Welcome to Gaia! ::

You reach the center of the forest. Well, what you reach is a cessation.

The woods look stranger here than they did when your journey began -- a great impassable thicket weaves itself a wall that you can't go through. There is no crack in the twisting branches or the bark. You pass over a small river on a golden bridge and come to a few strangely shabby huts dotting the riverbank -- stalls, as you get closer. The stallcloth is grimy and at odds with the lovely surroundings and the thick smell of freesias. Those manning them, though, are not -- beautiful, fey-boned people with wings of a dazzling array of colours hawk their goods here, beautiful goods. Thousands of multicoloured stones and exquisite bits of jewellry, reams of cloth, cunning artifice. You could try to walk around the impassable wall -- it seems to encircle something -- but who knows how long that would take?

Other stragglers barter with the stall-owners, haggling over tiny cat-sized elephants and suchlike. Nobody is very interested in the humans at the gate; in fact, it's impossible to catch anyone's eye. The fairies are all so lovely here, human-sized, their skins dappled with a multitude of colours and their voices soft and musical. The ground in front of the thicket is muddy and well-stamped, and indeed the ground all around the stalls is tired and overwalked-on.

Nobody will talk to you -- except your companions, that is. Only one took note. There's a tall tree-man with skin like bark and a rheumy eye who walks with a stout wooden club at his side, looking over the weights and pacing between the wares. He seems official.

[So begins Stage One of the Elflands region. Stages One, Two, and Three of this region are all potentially lethal -- please remember there is no guarantee of your character's survival. Be mindful that in this stage you must post within 24 hours of your turn.

This portion of Stage 1 is a Meet and Greet period; nothing in this area will do you any harm (yet). As soon as you'd like to move into the live portion of Stage 1, any character may approach the marketplace guard and the stage will go live. On Friday, all threads that are not yet live will go live.

Feel free to explore this area barring the stalls -- any attempt to go near the stalls will lead in you being ignored, and touching anything is not advised at this stage! Any actions you take, whether they be examining the area and the stalls will generate a GM response informing you of the result, but again, the thread will not go live until characters talk to the guard.

In general there is no specific posting order for the Meet and Greet portion of Stage 1, so you can exercise your discretion in deciding when to post and when not to; however, please try to give other people the chance to speak up as well! Further posting instructions will be given when the thread goes live -- please coordinate with your team members before forcing the thread into its live state!

Good luck!]

((Rose, you've labelled the thread B5 instead of A3. Nothing major, just in confused me since I tried to use that to look for the thread and...struggling, obviously xD

Fixed now, thanks for the heads-up! - Shaz))

Woa - this hadn't been what she was expecting.

Although, really, what had she been expecting?

Sailor Eos frowned as she and Azzo turned a corner, a thick wicket of brambles weaving it's way across their path, preventing them from going any further. But surely there had to be a weakness in the wall somewhere? She glanced back at Azzo, before taking a step forwards onto a beautifully golden bridge, fingers pressing against the bark, searching for a weak point. Nothing. And because her stupid attack was so stupidly pathetic, she couldn't try to blast her way through it, either. Ugh.

Turning back to Azzo with a shake of her head and a shrug, the senshi instead turned her attention to the strange huts, set on the riverbank. Were there...people there? People who weren't...evil? She made her way slowly down the bridge, well aware that if she did anything stupid Azzo would likely yank her back. And she didn't want that, she had the feeling that would be...painful for her shoulder joints. She stopped part-way down the bridge, not wanting to go any further, leaning on the side railings (which were just as gold as the rest of the bridge, and it was beginning to hurt her eyes a little) to try and get a better look.

"It's like...a little marketplace," she spoke, glancing back at Azzo again, "Should we keep going, or try find another way?"

But just as she spoke, she noticed someone else. To be honest, how could she not notice them, what with their rather elaborate...fuku? It was another senshi? Now even more confused, not knowing whether it was a dream or a nightmare or actually real, Sailor Eos took a step back towards Azzo. Should she call out, or shouldn't she? Surely a senshi couldn't be a bad thing? Although there were those corrupted senshi Europa had mentioned... "Hello?" she eventually called out, giving a somewhat...awkward wave.

Azzo sighed at the thick wall of foliage, Great. He shook his head looking to see if there was a large enough hole to gather a look on what was on the other side.

Of course he didn't really expect anything to be thin enough to grant that wish. He stopped prior to the bridge unsure if he wanted to step on it, however, it seemed others had. He looked over and noticed Schee.

Finally! Someone he was happy to see.... Azzo paused in his thoughts to watch Scheelite drop the other senshi. His face hit the palm of his hand, and he groaned. He'd heard someone whining earlier, now they'd probably end up with a head ache from it. He shook his head, "Scheelite" he called after a second, "Scheelite!" He passed over the bridge after giving Eos a soft nudge.

He stood on the other side not venturing further, hoping the Negaverse agent and the now muddy senshi would come over, and stay for the most part away from the village for the moment till they figured out what was going on. He however was looking over the little houses and the fey-boned people with wings. The place smelled like some horse stall though, he shook his head. Of course he also kind of stood in between Eos and Scheelite in case she decided she needed to attack him for dropping a comrade.

Azzo placed the compass in his pocket, he really didn't feel like answering questions on how he got that.

Selenite was tired of walking. She'd been following her dowsing stick for what seemed like an eternity; for all she knew, it could have been. There wasn't exactly a reliable way to tell time around here. The sun was always setting, which wasn't so bad. Her stick had led her east in pretty much a straight line, which set the sun at her back. At least, as much sun could reach through the overly green canopy of trees. It was enough to make her neck irritated, however, and the bluenette had long since looped her braid around into a sort of bun.

