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Aucbens pressed her lips shut tight. Remarque was right. He did have answers. And so did Leto. And she knew that they did. She knew their answers like the back of her hand. But how did she make Remarque understand that she wanted all of the first hand accounts? That she wanted as large a base of information to come from as possible. She may never be able to make him understand. And she had to accept that. Even if what Remarque had said was not true. Even if she had had their origins used against her before. Enough times for it to leave an impression on her. Even if she believed that even one person equating them to Ares was enough to ruin them. She could see now that there was no way to make Remarque see that.

She was about to open her mouth to apologize to him, if only to stop the fighting and her own panic, when another Dark Mirror that she did not know stepped forward.

And everything she was saying was exactly what was floating around Acubens’ mind at that moment.

It was like she was seeing into Acubens’ thoughts and pulling words right from there.

She smiled despite herself and whispered, “exactly.” Glancing at Remarque to see if maybe this new speaker could help him understand what Acubens was searching for.

This compact was starting to buzz like a chatroom lately. First a summons to the park (though that battle royale had been fun, truthfully), now another the next day. Sansuna had known that there had to have been other Dark Mirrors present considering Tegmine relaying orders for her to leave from someone or another, but admittedly she knew very few other DMCs. There was Remarque, Shaowei... Varda? She ticked off her fingers. She would've only really considered listening to a royal command, as far as she was aware there wasn't much of an chain of command otherwise.

A breeze caught the hem of her ethereal hakama, rolling slowly up her relaxed form to tease at her scarf as well. The clothing danced like twinkling stars in the wind, something the senshi had grown to enjoy watching lately as she discovered her penchant for sitting high on the edges of urban rooftops. It really was windy at that elevation, not that she really feared falling while empowered. With her increased physical capabilities she'd be more impressed if she did smack face-first into the pavement.

"Suppose it couldn't hurt to make more friends... or rivals," the redhead mused, standing on the ledge and dusting herself off.

The message had mentioned something about the warehouse district, right? She couldn't do that fancy mirrorwalking that she'd seen some of the other Dark Mirrors utilize, but who really needed teleportation when you were nearly as fast as your namesake? Grinning in pure wild joy, Sansuna extended her arms to her sides and let gravity take her over the edge of the skyscraper. One of her new favorite rushes as the wind whipped her long crimson locks into a writhing frenzy, her scarf tail desperately chasing her as she fell.

She allowed herself a few moments more of freefall before the senshi came near the relative level of the other rooftops in the city. Stretching her legs slightly, Sansuna immediately began sprinting as her feet made contact with the side of the building. Step, step, leap! She coiled and launched out into the thin air over the street below, easily clearing the gap and rolling onto the rooftop across the way... then she was gone, a blurred shadow flitting toward the warehouse district and the supposed meeting.

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At the meeting, the senshi of Raiju had seated herself relatively close to the center (seemed many others were content to be wallflowers), idly twirling her horned diadem around an extended finger while drawn up on a convenient crate. She'd been right, she recognized almost no one present aside from Remarque and Shaowei. Oh, and the guy who'd ordered her to run not twenty-four hours prior. What seemed interesting though was how the center of the storm seemed to be this Acubens person. Face Mitt from the previous day was standing near her alongside some others, seemingly defending this woman in front of Remarque.

The royal Dark Mirror seemed like he was working to restrain many more choice words than he actually said aloud, but from what Sansuna could garner the other court members present at the battle had been attacked by a very powerful Order senshi... and been defended by Acubens. Hoooo boy. Making friends just to find information at the cost of current friends? Must've been juicy tidbits indeed. She was glad she'd ignored the "orders" then if they'd come from this chick.

Surprisingly, Shaowei had spoken up in the discourse. She highlighted the upsides to both knowing one's origins, which Remarque had offered, and knowing where said origins placed their court in the mind of others. This was the first Sansuna was hearing of the Blood Moon Court, but it sounded like the Britain to their America: ancient history. A tyrant, dead and gone. Sansuna lived for the now, this Blood Moon hadn't granted her powers. Mirrorspace had, and that's what she was concerned with.

"If we have people here with the same info," the senshi mused aloud, turning her tiara in her hands before tapping it against her knee and looking up, "why would you want to make friends with an anime addict with anger issues? Sounds like I missed a fun time over in that part of the park."

