonds, but all bonds show up in her sight, primarily at the corner of her eyes wehre she can ignore them at will or view them as she wishes. Because the bonds are primarily with those of magical talents, she sees the bonds as the colors of the bondeds' magic mixed together - her own and Mars' bond is a ruddy orange, for her own orange and Mars' red.

History
The best stories always begin with Once Upon A Time, don't they? Once Upon A Time, there was a prostitute. She was an interesting little thing, the result of her mother's year long stint as the primary woman of some Terrestrial businessman or another. She had been her mother's vain hope in getting out of the hellhole that was her life, and into a proper bed continually, married well and proper to her lover. The Terrestrial hadn't given a damn, but still gave her enough money to make sure the babe lived and prospered. He was odd like that, unwilling to take the responsibility and shame that came with his red-headed daughter, but wanting to be sure she lived all the same, for his Terrestrial wife would never let him hear the end of it if he ever drunkenly admitted that his illegitimate child had died - she too was a bit of an odd one. His daughter was named Talutah.

Talutah did even better than her mother at the business, snaring herself the Venusian Ardiger Venth, the second son and primary heir to the Venth fashion house. His older brother, Dritan, while interested in fashion, was slowly dying from syphilis thanks to his lover and was leaving no heirs. With that fact in mind, Ardiger was doing his ample best to bury the pain of losing his brother in whatever manner open to him. Talutah was more than open to him. Much like with her own mother, she became pregnant. Unlike her Terrestrial father, Ardiger was interested in his child, visiting Talutah to do more than just bed her increasing form, eventually asking her for her heart's desire. Talutah, being a canny fourteen year old, merely asked that she be allowed to birth her child, and perhaps be taken somewhere that she knew she wouldn't die of syphilis in a year.

Ardiger did her one better, asking her to come and be a nursemaid in his household. His new wife wouldn't mind, he told her, since she was his second wife and came to him with children of her own that needed a caretaker. Despite her misgivings, Talutah agreed. Thus Malana Venth was born, as blond-haired as her father and blue-eyed as her mother. She grew alongside her half-siblings, step-siblings and even full siblings, Ardiger unable to ignore the good thing he had with a practical live-in mistress. Malana knew hazily of additional step-siblings off at boarding school, but thought nothing of them, for they were so much older than her.

That is until the day she was sixteen and twenty-five year old Tonauac Venth came home for a visit. Her eldest brother by name, not blood, she was completely enchanted by him and he with her. It seemed that here was a man that believed the same way she thought, taught by Talutah as she had been that slavery was wrong, and though sex was given freely on their planet, it didn’t matter so much as giving love. His views on the matter came not from her mother, but from a Terrestrial philosophy professor he had in college. They fell head-over-heels for each other, and it was with blessings that they got married, Ardiger happy that his beloved daughter had found her special someone.

The newlyweds set up their household next door to the main house, waiting until Malana graduated high school to start a family proper; it was much less stigma, even on Venus, to be pregnant in college, rather than during basic education. It was during the third month of her pregnancy that Malana was informed by her ethics professor of the Martian Relocation Program, and fueled by her hormones and her mother's teachings that the pregnant woman hatched a plan. Tonauac agreed instantly with her upon her airing the idea, and only after discussing it with their servants did they implement it.

It was quite a sight to see, a six-month pregnant woman walking past cages and cages of sex slaves, judging them with a gimlet eye. The bidding was fast and fierce this auction, Malana coming away with less than she wanted, but enough to begin something. The children were all ages, from the ragged looking ten year olds to the big-eyed and shaking six year olds. The Venths had secured five of the twenty from the shipment, and with surprising patience opened the door to an additional world for the sharp-teethed children.

In the three months it took until Amina Venth took her first breath of Venusian air, her parents had begun to be regarded as sex-starved by the general public, because of the sheer amount of slaves they were buying, but saviors in regards to their siblings, armed as all were with Talutah's years of teaching. All too soon there were packs of young Martians roaming around the Venth estates, the young children growing up to be surprisingly civilized despite their view towards meat products.

