Welcome to Gaia! ::

“I’m so glad you’re here! I can’t want to celebrate — once we get out of here.”

Urania had known Greive to be dependable and she was happy to have her here. Someone to watch your back in the dark was always welcome. It reminded her, in a way, of the dungeons, ruins and other places they had explored when part of the Nameless.

“I suppose we have to find a way out — and the best way to do that when in the dark is to find the light! Perhaps we should go towards that lit sign that says ‘staff’. Certainly, someone there can tell us what is going on.”


❂

Lianli Huang/Kaifeng, Squire of Saturn

Liánlí hadn’t meant to get into anything messy. He really hadn’t. When he’d left home, amidst all the grumbling about strings snapping right exactly when you needed them not to do that, he’d told Huanxi and Dewey that he wouldn’t be gone terribly long. Just a quick run over to the music store in town that: A. was open later than the others (while it didn’t have hours posted in the window or anything, so who knew how things actually worked, but whenever Liánlí had need of something, it happened to be open); and B. actually carried high-quality yueqin strings, without making Liánlí order them off the Internet and then wait for them to get there.

Aside from wanting to get his moon-lute restrung as quickly as possible, one of his new violin students would be coming over the next afternoon for lessons. As important as Liánlí’s duties as Kaifeng were to, like, keeping Destiny City safe, and preserving balance in the universe, or whatever? Little Miss Huanjing Guo could be an energetic little handful, dedicated as she was not only to practicing but learning how to practice correctly. Wouldn’t have done to be anything but well-rested when trying to work with her on learning her scales and the right way to position her fingers.

……And then there’d been a little Page in a cute blue dress (Almere).

She couldn’t have been anything but a Page, Liánlí figured, pausing outside the music store to watch her work on her swordplay? Spoon-play? ……Was she fencing an invisible enemy with a spoon?

Well, whatever she’d been doing, she abruptly trotted off toward one of the other shops in the strip mall and……oh. Oh, Liánlí couldn’t just let her do that alone, could he? He……could explain when he got home. Huanxi and Dewey were senshi; they knew that the work senshi and knights did was important.

On top of that, they’d been alive for the time of things like Knights apparently getting educated at a fancy training academy. Liánlí hadn’t discussed it very much with Dewey yet, seeing as he was a fairly recent addition to the house, but Huanxi’s heart was heavy with feelings for all that had been lost in the past thousand years. Hearing about one of these modern knights—who didn’t have an academy and had to learn their way around the knightly business on their own—going into a potentially dangerous situation on her own? With only her Page weapon? And looking rather very young on top of that?

As he tucked his package of yueqin strings into his jacket’s inner pocket, Liánlí reassured himself that Huanxi and Dewey would deserve an explanation when he got home—especially Huanxi. Because Huan-ge cared about him very much and this would be an unexpected change of plans that involve Liánlí going into a potentially dangerous situation, which might very understandably upset him. But Huanxi and Dewey would also understand, no question, that looking out for younger Knights was Very Important (especially when……s**t ******** goddamn, the little one in the blue didn’t look too much older than da-jie’s kids would’ve been by now).

Ducking real quickly into one of the strip mall’s alleys—then saying a quick “hello” to his little wispy friend before waving it off for now—Liánlí made short work out of powering up into Kaifeng, then jogged over in the same direction as the little page in the blue. She definitely had good instincts, he decided as he tried to catch up with her, going down yet another alley. This many powered auras all in one place? Very probably indicated that Something was afoot. Racking his brain for possible answers would’ve been too distracting, so Kaifeng didn’t bother, he simply trailed into the place behind her, through the emergency exit door, which soon decided to slam itself shut.

“Well, that’s certainly an average night of Knight-and-Senshi Business in Destiny City for you,” Kaifeng said pleasantly, as he slipped in beside the young Page in the blue, acting like they were already friends (and trying not to feel too much like he might as well have been saying How do you do, fellow kids?). “Wouldn’t be a mission without something going unexpectedly weird on us.”

Folding his arms over his chest, Kaifeng cast a long glance over the assembled crowd.… Nobody was punching Chaos in the face just yet, though Kaifeng suspected that might change soon. One of Selenga’s fellow Ida Knights (Sigiriya) caught his eye, as did another Page (Celadon) in a dress that reminded Kaifeng of the Princess-jiejie who’d popped her very impressive wings that night back in May. And amidst all the chatter, one person’s introduction made Kaifeng’s ears p***k up.

“Wait a minute, Grieve?” Looking in the direction from whence the voice had come, Kaifeng spotted a violently yellow-skinned senshi—another one from space, like Huan-ge and Dewey—who seemed to be guarding a smaller senshi. He grinned at her and gave a little wave. “Sorry, hi! Kaifeng of Saturn. We haven’t met yet, but I think you might’ve known the Kaifeng who my starseed was a thousand years ago? He said you hit harder than twice-distilled pear brandy off someplace called Bélénos?”

Squire Irkalla of Cosmos

Generally it seemed when powered signatures gathered, something was going on. There had been a marked hesitation on the woman's part to even bother investigating. But what if she could help? To quote a character from a Disney movie, what if she were the single grain of rice that could tip the scales between victory or defeat? It was with that general advice going through her mind that saw the squire of Cosmos enter from the alleyway before hearing the door slam and feeling the pressing swell of powered signatures against her own.

Her attention though was not on making herself known to anyone in particular but very cautiously did Irkalla instead snake her way through the throng of others before being stopped by the locked door that claimed that "Staff only" were allowed beyond that point. She scoffed at the sign before shrugging her shoulders and bracing herself before contemplating the doorknob itself. Could someone have left it unlocked? Turning the knob of the door, jiggling it, yielded no results and she promptly sighed before turning around to glance at the room in general before shrugging her shoulders.

