Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ashur sat down again once Hvergelmir began answering his question, and by the end he only managed a dumb sort of nod. Why he hadn't bothered to ask his ancestor less personal questions and more questions about the actual Wonder he didn't know. She just didn't seem the most...intelligent type, regardless of her polite speech or the grace with which she carried herself. But if she was truly a wealth of information, then he at least now had an idea of what to ask.

"Thanks," he said, "guess I'll be making a trip back sooner than I originally planned, then." Equipped with a list of questions he'd think up once he got home.

With that he settled back and grabbed another granola bar he'd swiped from the front table, eyeing the rest of the crowd. A few familiar faces were scattered about, all sources of comfort and reassurances but none that he chose to approach. He waved though, just to be polite, and stuck around (all the while munching on more granola bars) to see if any more useful information would get tossed around. He didn't have any more questions at the moment, but someone else might and it'd be a shame if he missed out because he wanted to cut out early.

He'd check out the plates that they mentioned later, on his way out more than likely.

Some others that Andronicus knew popped into existence. Ashur asked a question, one that made her chuckle and listen to the response. Oh yes yes, let's worry about some facet of a past life or ancestor on a dead planet out in the middle of space, when real people were dying off in the City because of stupid powered antics and a lack of paying attention.

A very specific Mars squire popped into existence and settled herself by an... Earth knight? One that made her eye twitch, and a light little growl in her throat. Clearly the woman had ignored her letter. Or decided not to respond. Or something. There could be a million different reasons, but really, how hard was it to send a small message back of "hey got your letter, s**t's been crazy, we'll talk soon, k?"

The Uranus squire donned her best customer service smile and walked over to sit near Themiscyra, though not super close. She gave a nod to both Mars knights, and the Earth squire beyond her, and turned her attention back to the meeting. She did, actually, have question she wanted to ask.

"So... how are ancestors still lingering about? I don't have one, I just get memories, but for those that do, how're they still wandering about the wonders?" Andronicus was genuinely curious about that. They couldn't have wanted to stay on a dead wonder, on a dead planet for a thousand years... could they? "Also... What do we gain from having the Academy back? Stronger magic? Actual weaponry? A leg up on Chaos? I dunno; seems like one of those corporate goal things that's so out of scope of achievable it's not worth it, but it's expected. Or a clever Sith diversion plot."

She looked directly at the Code on her last statement, and glared at it.

Ancestors happened to be Babylon's area of expertise (or one of them, anyway), so he was happy to take Andronicus's question. "Ancestors are bound to their wonders by the terms of their vigils," he explained. "If you have an Ancestor, their starseed is hidden and protected somewhere at your Wonder, and your Wonder's magic sustains their ability to appear to you. When the time is right, you'll be responsible for making sure their starseed is returned to the Space Cauldron."

The academy, however, was not something he felt particularly confident talking about. It was literally in the middle of the rift, a place Babylon had never been and, if he could help it, never wanted to go.

He glanced towards the Code, wondering if it might weigh in on this question - personally, he didn't see it as something worth pursuing right now, not when getting the knights organized as a faction and bringing in all their vulnerable corners was a much more pressing issue.

At least when she felt the call this time, Myth hadn’t been in the middle of anything that important. Closing her eyes, she powered up and allowed the call to envelop her and whisk her away to Olympus. Much like the first time she’d arrived, she saw plenty of seating and the Code floating in mid-air. However, this time, it wasn’t Mistral waiting for them in the center of the arena. Instead, it was two that she’d been introduced to previously. Expression brightening, she hurried to find an empty seat where she’d be certain of seeing and hearing them two. As she settled, she noticed others arriving and nodded to those nearest her before turning her full attention to the pair that was front and center.

And as Hvergelmir and Babylon took it in turn to speak, Nis found herself very glad indeed that she’d listened when the call came. The information about the Code by itself would have made the trip worthwhile! The antiquarian in her was positively thrilled by the idea of something magical that preserved the history of the group she found herself amidst. But when Babylon offered to talk about the rings and Wonders themselves. Nis could barely contain herself. Instead, she gave her feeling a vent by grinning broadly and leaning forward, wanting to catch every word.