It was around Amina's third birthday that Tonauac heard gossip and set out to add to his wife's grand plan of rehabilitation. There were many more child prostitutes than there by rights should be in the whore houses, more than even that number being sold by their poor parents on the auction blocks as sex slaves. That just wouldn't do, the Venth family going in and saving children from a different planet before saving children of their own planet. For sure, Venus was the planet of free love, but it was supposed to be - as he understood it - free love between those who could give consent, and anyone with half a brain would say that children did not give consent. So he rallied his siblings and cousins, as his wife had before him, and they took her ideas to save the children of Venus. To say that each descendant of Grandpere Roshan's families grew by five children would be ridiculous - most grew by ten that first month.

Blond-haired Amina grew surrounded by Venusian cousins and Martian servants, both equal playmates and willing co-conspirators in bugging the older Martian guards to learn the Martian language and how to fight. Her blood siblings were few, a full-blood brother, some half-blood sisters (Venusian and Martian), for though Malana and Tonauac taught their "children" that sex was not their job, they did not say no if the eldest of their guard or servants asked.

Her school-yard days did not go without their problems, but trained as she was in fighting and unknown insults, Amina held her own with little trouble despite the occasional suspension. She was simply too invested in her school-work for her teachers not to like her, even if they did complain to Malana and Tonauac that she was a bit too headstrong and opinionated for a child. The girl just knew that she knew more than her teachers in certain areas, and wasn't about to have them teach everyone the wrong thing, that would be criminal!

Amina hated that the "lucky" days of her coming home to greet more young Martians were getting fewer and fewer; her parents were simply running out of room to house them, not to mention employment. Yes, their first "children" had all died, but the up-and-coming guards were just as strong as their predecessors. It was while she was helping her mother dress Ai, one of the new Martian maids, that Amina had an idea. A radical and unheard of idea, but if any of her siblings wanted to do it, why not? Venth House became galactically recognized for interspersing Martian fashion models with their regular picks, and the little fashion house took off like it never had before. Though closely guarded, having the short, fierce models became something of a Venth House symbol, only serving to showcase their clothing's durability and ability to beautify.

Things continued in much the same vein after that, the "lucky" days growing more common again, to Amina's delight. Her first lover was Bol, her personal guard at the time. Malana and Tonauac merely had smiled at her blushing form when she admitted it, Malana commenting to her in private that at least she hadn't fumbled her way with a poor Venusian virgin, and they all knew Bol was a good man. The twelve year old cried when he died a month later, victim like so many of his planet to heart troubles. Amina varied her lovers after him, unwilling to get so fully attached, also unwilling to make her siblings uncomfortable around her. Venusian, Terrestrial, Jovian, Neptunian, Uranian, a memorable Saturnian and Plutonian, all met her between the sheets, male, female, one or many. It was as her whims and flirtations conveyed, despite her young age.

Sixteen found her much as her mother had been, years ago, walking amid the cages of Martians, though she was not pregnant. Begging and pleading had finally gotten her two unexpected (for anyone but Amina) birthday gifts - to pick out a Martian, and to visit a whorehouse. None of the Martians that day met her criteria for a "gift", though many met her criteria for a "sibling" as she came home with six young Martians in tow. She went out that night, picking the first whorehouse she saw, no matter how leery it made Ita, her guard for the night. The place was no fancy house, done up with beautiful chandeliers and silk, instead more like a tired old pub. It suited her just fine, for she had heard rumors, and wanted to be certain they were true, regardless of the age of her intended "present". Her classmates could be such gabbermouths when they thought she wasn't listening… many times it was useless information, but if this panned out correctly, then it was heartbreaking, disgusting and wonderful.

Upon the night's entertainment coming down to join the crowd, Amina knew that she had heard the rumors correct, and a look to Ita had the Martian female befuddling a particularly determined looking man as the short Venusian rapidly exchanged words and coin with the establishment proprietor. Three minutes later, she had a hand around the lovely Talriana's waist and trailed a beguiling hand down Ita's arm, allowing the Martian to shepherd the two Venusian women up the stairs to Talriana's room.