Well it seemed like now that she was here, should she mingle with the others or explore the room some more, or stay close to the marked door? Decisions, decisions.

In the end though the squire of Cosmos decided that to stay close to the door was the better option. If some miracle occurred and the door opened on its own then she wanted to be one of the first individuals through. There was hardly any reason for her logic at being the first to pass over the threshold. Maybe if there were individuals waiting inside that she could draw their fire and give others the chance to launch off their own attacks. It was not the most well thought out plan but it was all that it felt like she could offer at the moment. With burgeoning confidence did Irkalla once more try at the door's handle. It was still locked. How on earth were people supposed to check things out if they could not get passed the first obstacle. Going back outside was out of the question since the entrance to the alleyway had slammed shut.

Since the only other exit to leave was out of the question and it seemed as if no other means of escape were available at the time that meant that the staff room door needed opening. And as much as Irkalla thought that she could offer some of her own strength it appeared as if others had already taken it upon themselves to throw their own bodies at the door. Without much success it seemed. Yet even as that thought went through her mind did Irkalla give a final test of the door before simply standing off to the side. She would wait for someone else to seemingly open the door however they chose to do so. Waiting on others was something that Irkalla was not used to but the frustration in the situation was familiar.

[Irkalla's open for interaction - currently trying to open the staff room door]

Antares silently eyed the crowd that was slowly building around them, aware that they were quite literally sending out a aura flare. If the negaverse didn't know they were there they would soon figure it out. The general consensus seemed to be not to split up... but it wasn't like they had a large space to do so anyway. "Fair enough. I'm Antares by the way. Super of Scorpions." She belatedly introduced herself since Osiris and Mira pretty much did it first. "Still though, sticking together might be a safe idea but it does make us a pretty big target as well, so we should figure out the next steps." She wasn't a leader, she really wasn't. But they couldn't stay here all night. She had a baby to go home too.

The brightly colored senshi was raring to go. More on the murder-y side of things but Antares couldn't really fault her on that. She, herself, was a bit more on the hit-y side of Order. "Ok so can anyone get the door open on the staff room?" The blonde noted a squire (Irkalla) testing the door knob.

"In the mean time I'm going to try for a light switch or something." She wasn't expecting anyone to follow her lead, the only person she gave any real orders to was Sig since staying with the crowd as a whole was safer for him. "Stay here, I'll be fine." Antares muttered to him even as she stepped cautiously out into the darkness. There were sounds and rustles behind the curtains. It could just be the ac, the building settling, but it didn't feel like it.

((Sig will be heading to the staff room))




{{Mod Note - The staff room door has been opened! Chaos players are welcome in this thread for more fighty fighty... and you can have dustable youma show up too!}}

“We could ask them instead of loot them?”

Urania suggested to Grieve the less violent option. But, looting might just be the only option…

“Either way, let’s go!”


❂

Beatrix stood behind one of the curtained openings, listening as people piled into the trap. It would be a gamble to head out even with her half-baked disguise. Picking up on names, she made a list of all the different flavours of knight were there. She smiled behind her medical mask as she heard a familiar voice, the voice of that ida knight who had gotten away. Oh.... I get a round two.

Watching as some of them managed to get through the door, she popped her head out carefully from her hiding spot. She was behind most of them and in the dark, she probably blended in, at least she hoped she did. She tried taking in all the other names even though the names and titles made her head spin. So far most of them sounded at her level or below which made things a little less risky. If she could get the drop on the eternals she could maybe get something going but she knew for now, that she was pretty much on her own in this hallway.

She really wanted to get things moving so she could get a chance at some starseeds but she knew that she had to wait so she pulled her head back behind the curtain and left just a little sliver she could watch through for now. Once a few more of them filtered through, she'd make her move. She could show them a nice little monster to bring back the halloween vibes.



((Bea has appeared for those who may have been watching the curtains. They may have seen her with short black hair, a medical mask, and maybe the edges of a white lab coat.))

Action: Making an Entrance!
Attacking: The Staff Door Entrance (I.E Whatever the general vicinity is of where Grieve is standing!)

Mirabilite had been pacing behind their doctor-suited companion, laying in wait behind thick curtains that seemed to rustle with every stifled breath he'd held and tucked behind laced fingers cinched in worry over his mouth. He just had to remind himself they were trapped in there with him -- there was nothing to worry over -- no reason to panic -- At least not until he heard the resounding crunch and smash of the doors to the staff room going down. All the restless excess of energy he'd held back seeped through and his pretty face lost is charm to the ugliness of a pulled lip and sneer at the sheet of blinds hiding them from the view of the bustling hallway.

He couldn't believe he'd expected a ******** door to hold them all back for longer than five minutes! It wasn't as if the building itself was magical, nto the doors or the locks that pieced it all together -- or however any of it actually worked. He was still learning things, hungry for it, poised and prissy on his heels and by time the umpteenth body had certainly piled through Mirabilite found he'd had damn well more than enough!

Enough of waiting -- at least --- and quickly he burst free of his little hidey hole, pulled all the pretty back on like a parlor trick while shedding a single crocodile tear. Theater kids eat their hearts out, the damn thing even sparkled as it shattered across the floor---

"Clearly none of you here made it past grade school, but that's alright. I'll read it aloud for all of you! The sign says 'Staff Only', and last I checked? That means not a damned single one of you should be nosing in there--- In fact? All of you should Stay With Me!"

Sailor Scout Attack: Stay with Me!