Chione, though now she was stronger than she had been before, suddenly felt as though she had utterly no idea what she was doing. With all of this new information, the discovery of this…Taran fellow…it almost felt as though the world had been turned upside down, and she wasn’t really a fan of the feeling. The idea of being…harvested was an utterly sickening one, was the thought of turning to crystal…thought he was right, it was already happening.
The teal streaks down the backs of her legs were proof enough of that.
…she was a little dismayed that he mentioned the fact that the food had been poisoned. People had been shouting about that since they first had the tasteless rocks placed in front of them…but were they expected to have just starved to death while maintaining their pride?
…And some among them had told her all about Earth…was…everything to be taken away from them now?
Quietly Chione took a step back, not wanting to get in the way of those who were brave enough…and had voice enough to ask questions…she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to be able to actually form coherent words.
Sinope had gone as long as he could without having eaten the crystals, which meant anything since there had been nothing else to eat. However, once coppery-colored crystals had begun to grow on him as well as the rest of his court members, he decided it didn't matter. He had already become so weak that even if consuming the crystals sped up the crystal sickness, it would have been preferable to perishing from starvation. With this logic in mind, he forced the nutrients into his body until he had finally recovered enough to assist in the investigation of a way out. He knew others had been searching from the start, but with crystals creeping up on their very complexions, the mission became more urgent than ever and they needed all the people they could working on it.
At last it seemed their efforts had bore fruit. A strange door had been found and their court had been gathered once more to explore what secrets it might have guarded. What they discovered, however, was not promising. Prison cells? Runes? A new energy signature? It was like some cliche horror novel. It seemed like all those of the Dark Mirror who had been cautious and mistrustful had been right to be so after all. Sinope felt it was only natural for them, though, what with them being the smallest faction and never knowing who were their allies and who were their enemies. Perhaps the experience would teach the more trusting ones not to so easily hand over the benefit of the doubt to strangers in the future - if they survived to have a future where they could make those kind of choices.
The discovery of the man who was evidently Taran, the once-betrothed of Altea, just served to cement all prior suspicions. Sure, he could have been lying, too, but how much worse a situation could they get into by believing him? They were already turning to crystal. If he ended up betraying them too, they could cross that bridge when they came to it. For now they could use him and he could use them toward their common goal, which was to escape Solamnia. He didn't at all like the idea of what Taran seemed certain was going to happen to them if Altea got her way.
When Sadalsuud came over to stand by him, despite their grim situation and the tenseness of the atmosphere, he couldn't help but smile a little. It was more comforting than he would have thought to have her familiar presence close by whenever they faced trials like these and he wondered if he was slowly growing accustomed to it.
litian
((Backfilled and edited to acknowledge Sadal next to him~ heart))
Kitomyx
Questionable Loiterer
Offline
Kapoodles
Battle-ready Waffles
Offline
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 9:19 am
Eternal Sailor Avior
The information that Ptolemaeus provided, about the prisoner's place in Altea's life caused him to raise an eyebrow in question... And the more the man spoke, he more he thought about piecing things together...
So far, everything he had said had proved plausible. The fact that the servants couldn't speak but were 'alive'. The fact that Altea herself seemed to be the only one unaffected by all of this... Hell, even the crystals on their skins that were slowly overtaking them worked so well under the man's story...
Then came the fact that he stated she would destroy THEIR world once she had overtaken them, and a small bit of fear started to well up in his chest. Had they told her about Earth? He knew he only told the woman about their group, not their home, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. He couldn't exactly say he knew what people had told Altea about their planet, but he would admit... Some of them were right in assuming that she was no all she seemed... No one ever was, and quite frankly, he was growing tired of it... Tired of the betrayal and the pain and the thought that no one was to be trusted.
Maybe it had been wrong to return to Destiny City.
And yet his gaze turned to the small group of friends he had made, and the other soldiers who stood by eachother's side, and despite his hesitations, He didn't want anyone to disappear...