Once there Ita leaned against the door with a smirk as Amina shed her metal dress with a growl. It was so damn uncomfortable, but it got her the results she wanted, so she wouldn't complain too much. Clad more comfortably in her silken slip, Amina pouted as her running jump to the bed divulged no great bounce of springs, and proceeded to change the younger Venusian's life. After convincing Talriana that no, she didn't want sex, and no, she didn't want a threesome, the two talked long into the night, Amina and Ita pausing in their words (for the Martian had to have her say, backing up what Amina was telling as the truth), to moan and groan and growl, both effectively pretending their orgasms at about one and two am, respectively.

It was with a sense of pride that Amina therefore bought Talriana the next day, the three of them having curled up on the bed to sleep around four, the canny Venth daughter having gotten her new "slave" to give up her real life story, not just rumors overheard in the halls by whore house visiting teenagers, and was determined do what she could to help. The fact that her helping ended up meaning that Talriana was brought into the thoroughly insane Venth household probably could be argued by some to be not helping, but Amina was fairly positive that Talriana would agree with her that it was a positive outcome. Amina made her want of no-sex from Talriana quite clear, though she did also mention (like her parents before her), that although she didn't want it in payment or gratitude, if at any time Talriana wanted to just because she wanted to, Amina would be willing.

Over the course of the next few days at school Amina figured out where she would be getting the second of her "gifts", for though she had rescued six more siblings by her visit to the cages, they still weren't quite what she was looking for. It was overhearing another of her classmates that Amina found her additional new sibling. The Woriakos family had a Martian that they were growing tired of - Amina was appalled to learn the boy was just fourteen. He must have slipped through her parents' fingers; they tended to try for the youngest going to the auction block.

Firmly resolved that this Han Maz was to be her new sibling, Amina engaged in a fierce bidding war with her family's full support, beating out numerous men and women her parents' ages or older just through guile and one or two pieces of sensitive information accidentally dropped by her classmates. Amazing what parents say around their children that really shouldn't be shared, isn't it?

Amina was happy beyond words when Han joined the household, and gave him the same ground rules as Talriana in terms of sex, then stayed near him to do her homework as she let him get acclimated to living with a whole household full of other Martians, all of whom were protective of the whole family, not just Amina - though they all were willing to accept a newcomer. It was the Venth way.

The young woman still doesn't know how she graduated salutatorian of her class, considering all her suspensions and detentions, but she did. She's not about to quibble, when that and her skill at sketching (and then actually making the pieces) got her a hefty scholarship to the Briggorne College of Fashion at Teldorya University on Earth. Any money her parents don't have to spend on her can be used to get her more siblings, be they Martian or Venusian.

Her years on Earth at college have been almost boring, except for her ethics classes, where she blows numerous high-powered Lunarians out of the water with her flawless logic in terms of the Rehabilitation Program. Serves those pale-haired idiots right, especially when they attempt to proposition her after bragging openly about their newest sex-slave. Amina has taken great liking to arranging buyouts of said slaves and making sure her new siblings are treated well before sending them off to her parents on one of their personal vessels - crewed by a number of her half-siblings, who would certainly keep everyone safe. She maintains a network of informants and some bits and pieces of blackmail, not just to figure in on her getting more siblings, but to maintain some form of order among her rowdier classmates in the other Colleges. It works like a charm.

Certainly her courses have been interesting, if not occasionally difficult (though Han helped with her science, and Talriana was a semi-willing study buddy when it came to near everything else), but there just seemed to be something missing. The fact that she found what she was missing by kidnapping a stalker occasionally makes her laugh. Well, that and Khonsu's expression when she told him she lived with a Martian. Now that was priceless.

She still doesn't know what to think of the cat-turned-man, because for all he's worked to help her find her sisters, he still is Lunarian. Not that she suspects that he works with the Regime - they'd all be dead if he did - just that there has to be more of a motive for his finding them than just "find the soldiers and save the galaxy". Call her suspicious, but that's her thought on it. Still, it's her Artemis, her Artie, so she trusts him. Dislikes when he eats her out of house-and-home (she gets enough of that from Han and any temporary housing of siblings), but lets him stay over, at least part of the time.

