Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mirrorspace could be jarring on a first visit, especially with the slapdash rush job it had required to get them all here in the first place. The Dark Mirror Court spilled out of the mirror like a pile of children wrestling over a crayon -- with Ares on top. Her staff cracked against the ground, and she swore loudly.

Pushing herself up, Ares quickly smoothed out her skirts. "Damnit," she swore. "Damnit." Her torch remained on the ground, rolling about.

She probably needed to explain to all the new people where they were, how they had gotten there, what that weird flashing power was...

but instead she paced back and forth like it was her job, muttering angry sounds.

Being jerked through any sort of space, mirror or not, left Remarque feeling like someone had punched him in the gut. The elbow prodding him in his stomach probably wasn’t helping. Resisting the urge to wheeze, he glared at the mess of people atop of him and made an effort to shove himself away from them. Lying in a heap on the floor was totally undignified.

He didn’t make a complete effort to, say, not kick people to push himself out of the pile. Remarque didn’t risk standing—not when Ares was pacing like that. He didn’t imagine drawing attention to himself when she looked so upset would be a good thing—and he was still shaking his head trying to get his bearings, anyway. He lifted a hand to his head, clutching at his temple as he tried to stop the spinning—and figure out what was going on, and where they’d ended up

One moment she was on the rainbow road, the next…she was in a dog pile…somewhere else. She scrambled to get away from everyone else and stand up, feeling just slightly woozy. What…what was this place? She looked at the ones who had been taken through…

The mirror. Mirrors, hm? Mirrors were what helped her become alive again. Something special about the mirrors. She looked around, then her blue eyes fell on Ares, watching her pace back and forth, back and forth. Lesath was quiet, knowing that it was best to not speak. It didn’t matter that there were several questions going through her head, she kept her mouth shut. The blonde glanced around, looking at Sailor Remarque and Deneb Kaitos, her intuition telling her that at least one of them must be as new as she was, maybe they would ask the questions for her, and she would keep acting like she knew what was going on.

One thing was for sure. They hadn’t beaten the Senshi back. They hadn’t won.

Gut punch fit the feeling pretty damn good, and Navi was bent double as they appeared.. wherever they were. Hazel eyes peering up through a fall of tussled and blood stained curls as she curled arms tightly around herself. That had been interesting. Not completely unpleasant on a whole, but nor was it pleasant either. It was unique, and disorienting, and would certainly require a lot of getting used to.

Kneeling, she had a very good view of anyone she might have landed or or narrowly missed landing on, only a few she recognized. She didn't linger there for long though, and rose to her feet a little shakily before taking a step back and looking around at where they where currently. "What is this place?" Her voice was perfectly level, if perhaps a little strained. She was calm, for now, just curious.

Danae had moshed before, so that was no thing. In fact, she had to actively resist the urge to start wildly throwing herself against the surrounding bodies. First impressions, and all that. Plus the fact that the idea of physical motion made her sick, every muscle in her body worn down from exhaustion while her head spun from the sudden transition into mirrorspace. As the others around her scrambled to their feet, she would be content to just lay there for a moment. She was content to lay motionless most of the time, anyway.

After a sufficient amount of oxygen had returned to her lungs, she was finally able to sit up. "Man, that sucked," she said, voice half-lowered in an attempt to keep it out of Ares' earshot. Girl looked miffed. "That Princess Chronos chick is kind of a big ol' c-word, amrite?" She turned her head at the others, looking for nods of agreements and potential high fives.

She would also accept fist bumps, if the others were so inclined.

Ares had lots of practice indoctrinating newbies into the ranks of her organization from the time she spent organizing, recruiting, and leading the Blood Moon Court. Perhaps it was because of that experience that she seemed so tired now. They needed more members desperately... members who could do precisely this kind of thing in her place.

It occurred to her that the other members of this dogpile were getting to their feet. Requiem stepped up to her and said something sharp. Ares narrowed her eyes. "The recruits need to see how respect works in our faction," she snapped lowly, barely audible to anyone else. "I am not the one who has a hard time holding my tongue when it matters, soldier. I believe I am allowed to pace." Ares thought back to the meeting with the Negaverse. Requiem had openly insulted Tanzanite when they were in the middle of a tense situation. It was a painfully misguided choice, one that could have ruptured the entire alliance Ares had painstakingly set up. The ruler liked Requiem, but right now she wasn't feeling particularly patient. It made her ornery.