Her attention shifted to Hvergelmir as that lady began to explain about Wonders. And as she listened, her mind wandered to the short glimpse she’d had of her own place. Before she’d freaked out and managed to bolt for home. A still, starry lake and a crystalline bridge that hurt to think about. And certainly the information about bloodlines was interesting, but didn’t feel quite right to her. Letting her mind wander as the rings were discussed, she let her brain focus on the glimpse she’d had of her Wonder. She still had to go back and find her ring. The little upgrade she’d been given demanded as much. Nis was so busy thinking about her ring that she nearly missed what Hvergelmir was saying about the other type of Knight. Blinking as she listened, she wondered which of the two she would ultimately end up being.

As the two traded topics like they were playing a game of verbal basketball, Nis simply soaked in the information. Talismans and Aspects were all very interesting but as she understood things, kind of useless to her unless she managed to survive to become a Squire. She had to restrain a hearty chuckle at the idea of having something like a patronus. And then that chuckle died as she was given a very clear demonstration of how a summons could work.

Any further desire to laugh was killed completely as the talk veered towards the Negaverse and Nis felt a familiar, sick drop in the pit of her stomach. Had this group been responsible for why he had never come home? She’d waited so long for him to come home and he hadn’t; filed all the proper reports and he’d never been found. If this Negaverse was responsible, she owed it one hell of a grudge.

Shaking herself out of her mood, Nis returned her attention to the meeting, listening to questions and answering flying back and forth. For now, she felt no need to ask any of her own. It was far more satisfying to listen at this point.

What happened to the Academy was, in scope, a broad question. It wasn't a bad question -- it was, in fact, fairly valid -- but it was a question with a disappointing answer, in Hvergelmir's opinion.

"A thousand years ago," she began, "when the galaxy was much more densely populated than it is today, it was home to two great kingdoms. The first was the kingdom of the Earth, where we still live. The second was the kingdom of the Moon -- a vast empire known as the Silver Millennium, which encompassed planets and stars ranging throughout the galaxy, ruled over by a woman named Queen Serenity. As with any great powers -- especially ones located so close to each other -- things were somewhat tense between the Earth and the Moon.

"Then, one day, the young prince from Earth and the princess from the Moon met and fell in love. This might've been a good sign for politics between them -- except that the prince was, at that time, already engaged to a sorceress named Beryl. As you can imagine, that wasn't an ideal situation.

"From what we know, Beryl was contacted by a great Chaotic being -- the ruler that Negaverse agents know as their Queen Metallia -- and she formed a pact with it, corrupting herself. It darkened her heart, convincing her that her unhappiness was the fault of the Moon kingdom, and that the entire empire of the Silver Millennium and all contact with it were dangerous: that Queen Serenity's goal was to annex Earth into her empire as well.

"She considered any friendly relations with the Moon kingdom's empire to be compromised and a threat to the safety and sovereign independence of the Earth -- and brought other knights and soldiers over to her cause that could be convinced to share her beliefs. She staged a coup, declaring Earth's royal family unfit to rule, and named herself Queen Beryl -- and in her great assault and takeover of Earth's capitol city, she targeted for destruction one of the greatest symbols of Earth's previously peaceful partnership with the Moon kingdom: the Academy where young knights were trained before going off to serve as protectors and partners on the many other worlds in the galaxy.

"Beryl's army sacked the capitol city and all those who lived there, claiming it for their own. The Academy was unprepared to defend itself against a unilateral assault -- and against an oncoming army, they had only a few knights who taught there, plus the children who had come there to be students. Those who fell in battle were turned into youma -- many of whom we still fight today, over and over. As far as we understand it, there's no longer a way to save them. And through Beryl's magic -- or Metallia's -- a great hole was torn in the fabric of the world, and the entirety of Earth's once-great capitol city was ripped out of space and spirited away to some dimension we no longer have access to. The Rift."

Hvergelmir sighed, taking a breath. "No knight, senshi, or Mauvian that we know of has ever been able to access the Rift. Olympus may not be our proper Academy, and it may not serve our needs as well -- but for now, it's all we have, and it does have one very great advantage: Olympus is not on Earth. As far as we know, Metallia and the Negaverse cannot see us, sense us, or attack us here." She fought for a mild, encouraging smile. "Our traditions may not be what they were before, but we have the power to find our own solutions that make the most sense for the lives we live now and the circumstances we live in. Meetings like this may not be the best solution, but . . . we thought at least it would be a good start. And if people come regularly, then at least we get to know each other better, outside of just mortal peril. We become a little bit more of a community. We share what we know, what we've heard, what we've learned."