Her past lives are vociferous in helping her (especially Minako when it comes to fashion), and on their request (surprisingly enough for the avatars of the Goddess of Love) she has stopped sleeping around. Not that she did much anyway - especially once she saw Raen. The Venusian will never admit to anyone that she actually truthfully stopped having one-night stands or boy/girl-friends last October. It was considerably before she had any idea just whom the violet-eyed Martian she'd seen following a Terrestrial family and campus tour-guide was. She'd noted that the girl was seemingly happy and clearly not a slave, and then her mental faculties had shut down beyond two thoughts: 'must have her' and 'she's gorgeous'.

It's hard to start a crusade to get a girl to go out with you when you have to find her on a campus of nearly a quarter-million students, her being Martian immaterial. Finding her amid that mass of people can be difficult. Somehow, she managed, thanks especially to lucky run-ins in the spring. Lucky in that the first one she hadn't planned. The others, well… she's good at planning.

The fact that Minako and Minu abruptly let her see soul-bonds was helpful. Startling to suddenly see the strongly ruddy-orange string running between herself and Raen as they sat down to lunch, but helpful all the same. Now she just needs to make sure that everyone else not only awakens but finds their other half - Minako let on that nearly everyone had a special someone before the end. Call Amina a romantic, but that's part of the plan, getting everyone with their special someone. Beyond saving the galaxy, restoring the proper rulers, getting herself a ton more siblings and actually telling Raen that she loves her, that is.

Personality
It always seems that if a Venusian isn't all about sex then something must be wrong with them. Amina isn't all about sex, but she certainly doesn't shy away from what she considers a physical manifestation of deep emotions. Sex doesn't always involve love, she knows that, but it involves at least infatuation and some form of affection, which is better than no emotion to the deed at all. This is not to say that she avoids all emotions, or that she's overly emotional, overanalyzing every relationship she has. That would be paranoid.

Amina is merely…Amina. Cuthroat and independent and fierce. Growing up with Martians has made fierceness a part of her, even more than it would naturally have been. Certainly her temper would have made the fierceness a part of her had she grown up without Martians around her - though never one to snap at the barest provocation, do enough to her or say enough around her, and receive either a coolly sardonic or passionately snarling response; it all depends on how far she is pushed, whether she reacts more Venusian or Martian. When growing up, it was no matter if technically she could have just ordered one of her siblings to give her something, she always fought them for it, a game, a race, wrestling, mock-fighting, the amount she won or lost didn't really matter back then. More often than not the fought over doll or cookies were shared after the battle. It matters now, when she's not dealing with her siblings, but the fighting taught her - taught all of them - fairness and sharing. Everything Amina has, everything she is gears towards fairness and sharing, towards equality, towards justice.

Certainly wanting justice and equality seems odd for a girl whose major, whose life will be fashion and the powerhungry chases and crazes of that world, the spats between model and photographer, model and fashion house, between fashion house and fashion house, but it is. Even in an area that there may be no justice, or it may be hard come by, Amina wants it. She's the one that had the idea to employ her siblings as models, to allow them to gain their self-worth and their own income outside of the family estate - they aren't just Martians to her, they're her sisters and brothers, regardless of their lack of blood ties. The lack just allows for the typical Venusian sexual freedom. Unquestionably, Amina could easily have slept with a majority of her non-blood siblings. She hasn't, and won't. Not unless they ask her first, especially not after Bol. It was bad enough that she lost a sibling when she lost him, but to have lost a sibling and a lover all at once, it was simply too much. Never again, unless they ask her especially.

By her childhood being mainly in the loose "pack" of siblings and cousins of Martians and Venusians, Amina learned how to lead and how to follow. Leading always came more naturally, if only because her non-blood siblings and cousins often felt some deference to her - not that she let them feel it for long (or at least not until she had done something that meant she had earned being the leader), accepting being a follower with as good a grace as everyone else: grumbling and growling, but finally taking it. She understands the responsibilities inherit with being a leader, that the others have to be cared for before you are taken care of (easier to deal with when it's making sure your Martian cohort has food, since you aren't hungry as much as they are) and that all opinions must be listened to and given weight before a judgment can be made (since there is a crucial difference between tag and hide and go seek).

