Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sailor Telesto, Dark Mirror Senshi of Pressure

Telesto was still freshly awoken and had taken some extra time figuring out the compact mirror messages and how it all worked. The intuition to go help their comrades was there, but the practical of it still needed some polish; ironic. Still, they had managed to make their way into the Mirrorspace, hitching a ride on the tails of one of the passing supers to gain entrance.

They followed with the pack, watching for the exploding mirrors and fleeting shadows passing behind them. Shadows were never a welcome sight, they rarely spoke of good things in their experience; not that they were very sure what those experiences were, but the sensation was there. They kept relatively quiet beyond the occasional hum or grunt towards a shadow, better to not show them any fear in case they could understand fear.

Their ears perked up at the notion of a battle. That was more like it. No better way to get use to a new incarnation than to test out skills, and they hadn't had the chance yet. Hopefully it hadn't been too long since the last time... Though as their helpful awakener had explained, they were a little old this time and it had made their powers unstable. They could feel that, the power coming through lighter than it should have this time. It would be a problem, but they weren't alone for this, so that should be fine. So long as they didn't end up alone anywhere.

"Is it possible this leads to a nest?" They asked, speaking up towards the Prince. "If they do not return, they may be out to find their own shelters, while the Mother rests beyond."

They were mayhaps the new kid on the block of it all, but battle and monsters was always the same.

Eternal Sailor Acubens

It was hard for Acubens to contain her grin as Tegmine invited Lecerta into a space that had been previously reserved only for herself. They'd both grown so much... and she'd be lying if the thought didn't make her eyes heat just a touch.

She smiled at Lacerta's comment.

"adventurous spirits and a noses for conundrums are something of a prerequisite for this court, it would seem," she grinned at the younger girl.

Xihe arrived and Acubens offered her the same bastion that her brother offered their cousin, extending her free hand to her while the other was occupied with her other charge.

"Xihe," she greeted happily. "Come and meet the others! I've told you about my brother Tegmine," and the red headed man waved with a lopsided smile that mirrored her own even now. "This is Avignon, another basic under my tutelage, and then beside Tegmine is our cousin Lacerta. And then, of course, Prince Remarque." She motioned to each in turn as she named them. "Welcome to your first Mirrorspace ******** familiar faced kept filtering in. Sadallsuud, Mithra, and even Crocus, whom Acubens had not seen in what felt like ages, appeared and the eternal senshi greeted them with excited waves each. She just wished that they were meeting under slightly less ominous circumstances. Still, she made room for them with her none the less. She also made a mental note to create just such a less ominous circumstance when this was all over. They all deserved margaritas and snackies.

She quieted down when Remarque began talking.

Aucbens couldn't tell if it felt good or bad to have her experiences validated. On the one hand, she wasn't crazy, but on the other... well, with Mirrorspace, no news was always good news. When Remarque gestured to the new hallway, however, Acubens felt the color leave her face. Without thinking, she pulled Avignon closer, and with her other hand reached out for Xihe to do the same. She blanched further at the mention of a bridge to the very specific and not at all Altea-adjacent "somewhere else."

And then...

"Im sorry you stuck your head through it?! Alone?! You have some nerve calling me reckless, Remarque." She she tried to make it sound like a joke. She even laughed, maybe too loud and too brightly. But inside... inside she was reeling. It was one thing when weird s**t happened to her and her alone. She was not above diving head first into high strangeness when it was just her but now... now there were so many others. So many basic senshi. So many others at risk.

And then Remarque said "unless one of you beats me to it," which awakened that angry, competitive thing inside of Acubens that warred with the thing inside of her that growled at her to stay behind and protect.

"Do you want me to cover the Bascis senshi," she asked Remarque softly, eyeing the handful of unmoored young senshi that milled around.



Sailor Tegmine
As Lacerta approached the pair, Tegmine extended his arm, wordlessly inviting his cousin to tuck herself under it should she please, as he listened to his siter rattle off names and tried to memorize them as quickly as they were being given to him. He was, once again, taken a bit aback at the amount of people his sister seemed to know rather well. She'd been around for a while, he knew this, but sometimes the meaning of that hit him a little like a freight train.

As the Prince began talking, a lot of what Tegmine had been experiencing made a lot more sense. He hadn't been terrorized like Acubens had been, though that was more a function of his rank and his inability to linger in Mirrorspace than anything else.