"... I want to save our us. Our home. You as well if there's anything we can do... But I don't think she will hurt you even more than she has. You ARE, or were, her fiance, and you haven't been turned to crystal completely like the others have, so she must still have affection for you... Most likely thinking that maybe she'd change you mind, or that you'll give into your torment in favor of being by her side..." Avior didn't want to consider leaving the man behind, but it seemed like out of all of them, he was probably the safest.
"You did say you could help, though... Do you know a different way to get our strength back, to atleast halt the crysal's process so that if we must fight her to be free, half our numbers won't be half dead on their feet? If we can find a way to get us atleast back to a stable condition before the queen notices, then we could take that as a sign of good health. There should be time, shouldn't there... Unless these runes on the wall are her alarm system and we've already been caught."
Kitomyx
The Space Cauldron
Leopleuradon
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 10:58 am
Sailor Kiuchi
Shuffling closer to Acubens, she was safety right now, he listened to what the man had to say. As much as he wanted to trust the female, the Queen, it did make sense. How else would he know about what was happening to them? Why would her fiance be here - in a dungeon? As much as he had trusted her - had continued to...he couldn't.
"We need to get him free." He whispered to Acubens.
She wouldn't use them for energy, none of them here, they were strong enough she would keep them mindless, worldness, slaves to her. Hadn't he bowed down to his mother enough growing up? Bowed down to her wife and to their friends? He'd done enough of that already and he'd left that, he'd run from it, as soon as he could. He wouldn't fall further than he had been under the roof of those two - never.
"I think....I think we need to free you and take you with us. Maybe to our home - we can't get to your home." And he didn't think the other could take them with him, he didn't seem strong enough for transporting so many people. The problem was that they themselves couldn't travel in space - they needed a mirror and so many didn't respond here. Couldn't they find one though? Had anyone seen one? He wanted to ask but his thoughts were moving too fast, starting to crash into each other as he felt betrayal fill him. He had trusted her....and he'd done so wrongly.
"We can't risk her living..." He whispered, he voice loud enough to carry to everyone. "We spoke too much..." He knew he had but he had trusted her, why would he not? He wouldn't point fingers, that might upset some and cause conflict which they couldn't afford. He would generalize for safety right now, to keep people from being hurt.
Reaching out he gripped Acubens uniform and held tight to it with one hand. "I-if we have to fight...I can. I know my magic can help." But against her servants he really wasn't sure, it sounded like they were animated crystals and thus his magic might not work on them at all. But on her....on her he was sure it would work. "You were right you know." He whispered for only Acubens to hear him. She had been right to not trust their host....he had made a mistake and he felt guilt for it.
The Space Cauldron
Sweenys_Revenge
(Plus anyone else who wants to hear him saying that they need to kill the Queen.)
Looking back on there time here it all did seem rather foolish. To think this wasn't some sort of trap, what if the Queen was the cause of all their problems in Mirrorspace recently? She could have caused it all to have a good excuse for pulling them into their world. A part of him had been worried about this the second those crystals were placed in front of him. The servants had always been a cause for concern as well, they were just too odd to ignore. But, he couldn't very well just starve to death without trying to puzzle everything out.
When Taran brought up their own world, his heart sank quite a bit. He didn't recall who had said it, but he remembered them talking about Earth. The Queen had asked if it was anywhere near the Silver Millennium. While he didn't know what that meant at all, he was definitely concerned that she had at least a close enough idea about where they were, to find their home. Had they all unintentionally doomed their own world?
Could they really trust him though? For all they knew, this was a tarp set by the Queen. Did they really have a choice though? The man looked desperate and that was pretty hard to fake to this extent. The chains they could handle, but did anyone have a way to break the crystals holding him to the wall? Could they do it without damaging him?
His attention was drawn to Kicuhi, it had been hard to make out. His brother was always on the quiet side, but he didn't miss it. "He's right. This can't just be an escape mission anymore. What if we do leave? Is there any guarantee we'll go back to normal? The Queen has to be dealt with....And hopefully Taran can help us with that." He looked down at the man that was trapped against the wall. "Anyone got any ideas?" His own magic was quite useless in this situation. In fact, it would only make those close to him feel worse. Hopefully some of the stronger people in the Court would have some idea, he glanced toward Remarque. Their Prince had been fairly silent on the matter, but Crocus still trust him, and Leto for that matter, to guide them down the right path.