Amina quite liked being a leader, and Minu and Minako's memories and stories of leading the senshi only affirmed for her that she did, and told her just why she was good at it. She's always been the dependable one, the one that the younger children went to when they wanted something to get done, because they knew she would move the planets to see that it got done, if she felt the cause worthy. It's not beyond her to sneak around and lie and eavesdrop to get the results she wants, either. Amina, to put it plainly, is a brilliant blackmailer.

She hates to do it, as it is so easy for it to go wrong, but her talent at disguising herself, dying her hair or buying a hat or merely just making sure that those who see her in one guise never see her as another comes in quite handy even without blackmail. She obtains information that way, pretending to be the typically bubble-headed dumb Venusian woman who only cares about sex, or the Terrestrial woman worried about her next paycheck or any number of personas just to get information. When she can't get the information, she has others get it for her. It is amazing what doing one favor for a person can do; she has a brilliant hacker at her beck and call after she slipped his gambling IOUs from one of her Lunarian classmates, and any other number of people that she's helped at various times. She doesn't use them often, in part because she isn't called to help people like this often, but she does routinely use her informants in gathering information about the sex trade and doing what she can to get as many slaves bought and sent to her parents as possible.

Amina is devious like that, not above cutting someone off at the knees with a well timed remark about their private life that they were unaware she knew, sarcastic and biting even when she knows no additional information on them. She's been called ballsy and blunt as she pulls no punches when talking to a person, only her innate talent at being sneaky making sure that she uses tact when talking to others. That does not mean she is only cruel to those she meets, in fact it’s the opposite. Amina cares, perhaps too much, fretting when she thinks no one can see her about things she cannot change. A goodly part of her drive to have change happen stems from this fretting - when she's busy she doesn't have time to fret and worry about everyone she cares about: a good thing since her list of those she cares about is so long. Beyond her exhaustively large family and few friends, there are her lovers. Even if she only slept with a man or woman once, she cares about them. She wonders what their life is like, how they are doing, if they're still happy, or happier than they were when she was sleeping with them.

Many times the worries and words aired during pillow talk ended up with her giving advice that later had her lovers coming to thank her, since her words turned their lives around, or her compliments gave them the confidence to do something they hadn't expected to ever do and now things were going wonderful in their lives. She never understood it until Minu and Minako explained it to her: that's part of her power as the avatar of Venus. Comfort and caring - a form of love - making everything better for those she is with. Minu and Minako had both found it to be true in their lives, using that talent to better lives until getting together with their respective Mars. This power works on those that are not her lovers as well, explaining how so much of her advice to her family has worked out: even if the advice itself wasn't sound, the emotional boost she gave them by praising the idea or helping them to think of things positively gave them a better outlook and this better outlook meant those around them were more receptive to what was being said.

It's not uncommon for people to look at her and misjudge her intelligence. They think she's just the typical rich Venusian, without two real brain cells to rub together, only caring about when she's going to get laid next. It always amuses her when they think like that. All the easier to dig up whatever dirt she can find on them, or verbally lay them out in class when they evidence an opinion that is clearly just a parroting of their parents. Amina is quick-witted and clever; she has to be, what with her information-gathering and occasional blackmailing. If she wasn't, she would either be arrested or dead. She knows what's going on in the greater galaxy, the machinations that must be going on for the Martian Relocation Program to allow transports to Venus and Mercury, that the Eye in the Sky is more for the governments' sake than for the protection of the people as they claim, that the Feet are actually Martian monsters.

The last is as much from her siblings' babbled worried talk when they first get to the estate as much as it is her own observations. While she cannot speak very well in Martian herself, she can understand a fair bit of the language (and much more of the body language) and attempt to carry on conversations, no matter how awful she is in replying to their comments. At the least she knows swears few others do, and can proudly say that she created a word. When she was four and talking with her siblings, she was outraged to learn that there was no such thing as love in Martian. So she made one up, taking the word da or companion, and mai or precious, beloved, and coming up with dai, precious, beloved companion - lover, to love someone, in essence, she declared. Dai probably isn't in use outside of the Venth household, but it has become a common word there in Martian speech.