Eventually, however, her eyes noticed what looked like a wall in the distance. That was certainly a deviation from the normal state of affairs, and after a moment's rest, Selenite picked up her pace to find out what exactly she'd been walking towards.

There were people - Selenite had to assume this was the center that she'd been told she had to get to. There was also a lot of mud, and she pasued to wrinkle her nose before she crossed the golden bridge. There were what appeared to be fairies, and for once in her life, Selenite felt utterly plain and out of place.

A pair of rather normal looking people had passed over the bridge in front of her, though she didn't really pay any attention to them. It was the boy's shout that drew her attention after the girl had been dropped in the mud. Scheelite? It sounded vaguely familiar, and it had the right sort of idea for a Negaverse name. Her blue eyes narrowed as she stared at the other four people. Were they real? The fairies didn't seem all that interested in the way they were all standing about, which might be good, or bad.

Rosalind's fall, however, provoked the most reaction from the stern-faced Lieutenant. Watching the elegant girl - was she a senshi? that was a ridiculous outfit, if so - hit the mud was priceless.

Selenite laughed, only slightly hysterically.

Azzo gave a nod hello to Selenite. He showed no signs of amusement towards Rosalind's misfortune. "Sailor Eos." He wasted no time, "Sailor Eos Meet Scheelite" He turned towards her and looked, "He's friendly enough compared to others I've met." He wanted her to understand that hoping she didn't try to beat Schee up.

He however crossed over to Rosalind and offered his hand to help her up. "Yes, it seems we're stuck here until we figure out what's going on. Or We get eaten by a bone tree..." He sighed, it almost sounded like he was cracking a joke even he didn't find funny. When she was standing again he fished for a handkerchief. "Here, You can't clean it all off, but no use in having mud on your face." He said, in a matter of factually tone.

He sighed and walked back towards the group, hoping Rosalind followed. He seemed to be thinking, he looked around formal introductions. "As Scheelite said I'm Azzo, and That's Sailor Eos, I'm guessing you're Sailor Rosalind?" Azzo looked over to the muddy clad senshi, he frowned slightly shame really he was sure her fuku looked better without the mud. He looked over to Selenite, "And you ma'am?" He asked curiously thinking she couldn't be senshi she didn't look like a senshi. Still though it was important to get names, it'd make things easier than yelling hey you. It also looked like Him and Scheelite where the only guys unless someone else came wondering out of the forest.

Selenite finally stopped laughing, wiping tears from her eyes with the hand not holding her stick. It might be kind of dumb to hang on to it now, as it wasn't exerting any kind of pull, but it was the closest thing she had to a weapon. It was fairly close to her pointer in length, which made it's heft comfortably familiar.

"Saliors Eos and Rosalind?" Selenite's light blue gaze flicked over the senshi rather dismissively. They didn't look all that impressive, especially the mud covered one. Senshi wore such improbable outfits. Selenite might have preferred a more elaborate outfit for herself, but the combat advantages to her current one had been proven already. "And Azzo and Scheelite." She smiled a bit, thouroughly amused by all of this, then bowed her head regally, the coil of her braid finally escaping and falling over her shoulder. "I'm Lieutenant Selenite." Looking them all over once again, she frowned suddenly.

"Wait, you were together?" Oh come on, that was hardly fair!

"We, me and Eos bumped into each other around a fae circle and the bone tree... well it was hungry." Azzo said without much more detail.

He looked at Rosa swatting his hand away and when she accused schee he sighed, "I'm sure it was an accident Sailor Rosalind." He stated in a tone that wasn't very happy.

"We can't fight if we want to get out of here." He paused, he was the civilian saying this? "Nice to meet you Lt. Selenite." He added, before looking around.

He paused, "Am I really the only civilian here?" He said looking around with a frown. Well now he really felt special, and probably was going to get pushed to the side a lot more as not being able to do anything. "We shouldn't fight, this isn't DC I don't think. While yes, your two teams are at odds, we need everyone."

Oh...oh dear. He'd dropped her. Sailor Eos pushed past Azzo to rush around and help her fellow senshi up, certainly not enjoying the mud herself. Ohhh, it was squelching inside her shoes, that was disgusting! Offering her hand to Rosalind, Eos' face made it clear that her appearance was...compromised. "Are you alright?"

Soon Azzo was beside her, also offering his help, and Eos took the opportunity to glance sideways, at the brightly coloured...lieutenant who had dropped her. The Negaverse were here too? Was this their doing? Azzo's comments reassured her a little, but she decided to stay wary. Besides, was that another lieutenant, now laughing at the poor brunette senshi's misfortune? Oh, and then she was up, standing between Azzo and Scheelite, and Eos felt a little bit of a loose wheel. Uh...okay. She heard her name, and turned to find the other lieutenant, who she now knew to be Selenite, to have come closer. Selenite and Scheelite. She was so going to get them mixed up, if she didn't forget them all together.

Sailor Rosalind suited the elaborately dressed brunette, so it was more likely she'd remember that. Eos waved back at Scheelite with as friendly a smile as she could manage for a Negaverser, shuffling closer to Rosalind and Azzo, those she trusted. Glancing sideways at Azzo, sensing the same distent as before, Eos spoke up a little, "So, uh...Azzo, what do you think we should do?"

That had to make him feel more needed/wanted, right? Eos smiled sweetly at Rosalind, admittedly glad to have another senshi present.