She spread her arms out to encompass the room, the Coliseum. "This is our Academy now." Returning her hands together, she touched a fingertip to the top of her ring to call up the holographic interface of the new database Mistral had given them. "And this. And most of all," Hvergelmir lowered her hands again, surveying the room. "It's all of you. Most of the things we now know about what we are, who we are, and where we come from have come from people in this room. Things they've learned, remembered, asked, discovered. We have very few touchstones to our past -- and almost all of them are only accessible through our own effort. Very few things have been given to us outright . . . and some of them have been paid for at a very high price. But the more things we want each person to be able to know, the more things we need to be prepared to share, to tell -- to teach. There's no one else left to step up and do it. There's only us.

"So please -- each of you -- anything you learn, anything you see or hear . . . don't assume everyone else knows it. Add it to the database, bring it to a meeting like this one . . . or even just tell it to Babylon or me. Even the smallest detail helps us all."

Andronicus had a question Newgrange was somewhat reluctant to admit he was wondering; he wanted to know more about their Ancestors, if only because he hadn't had the faintest inkling what to do about his. When the other man seemed so hostile, it didn't seem as though he'd ever get the chance to actually speak to him and learn from him.

He heard Kairatos' voice and it seemed to shake him out of his stupor; he flashed a quick smile and extended his hand in response. He offered a quick, but firm shake. "No, I don't think we've met. I'm Newgrange, it's a pleasure."

And it was, certainly; he hadn't had the opportunity to meet many Knights and while he felt a bit inadequate standing next to the male, it was reassuring to know that they all weren't stumbling around blindly, trying to figure out what to do next.

He was still eavesdropping, though, trying to catch whatever snippets of conversation was going on about their ancestors. He smiled at Themiscyra. "I'd love that. I think I've been getting a little rusty, so if you want to help me stay on my toes, it'd be much appreciated. I'd love to catch up, too. It's been too long; I have no idea what you've been up to!"

He'd barely been listening to the thing at first, but it didn't take long for the words from the Code to actually catch his attention. The tone raised the hairs on the back of his neck, and the hint of accusation, the -way- it phrased things, and what it said... it was like having a millipede run down his spine. He'd heard that rhetoric before. He'd heard a lot of it before, and it gave him chills.

"...Tell me I'm not the only one who ******** heard that..." He growled, tightening his hands into fists. Something was wrong. Something was very. VERY wrong, and he'd never wanted to believe more that something was making him hallucinate.

He reached out to briefly touch Themiscara on the shoulder again like a touchstone, before edging forward, in the direction of Babylon and Hvergelmer, reaching up to put a hand to the oil jar pendant on his neck, as though he were seriously considering calling his summon here.

"You're implying awfully hard they can, there." He called out to The Code. And with that rhetoric, it was terrifyingly easy to imagine they could. Like that... that orb thing in the LOTR movies.

"And you're harping on a ******** of a lot about a princess who as far as we can tell isn't coming back. You wanna cry me a river there pal? Boohoo, my boyfriend broke up with me, and she's such a tramp right? So ******** the universe and everyone in it then? You want me to go send out for some Chocolate Brownie Icecream or something there, pal? Maybe a couple sappy flicks and some tissues for your hurt feelings?"

He bristled with challenge, waiting to see if he could annoy it into giving them more. Just... make it do something. Something that would give them more of a compass toward the problem.

"Look at the Knights around you," the Code commanded. "Look at the senshi. A thousand years ago everyone fell because of her. And yet, they have risen again. A gift from the cycle of cosmic rebirth. Are you so ignorant to think that you will never in your life face a problem like her again? What if she is already here, on Earth, walking amongst you? With a power that surpasses yours—all of yours. What if it is only a matter of time before she makes the same mistakes. What if it isn't just your past incarnations that felt the fallout of this war, but what if you get a fresh wave of it? That Princess created this war, do you understand that? If she had never interfered, maybe your homeworlds wouldn't be dead right now. The Negaverse wouldn't exist. Beryl never would have come into such evil power. And you—you—" the Code seethed at the Kairatos "—would reduce a valid concern to mockery?"

The mist was a convoluted, jolting mess.

"But by all means, if you're fine with a Princess of immeasurable power, cursed with the ignorance of youth and selfishness, go back to Earth and get your Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream. You're ignoring a very real threat. Has no one stopped to question when she'll show up? Because all of you are here, aren't you? Do you even have a plan or are you so focused on Chaos that you've forgotten there's a very real threat from her. The galaxy crumbled because of her. The universe crumbled. What do you think will happen to Earth now that it's nearly all that's left?"