Sansuna smiled at Shaowei and her much more diplomatic, reserved ways.

"Isn't knowing where you stand with someone as easy as asking? Treating them as hostile until proven otherwise? I may not have been here long, but seems to have worked out well so far considering just how much anyone with powers seems to be obsessed with posturing and alliances and subterfuge. People here haven't attacked me and have offered help. I don't know if it furthers their agenda, but I at least don't view you all as enemies."

Her fiery gaze fell across the others in the center as she rested her chin on both fists, extending a pointer finger with a small smile.

"I'd view those who attack me without provocation, and those who help them, as enemies."

The irony of her self-introductions to Sailor Athalia wasn't lost on her, considering she'd attacked him without said provocation more than once. That was fine though, Herc could take the hit. It was more a friendly cross-faction rivalry with a lot of bruising and hitting involved, that was all.

"I'm with Butt Wings," Sansuna added, jabbing a thumb at Remarque. "Why dredge up ancient history, find its dusty shackles and clamp them on willingly?"

Remarque had little time to appreciate that Sansuna understood the importance of separating the past with the present before Tegmine was speaking up.

His eyes slowly slid to Tegmine, and it was with remarkable reserve that he did not say what was actually on his mind. He knew how Acubens had despaired to leave her life behind when she joined the Court. He knew how important it was to her to be on good terms with her brother.

Despite his concern for Acubens’ decision, he had trusted her. As far as he was concerned, this was between them. She’d chosen to make this a public affair, and he could have stayed quiet and just had a private conversation afterwards.

But, he wasn’t upset that she had made a mistake by entering the battle. He didn’t think she needed to beat herself up for that. He was upset only because he doubted she had considered declaring herself a friend or ally to a member of the Blood Moon Court in public, with enemies surrounding them on both sides.

He kept his lips pursed for a few seconds.

He did not tell Tegmine that it was cute how he jumped to defend the sister who abandoned him for the Court years before she’d even known her brother could join.

It was charming that he was questioning Remarque about keeping quiet about the Blood Moon Court when it was his sister who was obsessed with being connected to them.

“We aren’t talking about the same thing, no,” he agreed. “Acubens thinks she failed by not protecting everyone in battle. Battles are unpredictable. I don’t think she needs to be upset that she couldn’t control the tides of battle.”

He regarded him quietly, because there was so much he could say.

But, Remarque wasn’t here to create a divide in the Dark Mirror Court. He wasn’t here to publicly shame anyone, and he wasn’t going to drag Tegmine down just because he was trying to protect his sister.

After she invited everyone here to witness her bare the burden of guilt.

“I’ll say it again, just to make sure we’re clear: We are not, nor have we ever been, the Blood Moon Court. Ares was in a group before the Dark Mirror Court. She was kicked out. That’s where our connection with them ends. Unless you count Leto.”

Who Acubens did idolize.

“There’s nothing special about the Blood Moon Court. So far as I know, they’ve all disbanded. Or killed each other. Except for Scylla, apparently. I’m not telling Acubens--or any of you--not to seek out information. I’m telling you that you shouldn’t be sacrificing the well-being of the Court to do so. You have to understand that when you publicly declare yourself an ally of someone who tortured and murdered another human being--you might make enemies. On both sides. I’m saying be smart about things. That’s all. We don't have the numbers the Negaverse does--or anyone else. So we have to be careful. I'll get you the information I have. But don't demean me by saying Ares is a trigger. This isn't about her. This is about us being blamed for her choices. If you try to walk in her footsteps, it doesn't just affect one of us, it affects all of us."

Hydrus

Meeting in the warehouse, I want to talk about the fight

He sighed. Of course she did. Hydrus pushed up from the chair he'd been sitting in - you know, at home like a normal person - and poked his head out the door to inform the rest of his housemates he needed to go do a thing and he'd bring food with him on the way back. With that, he stepped into the mirror in the corner of the room and reappeared elsewhere.

He arrived quietly, as he did everything, and kept to the outer edges of the circle. Acubens and Remarque went into it and he was content to simply drink tea and listen. Hydrus knew bits and pieces of the Dark Mirror's history, but he'd come into it long after Ares went missing and Rem took over the court as leader. Through dealing with Pandora's Box for Mintaka, he knew that there were some parts of Mirrorspace and their control over it that hadn't been fully theirs until they'd ventured into it's depths. But, the court wasn't Ares' anymore. Honestly, in Hydrus' opinion, it never had been. Why pledge yourself to a royal that doesn't exist?

