Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oh wow - well, at least Haldane was pretty good with putting things together and engineering so if he survived the traps and stuff he could maybe be useful right? Oh man, Bell would kill him if he died out here. The least he could do would be to not make it a stupid death.

All that aside, Haldane then seemed to realize that - oh yeah! He didn't know anyone here - did he? And if he didn't know them, they didn't know him! Oh but now it kind of seemed weird to just suddenly introduce himself. Oh. Oh there it was. The awkwardness. Well, he could do what he did best and sit there looking dumb but pretty.

Lucien - Cat Form
Lucien wriggled a bit when he was picked up, but it wasn’t in distress. Simply making sure his weight was more comfortably adjusted. Although with a couple huffs from strain, he couldn’t help the thought that crossed his mind that he was getting old.

“If it will clear me of suspicion, I was working on a project with Soleiyu,” he explained, puffing his chest out proudly. He was always pleased to be able to assist, especially if it meant he had a chance to learn more about Earthen technology.

Ephesus, Knight of the Moon
Relieved that it was just Lucien, Ephesus of course reached out to pet him once he was lifted up by Amarynthos, taking the bump against his hip as an invitation to move closer.

“Please don’t tell my dads,” he winced guiltily. He and Amarynthos were Knights, after all! They could handle things! And if Mary ended up getting hurt, Effie would just use his healing magic on him. It was nothing to pull Michael or Devyn into. He hoped.

Others were gathering, and while Ephesus was perfectly content with hiding beside Amarynthos, he did perk up a little at the sight of Urania.

He wasn’t sure if she saw him, or if she even remembered him, even though he and Alastor had helped with her world on more than one occasion, he still lifted his hand to give her a little wave.

It was interesting hearing about the steamwork, but he immediately shrunk back against Amarynthos when it was suggested everyone split up.

“Um… would you like to go with me?” he asked both Knight and Mauvian. He didn’t expect them to not want to, but he wanted to make sure they knew he would rather not leave their sides.

“What’s… um… an automaton?” he asked quietly, but wasn’t sure if the squeak in his voice limited the words to just the two beside him. He felt his cheeks flush a bit, knowing it was probably a stupid question. Still, whatever it was, it sounded dangerous.

And, of course, if he would have kept his mouth shut for a few more moments, another somewhat familiar Senshi (Solaris) would take a guess that it was some kind of robot.

Oh… that made sense…

“I don’t know if I’m very good at puzzles. Um… traps sound scary…” He wasn’t regretting going there (yet), but he hoped he wouldn’t cause more trouble than help.

Amarynthos, Knight of the Moon

A smile tugged at Amarynthos’ lips while he considered if Lucien’s explanation would clear him of suspicion. He and Soleiyu seemed to have a lot of projects they were working on, so it was a likely answer just as much as it was a likely excuse. Lucien was clever enough to lie to them if he put his heart into it, and Mauvians didn’t have the same tells as people did, either.

He made sure Lucien was comfortable in his arms and didn’t seem to want to put him down.”Of course I want to go with you. We’re all here together, we might as well stick close.”

Besides, when Sessrumnir and Alastor inevitably found out, they’d be less mad if they knew the three had stuck together.

He didn’t think any of Ephesus’ questions were silly, and his idea of an automaton might have been different from the relics of some ancient senshi world.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be a good team. I love puzzles. And Lucien’s very good at them,” he reassured. Solaris and Urania both had good questions and he was eager to hear the answer. As much as he didn’t want to overload Asmodeus with questions, he couldn’t help but add his own.

“Hi, Amarynthos,” he introduced quickly, “For those traps–is there anything you can give us a heads up to look out for?” He resisted the urge to ask if she was talking about darts from the walls’ or ‘bottomless pits’ because he didn’t want to scare Ephesus, but he did want to make sure they were going into this as safely as possible.

…Just in case Lucien was secretly preparing a report card to deliver Alastor and Sessrumnir.

Mauvian Brioche - Cat Form

So many things caused Brioche anxiety, but having someone slowly soothe them away made it all feel like background noise rather than the loud shouting and ringing in his ears.

How blessed he was to have such a sweet lad as his very own! And for once,he would not push away his own anxieties, but allow them to settle in that cozy sense of security with Chang'E.

"Yes... Please. So many others, no need to interact with kin...I am fine, though." He looked towards where this Aruna senshi was, and nodded along. "Very pleasant. If she like cafe, and you like them, then maybe I like them too. Will do best, yes." Satisfied with their little conversation, Brioche peeked out a bit more, looking here and there and everywhere to see what exactly these monstrosities were. Ultimately... Old tech that seemed harmless enough, but from what others were saying, they certainly were in for a fight.