Kapoodles
Sleet Tempest Slate
Sweenys_Revenge
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:56 am
Taran's words almost made Acubens groan out loud. She was caught somewhere between childish celebration that she had been right and blind, searing fury at the people who had stupidly told Altea <******** everything about earth. Those who were high and mighty on their horses preaching about share and share alike. How can we expect anyone to help us if we keep silent? Well this is what loose lips did. Anger raged and pounded against her rib cage, desperate to get out. Desperate to wreak her proud vengeance on those who had scolded her like a child for her caution.
But Remarque's cool presence by herside helped ease her fire. She glanced at him as he spoke and she nodded. She would follow Leto into war, that much was true. But she would follow Remarque's lead if it meant avoiding a fight. So she stamped out the fire burning her nerve endings and settled back into her own skin. The court meant more, in the end, than her own stupid pride. But she couldn't resist a very small proclamaition of , "we were right about her... in the end..." But there was not joy, no triumph in her voice. It was in that moment that Acubens realized that she had wanted to be wrong about this whole thing. She had wanted to queen to be on their side.
Chione stepping back and Kiuchi coming to her side caught her attention and saving her from her own spiraling mind. Her arm curled protectively around Kiuchi almost automatically as she clung to her, the uncertainty of the situation causing him to flee to safe harbor. She turned to Chione, reaching back with her flesh hand to comfort her as well.
"Are you alright, love," she asked softly. It was a dumb question... of course she wasn't alright. None of them were. She winced at her idiocy and forced herself to smile. "Look, sweetie. If the negeverse hasn't taken over earth, then this b***h won't either. They're on earth for god's sake, hidden beneath the surface, I heard. This b***h is a million light years away and were in her house so we can ******** literally all of the s**t up. We got this, honey." To Acubens, the words were true. She felt them in her bones. she only hoped that she could convey them to Chione.
Orangeish Sherbert
Sleet Tempest Snape
Kyuseisha no Hikari
Sweenys_Revenge
Dangerous Lover
Offline
SSBrosB
Springtime Noob
Offline
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:46 pm
Basic Senshi Mithra
Mithra couldn't do much as the other's talked to the man, though she did listen as well as she could. Looking at a few of the other's faces, she was glad she wasn't the only one who was angry. And with her being furious, her sarcasm came out loud and clear. "Well, glad to know that we pretty much told Altea everything where we came from right? I mean why is it ever a bad idea to just spill everything about ourselves to a new person? Shouldn't we have given her our specific addresses and everything else about ourselves too? I mean come on, we could have given her more right?" She vented out to no one in particular.
She didn't care if some of her team would be mad at her. They were the ones who had been stupid enough to put a nice target on themselves as they just blabbed on and on about who, what, and where they were from to someone they had JUST met who didn't actually save them from anything! And the fact that she just screamed EVIL. As much as she liked her fellow Dark Mirror, she was beginning to remember why she hated being on teams so much. Too many naive people who tended to put everyone else in danger.
However, she knew that some of the anger from all of this was the fact that she had been unable to do anything about this. She should have just punched Altea in the face from the beginning, but hindsight was always 20/20. Perhaps after this she would take a bit of a break from powering up for a bit. She knew she had a temper problem and it would just be worse if she had to be reminded of all of this.
Quote:
Mithra is open for interaction! Though I wouldn't be surprised if others wanted to punch her in the face XD
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 3:02 pm
SSBrosB
The outburst from across the room caused Acubens' tight lips to c**k into a small smile. Even though she was not the one to say anything, the fact that someone had took some of the pressure off. It was... refreshing. Amusing even. She actually laughed. It was a small sound from her nose, but it was there. And it lightened her.