Though she carries no Martian blood, she does maintain some of their habits, since she has lived with them for so long. All those she meets that she comes to consider a friend will end up with her calling them a one syllable nickname, no matter how long their name - Talriana is Tal. Amina has her own nicknames, given to her by her siblings. The more common one from her Venusian siblings is Mina, while her Martian siblings (and, admittedly, her Venusian siblings) is Mi. Adjoining her workshop in the apartment is a workout room, set aside for any of the household to practice fighting or mediation or whatever suits their whimsies. Amina uses it primarily to practice the fighting skills she has learned from her siblings, wanting to keep sharp for when she goes home, and for her own defense. She has to be careful when practicing now, to not use her senshi strength and break the equipment, but through careful usage she can still get something of a workout, especially by sparring with invisible opponents on the mat. The Venusian has, she admits, a bit of an appetite. Nothing to compare to a Martian’s by any means, but she can hold her own at the outset of a meal with one of them. Raw meat doesn’t faze her, it being a common sight in the kitchen as she was growing up, she eating chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven while some of her siblings politely used forks and knives on still bloody steaks as their afternoon snacks.

As a test to herself when six she went a day without eating, to see just what her siblings meant when they tried to explain how it felt to be that hungry. She managed the day and was about to begin her second when her parents got wind of it and told her to eat something. She understands the gnawing sensation of continual hunger and the dullness that comes when the body recognizes food is not forthcoming, the rush of want when food is presented – but those things weren’t all she learned when she starved herself. She learned that when she doesn’t get food, she gets very grouchy.

To combat that fact, and the sheer amount of siblings (and Khonsu) that regularly show up at the apartment, there is always food a plenty available, even if not meal-ready food, snacks of many varieties. Amina can cook, it was something she realized she shouldn’t be without, but she can’t cook particularly well. Just the basics, the things that involve boiling water or wielding a frying pan or using a micro – pasta, a fair amount of vegetables, some cuts of meat, frozen dinners. Her baking skills are somewhat better, but over all she just finds it easier on everyone if she leaves the planning of meals and the cooking to Han. He enjoys it, and he is much better at it than she or Talriana.

In speaking of those that Venus views as her personal slaves - despite the general knowledge of her parents' treatment of her siblings, in the eyes of the law they are still slaves - Amina always just says she has two roommates, fellow students. She is grateful they agreed to come to Earth with her for her college years - she certainly wouldn't be eating so well if they hadn't come. She'll never admit to them that the entire family saw the romance brewing between the two even when they were still skittish, the family taking extra steps to not scare them off of each other by doing too much flirting.

Her sketching is an outlet, an attempt at freeing herself from her worries and cares, much like her sewing. They take up her concentration and imagination enough to let her frenetically worried-about-everyone brain rest, become absorbed in the swoop of pencil on paper, of cloth under needle. She is quite good, equal to the aunts who are now the primary designers for Venth House, able to design styles that are more than her own preferred wear of simple tailoring, fully allowing her imagination to go where it will. The majority of Amina's designs end up on their Martian models, the lines of the designs perfect for their skinny, short bodies. Adjustments can easily be made to add length and a bust to most of the designs, allowing Amina and the others of the House more freedom in actually fashioning the clothing. This is especially good when Amina is given class assignments of making a design then putting that design on a mannequin, or on a model or modeling it herself. The ease of movement between the different frames she is given to work on proves her designs' versatility across the planets.

She still doesn't quite know what to make of her fellow senshi or their advisors. For Raen there's really no words - Raen is everything. Past lover, hoped-for future lover, soulmate, best friend, sister senshi… she just hopes she doesn't scare Raen away or screw anything up with her. Khonsu, despite his declared best-friend status is… less so in her book. He's a friend, certainly, her trusted Artemis, but much like how that cat could do stupid things before, he does them now as a human. It's easier to forgive a cat than it is a human, especially because the cat never was racist.