Welcome to Gaia! ::

The steel grey sky overlooked a snow-dusted Destiny City with uniform indifference. The streets and sidewalks below were marred with darkened tire tracks and labored footprints, leaving evidence of the city's churning populace. Slowly the sky would fill these imperfections in, almost systematically, over the span on the day. However, one individual sought to create a small clearing, something of a bastion against winter's grip.

Leda huffed heavily, her breath temporarily clouding. Cold stung her skin, and even the rigorous training session barely kept her warm. Given the algid weather, steaming away the snow was the most obvious course of action to practice her accuracy. Between uses of her skill, she would labor amongst the untouched snow and slowly build herself another target, though she abandoned wrapping a scarf around the snowman long ago. However, her training was short-lived given how quickly her powers wore her out.

She gave herself a short break earlier, and had headed out to the nearest Starbuck's to purchase one of her favorite wintry specialty drinks. It didn't last long before it cooled to lukewarm in the frigid temperatures, but she finished it before it became iced coffee. The empty cup still sat on the snow-covered bench next to her. The plastic fogged up maybe twenty minutes ago, and she was fairly certain it was now stuck to the bench. Trying to pry it free seemed like a fool's endeavor at this point.

After getting off the bench, an idea dawned on her. I can use my power to defrost the cup! She thought excitedly. If I can do that, then I'll go inside and escape this horrible weather! But then again I might warm up too fast, and get sick... I could go back and get another cup of coffee, but what would too much coffee do to me? Ooh... Maybe I'll just build a fire outside or something. No, that won't do; I'm sure they have laws against that... She let out a sigh. The concept of a reward was becoming far more complicated than she bargained for.

Nevertheless she assumed her senshi form, and readied an attack against the bench. With as much focus as she could muster, she aimed her blast of steam, and missed her mark entirely. "Shoot..." She muttered in dismay. All she had to show for it was an area of the grass showing through the snow.

Upon hearing footsteps behind her, Leda spun around nervously and regarded the approaching individual with the intention to defend herself. However, the man looked unassuming and remarkably well-dressed. Too well-dressed to be an enemy, in fact. "Whoa, who are you? And where did you get that awesome costume?" It looked like something out of a fashion magazine!

Leda could hardly believe what she was hearing. She hadn't heard of any mirrored colts or whatever he'd referenced earlier, but anyone who offers their services to improve drab outfits couldn't possibly be doing so for free. However, before asking about the catch, she simply had to know what this seamster might do to further improve upon her admittedly stylish outfit. "So you're part of this Dark Meer Cart thing? Ooh, does that mean you can sew?" Perhaps he's the senshi of thread, or needles, or... Definitely eyelets. "So, like, you just throw yourself into a mirror and you look fabulous for the day? Wow, that sounds too good to be true."

Then again, it probably was. Her mother warned her a hundred times against scams like these, and she didn't know anything about this guy. As her excitement was further tempered by her skepticism, she felt her exhaustion creeping in. With a heavy sigh, she sat down on the snow-covered bench. "So, what can you tell me about your Dork Smear Port? It sounds important." And the name sounded familiar.

Perhaps she heard about them before... but where?

"Dark Mirror Court..." She echoed. The words wore a vague sense of familiarity. She'd heard them before, and not from this man alone. Though she could not recall where she'd last read those words, she felt a sense of curiosity and foreboding. "And it's super important?" Though his manner of dress was undeniably appealing, and he understood the importance of proper fashion, she could not deny her feelings of skepticism. She knew little of what the name entailed, but it shouldn't hurt to just investigate.

Despite losing herself in thought, the young senshi was brought to her senses by the man's introduction. "Oh!" She exclaimed, clamoring to her feet. The numbness in her thighs from where she sat and the slippery snow proved formidable hurdles to staying upright. She nearly collapsed back onto the bench but retained her footing. "I'm Leda, Senshi of Steam." She chuckled. he could probably tell from when he snuck up on her earlier. "What's a dark mirror? How does it work? And how did it makes your clothes so lovely?" She had a plethora of questions to ask, and fully intended on bombarding the young man with every one of them.

However, the thought of remaining in the cold and slowly freezing crept into her mind. Her body had begun to shake uncontrollably from the frosty weather, and she had little intention of catching hypothermia by loitering outside. "Can we go someplace warmer to discuss this? Like, anywhere but here?" She didn't know of many places that would welcome a pair of senshi into their business, but there had to be somewhere worth staying. Besides, if this Dark Mirror Court was so important, they had to have a headquarters, right? "Hopefully someplace with hot chocolate or something..." She muttered, as the wind was picking up.