When the Prince gestured to a hallway, he clocked the way Acubens blanched. Saw the way she pulled Avignon closer to her, and so in turn he pulled Lacerta closer to him. She may out rank him in the court, but she was still younger than him in years. And then Acubens got even more nervous when they reached the mirror and Tegmine didn't need that to signal that something was up. Shadows. An army of them. He pressed Lacerta into him even closer, pleased that Ariadne was not with them at that moment. Acubens may have her head on a swivel, a skill learned from almost a decade and a half as a senshi, but Tegmine couldn't' keep track of both his cousin and his girlfriend.



Sailor Rana

People were giving this pink and black senshi distance and Rana could not for the life of her figure out why.

Until he snapped at her.

Literally.

She frowned and only barely resisted the urge to slap at his nose and tell him "no" in as firm a voice as she could muster.

"Maybe we should get you a spray bottle," she nearly pouted, her bottom lip poking out as she cocked her hip out to the extreme side. She cast her gaze at the other senshi as though searching for help.

When the BLACKPINK senshi looked back at her, however, she smiled, raising her hand in a small wave.

"I'm Rana," she announced, leaning in once she caught the snarling senshi's eyes. "Of the Kuchisake Onna, the slit mouthed woman. Pleased to meet you Mr. Nice Teeth and his friend!"

Sailor Hela, DMS of Dolls


Hela took no time in returning to the group with Hybris. She felt the bit of tension that seemed to be happening between him and the senshi that introduced themself as Muri. She wondered what kind of drama was up with that but wouldn't pry. They all started moving towards that weird mirror and she was going to help one way or another. This time she had added more first aid supplies as well as a few ropes and other gear to keep people together if needed. She had remembered what Kiuchi said about things shifting and getting lost.

"Yes let's stick together. I'm not sure if my magic will work on these things but I'll do my best." It was funny to hear how Hybris was still acting the part of being the senshi of eggplants. She had seen what he really could do though and wondered if it would work on whatever was trying to reach through. There was a little group at least and hopefully, everyone could keep watch on each other's back. She knew she would do her best to help where she could and if needed she had her trusty tripod to maybe swing at something just in case.

Looking over towards Parysatis, she waved and offered a small greeting as well before picking up the pace to get ready at the mirror. It felt weirder than usual here and hopefully, by the end of the night, they could get everything back to the normal level of weird.

[Sailor Persephone, Dark Mirror Senshi of Pomegranates]

Strangeness in the mirrors. Persephone had to admit, that was the sort of thing that motivated her to actually power up and get going. The Dark Mirror had taken her in when she was lost, at great risk to the collective sohuld the Negaverse choose to take offense to one of their Eternals fleeing.

Fortunately, it seemed that Persephone had gone mostly forgotten. Which was, frankly, fine by her. And maybe she was forgotten enough that she could turn up at this little party, having hitched a ride with Amytis's little sister, and be of what help she could, and then go home.

It wasn't as if "Sailor Persephone" was a name people remembered, anymore.

She didn't speak up as Remarque described the situation, just followed the group down the hallway, towards that eerie mirror. She regarded it with interest, and thoughtfulness, and considered. Charging in wasn't a good idea, but it was all they had, and so she was glad she was there. A little healing certainly wouldn't go amiss.

[Super Sailor Ariadne, Dark Mirror Senshi of Mourningbrides]

With all the strangeness lately, it had almost made Ariadne uncomfortable powering up. She didn't like seeing things moving in mirrors. Didn't like being grabbed at as she passed. Felt way, way too haunted for her liking. But at least she was here, and Remarque seemed to have an idea of how to help. Amytis had always spoken well of him, and so although Ariadne hadn't yet met the Prince face to face, she trusted him. Trustyed his evaluation.

And there was a familiar head of curly hair. And someone else she knew, with him.

"Tegmine! Lacerta!" She moved closer, laying a gloved hand on Tegmine's arm. "So, this sounds like it's going to be a fun, exciting time."



[Super Sailor Asuka, Dark Mirror Senshi of Onryo]

Asuka was, in a word, pissed.