It certainly didn't help that they had just lost a major tactical strike.

Turning away from Requiem briskly, Princess Ares stepped closer to the rest of the dark parallels. She waited a moment for the new ones to gain their bearings. It could be strange the first time, like learning to walk. In no time, they would be flying in and out of mirrors like valkyries going in for a kill.

The girl in black and rust was the first to speak up. Ares turned to face her. "Mirrorspace," she said simply. "This is our haven, our home. When we travel through mirrors, we are actually passing through this place. You base senshi will not be able to linger here until you have practice, and even then, it is limited. So long as I hold your presence here, we could linger in this place for years. This is the one place where no one can attack us." One hand brushed across the room, a circle of chairs materialized suddenly. They appeared to be made of the same strange shifting grayness that the rest of the room was, but when touched, they proved to be utterly stable.

Ares sat in one of the chairs and crossed her legs primly. "Have a seat, please," she said. "We are safe here. No one can travel through mirrors without one of us."

Danae was a little less refined in her speech. Ares had lived and died many times with Sailor Gaia so she was used to it. "Chronos is weak," she said. "That is quite possibly the only time she has ever truly been a force to be reckoned with... and even then, she is only strong so long as the others are beside her." Ares said it as if that was the worst possible trait in the world.

Veer had a similar speaking habit. It didn't bother Ares. "Mirrorspace," she said again. "I understand that this is a lot to take in. Your questions will all be answered, though not necessarily by me." Her eyes flashed to Requiem and Leto. She preferred for them to handle the basics of new recruit orientation.

"Have a seat," she said again. "We should all meet."

Sitting up in her chair, the leader of the dark parallels swept a long train of fabric over her exposed leg. "My name is Ares. I am the leader of the Dark Mirror Court. We are also called the dark parallels, or the dark senshi. There are many confusing things about our existence so allow me to say this as simply as possible." She cleared her throat. "I was a senshi in a parallel timeline to this one. We crossed through the mirror in search of a crystal stolen by our former ruler, a woman named Nehelenia. She was destroyed, along with her crystal and half of her court. The parallels were in shambles. I formed a new court, the Blood Moon Court, under the delusion that serving the White Moon was my purpose. Then the court that I built turned on me, and at my lowest point, I heard the whispers of Chaos through a black mirror. I remembered the truth: the our court has always served Chaos and that the White Moon princess, a woman called Serenity, had cursed me and my people eons ago."

Ares took a breath. She needed some water, but it could wait. "In short, I realized the truth and accepted my role as a dark parallel senshi. One by one, I am trying to show the other senshi that the cause they are fighting for is not our true purpose, but... as you might have noticed, it can be a challenge." One hand reached up to push hair out of her face.

"Welcome to our Court. We are just getting on our feet now. Tell me -- did you learn your names and spheres? I can bring you into your power, but only a guardian cat can see into your soul. I apologize that you awakenings weren't... smoother."

Gray eyes roved over the new senshi, waiting for the first one to speak up.

Sailor Leto took a seat next to Ares. The majority of the new recruits had met her at least briefly in the heat of battle or immediately after they had been transformed, so she figured that introductions on her part could wait.

Leto met Ares' eyes when her gaze flashed to her, acknowledging that she would happily answer any questions that she possibly could. While this entire thing was still a learning experience for her, she could at least give the newbies the rundown of the basics. Dark Mirror Senshi 101.

She couldn't help but smile as each of the new recruits spoke up with questions. She silently reflected back on when ********* had awakened her, how complete and utterly confused she was when the cat first spoke. She had almost forgotten how difficult it had been for her to begin this journey, and she had no one to guide her. She decided at that point that she would do her best to make sure that her new team-mates were comfortable and knew that no matter what happened, she had their back.

She idly fingered her torn fuku where Gunn had ripped the sheer fabric to shreds.