When she wasn't actively training, the cold seeped into Leda's bones and her fuku provided little resistance. As she stood speaking with her new acquaintance, Remarque, her body would occasionally surrender to uncontrollable shivers, courtesy of the frigid gusts. "I don't mind where you take me, just as long as it's warmer than this!" Her teeth chattered at the end, as if to emphasize her point. Up until now, she had little to fear from the cold. Was it because of all that training? Or did it simply take a bit of time for the chill to penetrate her defenses?

She listened attentively to the senshi's proposal. "That sounds wonderful!" She was eager to escape the cold, especially since she sat on a snow-covered bench. Without further prompts, she followed the more established senshi closely. "So you actually use mirrors?" She contemplated a variety of theoretical uses for a mirror. Perhaps they doubled as cameras, and they could see out of any mirror in the city? Or perhaps they doubled as surfboards? No, that was a silly idea. Perhaps, then, these mirrors can change the look of the senshi and they could sneak their way through the city like spies in the cold war? She hadn't the slightest idea how this Dark Mirror Court employed mirrors to their advantage, but she did know she wanted to learn more.

Leda glanced behind her, noting the deep footprints they left in the snow. There wasn't anything unusual about them, no youma spawning from Remarque's tracks. She didn't detect any other powers in the immediate vicinity. The place was as serene and silent as it was when Leda first began training, and with the new dusting of snowfall, the evidence of her being there was slowly dissipating, much like the snow beneath her steam...

"Oh, would you mind dropping me off by the local diner? I love their hot chocolate, and the waitresses are so nice! There's this one girl who works there, and she'll fold your straws into little origami animals! It's so cute!" Suddenly, she realized she digressed wholly from the topic of the court. "Um... Sorry." She blushed and stared at the unbroken snow before them. "Oh, so where are we going? And what exactly will you show me?"

When the young man slipped his hand into hers, her breath caught momentarily. Leda didn't have much time to think about it, as Remarque pulled her along at a brisk clip, but her gaze constantly strayed to their linked hands. She heard his words, hollowly. She felt the cold, vaguely. She felt his touch, gently.

Though the snow proved difficult to walk in, Leda managed her way over the smooth and deceptively deep pockets, half-following in Remarque's footsteps. In a rare moment of clarity, Leda realized she could lower her goggles and refrain from getting snow in her eyes, but the task of navigating the snow without falling or twisting her ankle demanded most of her attention. Slowly she gravitated toward him, focusing intently on the ground, as they collectively approached the park.

The landscape looked alien now. The trees, once full and canopied, barring the sun from its heavy summer onslaught, now stood barren and laden with snow. The tables lay beneath the white sheet of frost and even the tennis court was thick with ice. The ancient, rusted bathroom building wore a white roof on this day, and snow collected in the lip of the building's shingles. The sidewalk protected by the overhang remained unscathed by snow, but wet tracks toward the bathroom doors bore scattered clumps of ice. Only the tetherball poles stood defiant of the unrelenting winter.

As they wove their way through the park, Leda eyed the foreign, almost desolate landscape. Bereft of life, the park looked artificial and depressing. However, she hadn't much time to take in her surroundings when she was pulled between the trees.

She stared vacantly at what stood before her. A large mirror, likely six feet tall and standing on an otherworldly frame, reflected their appearances. It looked ominous considering that it was situated in the middle of the park. How curious; she'd never noticed it here before. It looked both ornate and strangely modern, or perhaps even timeless. She hadn't seen anything quite like it before, despite it simply being a mirror. Leda furrowed her brow as she examined it for something, anything, with an air of familiarity about it.

But in Remarque's rush to show her the Mirrorspace, she nearly fell face-first into the mirror instead.

The whole experience felt unnatural. She felt herself press into a frigid, resistant surface, almost fusing to it, almost melting through it. If she had anything to compare it to, she would liken it to submerging herself into a tub of mercury. The substance had incredible surface tension, and pressing through it was almost painful. Yet, upon making it through that initial push, the world felt eerie and viscous. It was as if she was suspended in something slightly thicker than water. After another, more pliable, barrier, she emerged with Remarque into a monochrome and misty world.

"This is Mirrorland?" She asked in wonder, taking in the sights visible through the mist. Everything about the place felt wrong. Unnatural. When her gaze settled on a chair in her peripheral vision, it dissipated into the fog only to appear once again at the edge of her sight. At least the background noise was constant; it lay somewhere between the sound of ocean waves and the sound of rushing wind in the distance. Despite being a warm and inviting temperature, the sheer strangeness of the place raised goosebumps on her skin.