As Chang'E leaned on him, he leaned right back, giving a soft purr and a light touch of his nose to his Senshi's cheek. "I like this plan, yes! Stay safe, no hurts... And delicious bread later! I am hoping though for you that memories come. Still all muddled and foggy they are, yes? I am hoping we find answers, and I am hoping we can help. The less chaos, the better... And maybe, by helping this little one here, we help you too. We find a way to help home."

Hati listened to Asmodeus carefully, though he already knew this information. There was never anything wrong with a quick review of what you knew, to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Slip properly back into the stoic person he presented to the world at large, when he wasn't alone with his sister or his girlfriend. He wanted very much to kiss her again, but he needed to hold himself back. Asmodeus was leading them now, deep inside her planet. He didn't need to distract her.

He did give her an encouraging look, a tiny smile flitting over his face, as she started to tell her plan. Two teams, huh? He didn't want to be separated from her, but as the only other person here who knew anything about where they'd be going, who was familiar with the landscapes presented, the machinery... She'd probably send him to help the second team. It would only make sense. He reminded himself that Asmo could handle herself; after all, she was Eternal, now, and he was still stuck at Super. This simple fact really cramped his desire to protect her, but... Watching her conquer in a fight was also very nice.

He brushed some hair from his face and exhaled slowly. She could do this. He could do this. He would help her fix her planet and spur her into being the greatest Senshi she could be. If it meant she went even further ahead of him, well, good for her. He would have to suck it up. He wanted greater things for her than himself.

The questions seemed to be dying down, and truthfully, Asmodeus wasn't exactly excited to stand around and wait for much longer.

It had taken so much time to get here. So much work. And now they were so close...

"Okay, I think we're ready to go," she said. "I'll be taking the group to the north. Hati, go with the group to the south. If we need to alert each other, Hati and I have each other registered."

Hopefully they wouldn't need it, but it was good to at least have that precaution.

She turned, and headed towards the door to the north, behind which there could be heard some faint sounds of clanking.

The door to the south, however, seemed almost eerily quiet....

Procyon Super DSS of Liminality

Much of what Asmodeus said went over his head, talks of automatons and machinery that he wasn't really sure if existed on his world. Maybe beneath the waves, down in the vault, but it had been a thousand years since he'd been on the other side of that sealed part of his world. Just thinking about it brought that phantom pain back, itching against where his prosthetic touched his skin.

Shaking it off as he listened to the plan, loose as it was, he was sure he could manage to help at least with any puzzles. Punching things or stopping whatever automatons were might be a bit difficult but he'd try his best just as he had when he'd helped Urania, Daedalus, and Fang. It was good to see at least one of them here, asking the important questions.

Part of him wished he'd started trying to make sense of all this technology and infrastructure since Earth seemed to be full of it as well. But he never really could wrap his head around things like that or the complicated thing called math outside of what he needed to crochet and sew things for people. Even then he sometimes lost count of stitches and things would end up too small or too large.

Although the path Asmodeus was going down sounded like it had more of the automatons up front, he wanted to keep close and try and learn more about this senshi as well as this world. Part of him wondered if they'd ever come to his planet in the past, it was always likely, but with how many people he had seen and interacted with it was hard to get a feel for who he knew and didn't know.

"I'll go with you, Asmodeus, it's very nice to meet you." Offering a polite little nod, he cleared the last bit of space before following the other Senshi along and down the louder of the two paths. Making sure he had his Senshi phone at the ready, he would let Illyria know about things if anything came up. It would be fine, he was pretty sure of that.



----------------------------------------------------------

Chillingham Page of Saturn

Nodding excitedly as she listened to the names being listed off, she waved in turn to each of the new friends she hoped to make. The only problem came when Tianyi listed out the longest name and she found herself stumbling over how to pronounce it. "Ah... cripes... can I call you Muri?" Looking over at the apparently experienced and very frilly-looking senshi. She was in awe over all the gorgeous patterns on their clothing but caught herself as she heard the path they'd be taking was the quieter of the two.

That would probably be for the best if she was really thinking about it, automatons were kinda sturdy and she doubted hitting them with her pail would work. The last thing she needed was to break her hand punching something because then she couldn't play guitar and she doubted Freddy would let her have magical adventures anymore. And she did not want that to happen.

As it stood she figured he wouldn't enjoy the fact she went up to space without warning him tonight. But if she stayed safe then she could just say it was an uneventful night and that she made new magical friends! That would hopefully help him stress less since she was trying to not get a hand in her chest again, not that she told him, or would ever tell him, that such a thing had happened.

"It's really nice to meetcha so do we just carry on now down that path?" Looking at the rest of the group, she was sure she'd learn more as they went down this super cool space magic escape room?