"As refreshing as your sentiments are... and as much as I share them," Acubens muttered so that only Mithra could hear her, "there is a time and a place, love. Just as we should not be telling strangers the details of our lives, there is no need to reveal to him that we are anything other than one united force... but you're right." She winked at the younger senshi with a bright smile that was, this time, genuine. "Stand here with us, sweetie, and watch. And wait. And listen." She handed Mithra the journal that she was tirelessly writing in at all time. "Record whatever you hear. Record what you feel. Record everything. In the end all we have is our posterity."
Asmodeus had begun to have her suspicions the moment crystals started appearing on her skin. They started on her shoulder and pooled down to her chest, and were prominently visible, and they felt strange and discomfiting, and she wanted them gone.
And now here they were, in a strange jail, facing a prisoner who claimed to have seen the rise and decline of this world, and she felt sick.
She strode over to Mithra and planted herself next to the other Senshi, looking for the comfort of another person's presence, but she also began to plan.c She could make fire - she could maybe protect herself and a few other people, if it came down to it, and she was pretty sure it would.
She didn't speak, not yet. There were enough words being thrown around, and she was an action kind of girl anyway.
SSBrosB
asmo is like "hi i know you"
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 4:02 pm
Super Sailor Elsa
Elsa went straight for his sister, because he was going to be right with her if anything went down, and damn the rest of it. He'd let himself relax in this place, eat the food, get comfortable, hope that it might not be as bad as it seemed, and the crystal spreading out from his spine was the price he paid for it.
"You okay?" He asked, gently. It was good to see her stronger, and hopefully better able to defend herself, but...
He glanced down, and there they were, telltale stripes of crystal down her legs, and he wanted to strangle Altea. Nobody got to harm his sister.
"She's been ruling a long time," he said, addressing Taran, "do you know if she can die? If she can be killed?" Because there was no way he was letting this crazy b***h get back to Earth. Absolutely no way in hell.
Tantalus stuck with Leto as they moved through the door and the cells, down to where the rest of the Court was.
"I don't like this," he said, quietly, pressing a hand over his forearm. He'd given in, eventually, and eaten the crystal food, because it was eat or starve. The crystallization had started at his elbow, and as soon as he'd noticed it he'd shown Leto.
Taran's words, as they joined the group, confirmed what he'd already suspected. Funnily enough, it seemed that he'd been alarmingly on the nose with the faerie food comparison. Eating too much of that stuff would trap you here.
"That's...not what I wanted to be right about," Tantalus exhaled. There was no question. They would have to find a way out, and he suspected it would be a fight.
"So, a tyrant who consumes planets intends to turn her eyes towards Earth." He spoke loud enough to be heard by much of the group. "She's not the first, and she won't be the last." Metallia, the Shade Queen, the Mad King - all of them had looked to Earth as easy prey. Only one of them was still standing, and that was solely because Metallia was smarter about her army-building.
Sadalsuud couldn't help but hunch her shoulders miserably at the comments from the brown-haired senshi with the colourful gloves (Mithra) - because whilst she didn't think that she had told Queen Altea much about Earth, it was equally true that she had been one of the ones that had trusted Altea–
And even now a part of her found it hard not to trust Queen Altea, to reconcile the woman who had saved them from the collapsing room and had been so kind to them with the woman that this Taran person was describing...
And why wouldn't she? Because the Queen really had saved them - Sadalsuud truly believed that–
But Taran had sounded so sure when he had spoken of the crystals - had spoken of Queen Altea's crystals - and the symptoms he was describing were familiar.
Scarily familiar.
Because she had noticed changes of the sort he was describing - her fingers and the patches of crystals at her wrists and on her legs - all of it hard like–
Like crystal.
Mr Prince-Rem- had suggested that it might be some sort of space pimple when he had seen it back when it had just been her fingers and had mentioned that when he had been stuck up in space that weird things had happened - like patches of weird colours on skin, but..
But it didn't appear to be happening to just her from the looks of it and what if...
What if it wasn't just a really, really weird case of space pimples.
Sadalsuud didn't want to crystallise from inside out and she didn't want to become one of Queen Altea's crystal servants either and if what Taran was saying was true then she equally didn't want the Queen to go to Earth and do the same thing. But neither did she want to kill the Queen as some of the others seemed to be discussing as a potential solution.