Remarque, however, appeared unaffected by it. It looked as if he welcomed it. "I've never seen anything like this before..." She constantly turned in place, watching various objects that darted away or altogether disappeared from the space. "It never looks the same for longer than a second, does it? That's so weird! Do you stay here often?" And more importantly, does he do his fabulous costume alterations here?

"What can they do in here?" Sew? That seemed awfully difficult considering everything was moving around all the time. She wasn't aware of any differences between the Dark Mirror Senshi and the regular senshi. All she noticed from him was a fabulous costume change. "It looks kinda hard to get anything done in here. "I can't even tell what time it is cuz the clock is like, always moving around. And, um, are the hands always changing too?" It looked that way, but she couldn't tell given its constant migration.

Oh well, she didn't have to be home until dinner, and she was certain the sun was still high in the sky when they left for Mirrortow- wow. A table, a legitimate and unmoving table, suddenly appeared in the center of the room. It bore a fine lacquer finish and a deep marbled tone, complete with upholstered chairs. The marble lines within the table whispered and darted along the surface, as if alive. It looked as though the furniture trapped the last dying breaths of smoke beneath a sheer white exterior. She marveled at it, as it could not exist in her world. Nothing compared to it.

How fascinating.

"Ooh, you can just... make stuff up and it appears here? Can I do that?" She sat eagerly, happy the chair wasn't slick with snow or unbearably cold. "Just imagine all the cute wardrobes I could make in here! Your friends would be super impressed!" Just thinking about it got her excited enough to squeak.

"But, um, the Dark Mirror Crew isn't all about making tables and stuff, are they? And nobody else is here, so I guess they're off doing stuff. Do you guys fight the Negaverse a lot? Like normal senshi do?" Leda hoped the answer was no. Though she hadn't been fighting for long, she was already tired of it and saw little poin in continuing a stalemate war. She wanted peace and harmony, she wanted a Destiny City that wasn't constantly under siege, she wanted to be normal again. However, none of these things were afforded to her by being a senshi.

I wonder if there's more to this place, she mused to herself. With all the mirrors around, I can't believe this is all that's behind them. Maybe there's a meeting room, and a hangout room, and probably a hospital bed or something here. "Isn't this your headquarters? If it is, it's awfully small... Shouldn't there be more to it than this?"

"Seriously?" Just thinking about an item and having it show up sounded way cool. Leda tried it herself, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow while she thought of a cup of hot coffee. No matter the amount of concentration she channeled into her efforts, nothing became of it. The table sat empty in front of her. How disappointing; turning the Mirrortopia into a free coffee shop that's never out of product would make an incredible idea. "Mmm... I don't think it works for me." She sighed. What a shame.

"So, you guys try to do something about this conflict without fighting people?" Why couldn't the White Moon Court do that? Not everything had to be settled with ceaseless fighting. "And, um, if the Negaverse are your allies..." Then that technically made the Dark Moon Camaraderie her enemy. But if all they wanted to do was achieve their goals without fighting, then why consider them an enemy at all? Were the senshi she knew really the enemies in this war? "What did the White Moon Court do wrong? Why do we need saving?" Was she fighting on the side of evil without even knowing it? Come to think of it, the news reports always classified them as terrorists...

Leda wasn't aware that planets were being destroyed in the name of the White Moon Court. And she most certainly hasn't blown up any planets lately, and she didn't pick fights that she had no business in, so what did she do wrong? It's not like she asked for this. She didn't wake up one morning and think that aiding and abetting the bad bad guys was a grand idea. "I'm sorry if I blew up any planets. If I did, it was an accident! I didn't mean to..." She sighed. Her apology was going nowhere.

And there were more important questions to ask.

"Well, um, not really. I mean, I got thi-..." She trailed off. It wasn't a good idea to mention the cellphones. "Err, I mean, someone told me that the Negaverse is evil and wants to turn everyone into mindless zombies, or... something... And the Dark Moon Carnival is part of it, or in league with them, so they're bad, but I don't think they ever mentioned why they're bad. You're pretty nice for a bad guy."

Then again, bad guys could pretend to be nice. This could all be an act. And the whole costume change... where did that come into play?

"Anyway, uh... That's all I really know. Other than that we need to stop the Negaverse. Did I not get it right?" Leda knew she shouldn't be asking the enemy that, but what's the harm in hearing their interpretation of events?