He sipped his tea and pushed off of his wall to draw closer, on the side of Rem.

"There is something to be said for learning exactly who our enemies are. Scylla, the agents the Blood Moon Court tortured, as a start. I've been here long enough to know that the Negaverse doesn't like us anymore than the White Moon does. The least we can do is not get each other killed over it. Our plan for the park was to watch and protect each other. Scylla attacked us for something none of us have even memory of, least of all experience or relation to. Except for the colors we wear," he said, voice starting to strain under the buildign desire to raise his voice. He looked at Acubens and leveled a stare.

"Acubens, I really don't care if Scylla is your adoptive sister or mother or idol, or what ever the ********. She attacked us. Shards, she triggered my damn hydrophobia so badly the only thing I could think was to retaliate. I get you wanting to protect your own, but take sometime to figure out who your own actually is. Or I will not be so forgiving next time," he said, before stepping forward, and offering her a cup of tea he pulled out of his subspace pocket, still hot.

That was about the most of an 'I Forgive you' Acubens was going to get, honestly.

So basically the attack had happened due to a White Moon remembering the Blood Moon and Acubens had been more concerned about keeping the White Moon safe than what happened to the DMS in the moment. She couldn't help but let out a large sigh. She had never really been interested in the origins of the Dark Mirror, though with information such as this she was starting to wonder if she had been missing something.

She supposed if she needed that information she could always talk to Remarque about it. It appeared that he would be willing to write a book on how much information he knew.

She decided to speak up, even if what she said wouldn't be contributing to anything. "Sounds like a lot of things were going on at once and Acuben's brain was attempting to peace-keep." She got up from the wall she was leaning on but kept her arms crossed. "I don't think we're going to be able to make friends with everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if... Scylla? Wouldn't hesitate to start a fight with me if she saw me, but if it was Acubens she would be more willing to talk. I believe it's just going to be like some of that with our members. I've heard of White Moon attacking us on sight and others willing to just have a conversation."

Where was she going with this again? She started to feel like she was rambling. "I think the main point here is we should think of our own first and any potential allies second. I agree with uh... Sorry, don't know what your name is, but I agree with you." She said pointing to Shaowei. "If we look like we're helping one group more than the other, it will look like we're taking sides." She shook her head, moving her hands from the crossed position and putting one on her hip instead. "This time was a mistake and from everything that's been described, no one on our side was seriously hurt. I can't say what happened to the others of course, but one attack from a Senshi didn't appear to seriously harm any of our members, though that is more likely in a physical sense.

"Let's just say that we're all going to put the Dark Mirror first. Any information that we may need individually should be done by those individual members as long as they aren't going to hurt the court. And if they believe that something could happen as a result, that they go to someone like Remarque, etc. to tell them about it and figure out their next strategy." She had repeated some of what had been said already, she was not a professional speaker after all, but she wanted to emphasize what they had said. She agreed with them, and it needed to be repeated. Dark Mirror first. Period.

There was soooo much drama going on, between multiple parties, and a lot of arguing, too. Was this what Tsukuyomi had been called for to attend? Staying at work would have been a much better idea. Words were being thrown around about things she knew nothing about, as new to the Court as she was. So Scylla- the tentacle wielding senshi- had a grudge, bad blood, whatever, against the group that was the precursor to the Dark Mirrors, if she was understanding things correctly. What a headache, Tsukuyomi thought, though she was no stranger to the art of holding grudges and being resentful years after the fact. Didn’t mean she forgave Scylla or anything, didn’t mean she felt any less annoyance to Acubens declaring the Order eternal to be a friend, but it gave context, at least.

That much, she could respect. Though she still didn’t like Acubens.

Naturally, as a newcomer, Tsukuyomi didn’t know anything about Ares or the Blood Moon Court, and honestly, if she was gone, then why was there any point in learning about it? Some of the others present seemed to have varying opinions on the matter, whether in agreeance of the topic at hand or not; Tsukuyomi preferred to stay silent, to let everyone else argue it out, and also so she had an easy out once she had enough of listening to this wannabe debate club going on.