"I want to go home" and her words were for Taran, bewildered hurt lacing her words as a part of her wondered why Altea had saved them if all she wanted to do was to - was to harvest them. "Wha.. What would we need to do to free you?
“There’s no reason to be upset at each other, or what information was given,” Remarque said to the group; he could see tempers flaring and this had been an issue they’d faced the last time they were met with a stranger. “I blame no one for what they saw fit to share.”
He did, a little, but he wasn’t going to humiliate anyone in front of the group, and it helped no one to draw further attention to the situation. “If she’s on her way, perhaps it will aid us in the long run.”
If it brought them closer to Earth, good. That’s where they wanted to be.
“We’ll just have to stop her,” he eyed the trapped man, “And anyone else who seeks to do it harm.”
This situation was not unlike meeting the queen for the first time; just the same as Altea, he had no faith in this stranger or his words. This wasn’t situation where simple words or actions could earn trust; Remarque knew so little about this place or these people that he doubted he could tell the truth from a lie if it was told well enough.
The only difference was that this man was in a dungeon, trapped by the woman who claimed to help them. Perhaps there was no right answer in this, but he was tired of waiting on other people. The Dark Mirror Senshi may not have had numbers, but they had strength. There may have been a number of basic Senshi but they were far from useless, and among their ranks there were enough Super Senshi, enough Eternal Senshi, that he doubted one person—crystal army or not—would be too much of a threat.
He hoped.
The man in front of him appeared tired; Remarque guessed he was malnourished and fading. His face was tired and he seemed thin. There was something off about him, but there was something off about all of this.
If he was dangerous, Altea should have killed him. But, she didn’t. She left him alive, and that meant she had some purpose to do so. He must have been of some use to her if she kept him alive, and he had no guards—so she couldn’t have seen him as much of a threat.
Remarque moved to the crystals surrounding the man and knelt to examine a group on the wall. He kept a bit of distance between him and the man and ran his fingers over some of the crystals on the wall.
They were strong and did not respond to brute force--no surprise, or else Taran's thrashing would have likely had greater effect on freeing himself. Remarque had nothing particularly sharp to chip away at the crystals and his magic offered no advantages here.
If Taran was an ally, good. If he was an enemy of Altea, fine. Remarque trusted neither of them, and if Taran was free, perhaps he would distract Altea for long enough for them to explore somewhere worthwhile—like, perhaps, upstairs, where she did have guards.
“I don’t think the crystals will yield to me or anything I can do to them. I don’t know what any of you can do,” he glanced at the group of Dark Mirror Senshi, “But I welcome suggestions.”
Orangeish Sherbert
Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:06 am
Diadem
"Well I am just so overwhelmingly impressed with the fact that I apparently missed the clause in the sign up that this was apparently the Murder train. Please someone do tell me where you read anything where some kind of poison was cured by murdering the poisoner? I mean certainly that would stop ongoing poisoning but it's at best a WEAK hypothesis to assume it would fix us."
FOOD had flavor. Just getting energy wasn't the same, it was a sad shadow of what food was supposed to be. "I'm not saying Altea's not bad news, but once again jumping on-board the Bad Karma express to murderville doesn't tell us anything."
She didn't like this, none of it, including the fast leap to raw emotional responses, though she supposed she couldn't blame people for having them. Kissling had apparently gotten answers out of the Queen, but who knew if they were right, though the new suggestions -conveniently- fit the hints of transformation. "We're... we're -people-. We're senshi, we're -not- pupae though. And her suggestion that we should treat it that way doesn't really discredit his description of the potential end result." She added, uncomfortably, in reference to this suggestion, though she was more than a little curious to know if this was the case. "Also I don't think this is anything she has the right to call 'fine'. The closest thing to a precedent I can think of in humans is... it's lethal and slow, and not a plague, but that doesn't make it... not awful."
Normal plagues anyway. Magical ones... well... something was magically at work, the only thing she'd ever heard of that would otherwise create this kind of hardening of the skin was an unusual condition that involved soft flesh calcifying to bone. BONE. Not crystal, and she paused, still standing near the chains and scowling at them as she tried to think.
Someone was lying. It might be both of them, but she didn't think murder was the answer, not yet. Or at least she wasn't inclined to participate.
"You say they become slaves... how far along does someone have to be crystallized for that to start to happen?" She added, and then. "You two were to be married. That seems to imply she wasn't like this once, or at least that she was better at hiding it."
Protestations about the 'murder train' aside she was at least apparently not against trying to free him, and gave the place where the chain met the wall an investigative yank. Pinned in crystal as he was, it seemed possible that any mortar and fastenings there were might have been allowed to decay, since he seemed otherwise pinned down.
Kitomyx
xThe Space Cauldron
Quote:
Diadem says hold up, she did not sign up to raise her body count, she has reservations.
There was a part of Taran that seemed hopeful when a few members of the group took interest in helping him. He shifted positions as best he could beneath the crystals, but he had no true answer for Sadalsuud’s or Kissling’s questions about how they could help him. “I don’t know what you are capable of doing, but I don’t have strength in me to do anything. My weapons were taken from me. Did you come armed?”
He watched as Remarque examined the crystals, but he could only hope they would have some solution he had yet to find. When Diadem joined him, he seemed to relax against the wall a bit. The chain in the wall did not immediately waver, but it was clear that if she continued her force, she could very easily succeed in separating the chain from the wall. Dust fell from the plate that fastened the chain from the wall; Taran could not get the leverage that she could, but if she continued her actions she would succeed in separating at least that chain from the wall. The others did not seem to be in any better condition, though the crystals had grown over the length of chain in some places and might have made it difficult to grip.
Fatigue still washed through him, but he seemed at least slightly rejuvenated for the time being. There were still those that seemed wary or distrustful though, so he glanced to Ptolemaeus and Avior. “She has her reasons for keeping me alive, but I doubt her ability to process what they are. I am not weak,” he insisted. “I have spent my life fighting to protect this quadrant and all those within it. I have no doubt that I am stronger than her usual targets.”
He spoke with pride, but not arrogance. Perhaps, when he was at full health, the words were true, but now it was hard to see that he could have protected anyone, much less have been considered some sort of hero for it. “I doubt Altea has compassion for me, though. She does not see me as I am. She is killing me, only, slowly. This is no mercy, this is torture. Altea loves only her servants. What I loved in her is dead. She comes down sometimes, seeking my knowledge of the worlds, when she needs more fodder for her illusions. But I have given her no information, and my usefulness fades with each disappointment. She has not taken my life only because she has control of me, here. When I go through the Cauldron, I will return, renewed, and I will stop her. Stopping evil is my purpose in this life, and all lives, no matter what form it takes.”
He grit his teeth and drew in a lengthy breath. “I do not know how to restore your energy. I doubt crops grow on this world anymore, and she doesn’t import what she doesn’t need. She has only crystals, and,” he nodded to Diadem, “I cannot tell you how long it takes to lose yourself to the crystals. It is different for all creatures. They have different thresholds. But if you’ve started crystallizing, perhaps it is only a matter of days. Or hours. I do not know specifics, only that you do not have much time to waste.”
While Kiuchi’s offer to take him to their home was appreciated, he said to the man, “Your offer is kind, but I have no purpose or interest in your world, whatever it may be.” He looked to Crocus, next. “I fear leaving alone will not be enough to save yourselves. The queen is the source of your curse. If you incapacitate her, it stops. I can only imagine that will be enough to fully return to normal. But.” His eyes found Elsa, next. “Longevity does not guarantee eternity. She can be killed, I do not doubt it. But you can’t underestimate her. She holds a power in her that is not her own. It cannot be destroyed, but she can be, and that is all you need to do to save yourselves. Her power cannot function without her, without a host. Altea cannot be saved. So far as I’m concerned, she died a long time ago. The thing you see is a mere puppet. She needs to be stopped. She has been a plight on this universe for too long, and all she has done is trick and scheme and spread her chaos.”
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