Which, honestly, would probably be soon, especially with the arrival of more Dark Mirrors to the meeting, some of whom were hanging around towards the back exit like she was. Last thing she wanted was to be drawn into a conversation she didn’t want to have, after all. She didn’t even want to talk about the fight the other day in the first place, because, once again, she had just been casually observing until everyone else showed up.

Tegmine was already painfully aware of everything Remarque could say. He laid awake every night and replayed in his mind over and over the last time he'd seen his sister as Micah. How she left him, kissed him goodnight, and didn't give her usual parting "be back soon." It should have been telling, but Misha had ignored it. It gnawed at him that Micah had chosen the court over him. That she had chosen Remarque over him. It poisoned his blood and made it hard for him to breathe sometimes. And so as Remarque leveled his gaze at Tegmine, Tegmine stood and dared -- no he begged Remarque to say what he wanted to say. Say what he wanted and hurt Acubens the way she had hurt him.

The thought lashed back at him and he looked away, grappling with his fury and toxic thoughts. He took it out on the angry senshi before them.

"Careful you don't cut yourself on all that edge, sweetheart," he hissed.

Acubens pressed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes as the men she loved most in this world bickered like children. And then Tegmine started a fight somewhere else. She elbowed Tegmine sharply in the ribs, causing her twin to cough and recoil on himself.

"Stop bickering," she hissed. The senshi who branded her a traitor, and rightfully so, reminded her of Laverna. It was best she didn't engage with that one. Ever. If she branded everyone an enemy, then she'd be looking for failure in everyone. Anyone she came across would eventually become her enemy, and Acubens didn't particularly want to waste her breath.

"I don't need pity. That's not what I'm here for. I didn't require anyone to be here. I asked the Dark Mirror Senshi who were at the battle to come if they wanted to know what happened and why I did it. I wanted... I wanted to clear my name, I suppose. the only way that I can see to clear my name is to allow the people that I wronged to air their grievances against me and promise them that it won't happen again. I didn't make this mandatory, and it's not the place to have these conversations.

"Contrary to what Remarque and Tegmien think, I didn't come here to martyr myself. I came here to allow those I wronged to tell me, in plain language, how they feel."

She turned then to Remarque.

"I'm sorry about Tegmine. I should have told him about the Blood Moon Court earlier but I was... scared. Scared he'd want to leave our court. Leave me. if he knew where we came from. That goes against everything I believe about transparency, but there we have it.

You know where my allegiance lies. You know who my family is. You know that I would... have nearly... died for this court. It was never my intention to endanger it nor anyone in it. It won't happen again. I swear on my life." She looked at Shaowei and Hydrus then. "And I'll do anything to earn back to trust of my court."

She took the tea and raised it to her lips. Her stomach was roiling, but the drink did soothe it somewhat. To return the gesture, she reached into her own pocket and withdrew a tightly wrapped scone. Her own version of thanks.

When Mithra spoke, she smiled but answered, "you give me too much credit. I was trying to peace-keep, yes, but to stay in Scylla's good graces so that I could learn more from her. I lost track of what's really important in my search to knowledge. And you're all right. You should always come first. And you always will, from this moment on."

Rana had long since scampered away from the bickering Senshi. She'd only ever seen Acubens in good spirits. This was... upsetting. She could hear Logos following behind her, ever her watchful babysitter, even if the word chafed the young woman. She had to get away from the heated discussion though. It was all getting to be too much, and she had a lot to think about.

"Hi," she whispered, settling in against the wall with the green senshi. "I'm Rana. Were you at the battle?"

He hadn't been involved in the battle but when he'd heard Acubens on the communicator he'd decided it was worh going to this meeting, just so he knew about this battle and whatever had happened.

It also helped that he needed the break from work and the boost in the feels, he was feeling really down tonight. Work had not been good, as if it ever was. At least Acubens understood. It was why when he did arrive he went right to her and laid his forhead right onto her shoulder, she'd figure it out no doubt. "I think I'd like to know everything that's happened inthe past as well." It would give him something to read and he didn't mind that.

"I really need a better job." The words mumbled for Acubens to hear, as well as anyone too close to them both.

Raising his voice he lifted his head from the senshi of raptors shoulder. "I could think of some people I wouldn't mind seeing trapped in a mirror..." Wouldn't it be interested if they could trap people into mirrors and leave them there? Just a thought which had come to him and he decided to say it, cause why not?