There was something creepy moving in the mirrors, and to some degree, that honestly sort of offended her. Hello, she (and any other fun monster Senshi) were the only creepy shadows allowed to stalk Mirrorspace, if you asked her. Not that anyone was, of course, but it was the principle of the thing.

And speaking of spooky monsters, there was Rana, and she was with a couple unfamiliar Senshi--so Asuka strode over to them, waving to Rana, who she recognized from another big gathering of Dark Mirrors.

"So this sounds like it's gonna be a good time," she said. "But I am so ready to return things to the natural state of, you know, us monster Senshi being the only spooky things in here. Uh," she realized that she might not come off well, but--well, not taking it back, only clarifications. "Sorry, I'm Asuka. Of Onryo. If you've ever seen The Ring or The Grudge? I'm that. And I would like to be the only weird ghost in Mirrorspace, thank you?"

Super Sailor Sadalsuud, Dark Mirror Senshi of Clovers

Sadalsuud had managed to give Miss Acubens a slight smile and a small wave back in return, but nervousness meant that both were on the awkward side.

She was pretty sure that she had seen Merkeb and Arnica amongst those gathered too, but there were quite a few senshi from the court gathered and Sadalsuud's attention had been mostly on Mr Rem.

There were also quite a few basic senshi of the court gathered, most of whom were unfamiliar–

Okay, truthfully, apart from Merkeb they were pretty much all unfamiliar, but Sadalsuud was somewhat used to it.

She had followed quietly as Mr Rem had started to lead them to wherever it was that he had in mind as to the destination, and a part of her couldn't help but feel a little guilty when he'd mentioned that mirrorspace had seemed more stable in the past year or so and it seemed linked in part to gathering energy–

Because it had been years since she had really gathered energy personally, even if she was somewhat more active than she had been.

But it wasn't something that she could really do much about at the moment, and the whole situation made her feel anxious enough as it was, even if she had already determined that she was going to try and do her best–

And that included following Mr Rem through the mirror, even though she was nervous as to what they would find on the other side.

There seemed to be another dark mirror super senshi (Varda) somewhat nearby, albeit not one she was familiar with, and Sadalsuud found herself gravitating slightly in the other senshi's direction "Would you mind if we stick together?" She asked the other senshi awkwardly.

Eternal Lacerta

Even as she found herself moving closer to the invitation of an open side to tuck into did Lacerta peer about curiously at the relative newcomers to the court that she had personally never met. There were a few faces sprinkled in amongst the grouping that she could pick out and identify but those were few and far in between. It never ceased to amaze her that Acubens was familiar with most of the court. Even as she rattled off names to Tegmine, did Lacerta also try to put names to those faces that were new to her.

As Remarque began explaining what he had found in Mirrorspace that seemed to be the cause of everything that was going on at the moment Lacerta frowned, having recalled a similar time that a lot of the dark mirror court was seemingly pulled into Mirrorspace to fight a giant creature. Her gaze locked onto Acubens form before she sighed. The arm that Tegmine had used to tuck her in closer to his side was appreciated but she gently ducked out from the gesture before smiling and shaking her head. It was true that she found the move endearing but it wasn't wholly necessary.

As they now stood in front of a mirror that Remarque was explaining seemed to be the source of the chaos did Lacerta sigh before making the decision to go with the group. She'd be needed if injuries were accrued. Just maybe, she'd be able to show off her eternal magic to those that she felt closest to.

Hearing her name from behind Lacerta spun around to find Ariadne standing there and she smiled at the other senshi before picking up on differences that had occurred since they'd last seen each other, "Super senshi status achieved, congrats Ariadne."

[Lacerta's open for interaction, going with the group following after Remarque]

Prince Remarque, Dark Mirror Senshi of Puppetry

Though there was a part of Remarque that dreaded the chance that he might lose a substantial number of the Senshi here, he was relieved to see them instead preparing to help handle this. He had been sincere in his offer for them to stay behind if they wanted, but the more numbers they had, the more success they were guaranteed.

What concern he had for those newer to their powers was diminishing rapidly and he was glad to see–upon a quick glance, at least–that there were some breaking into groups already.

Good.

He already had what he needed prepared, so while he gave them a moment to figure things out, he nodded back at Bélénos in silent greeting.

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Hydrus. You’re here to help now, what could I possibly complain about?” Well, maybe that they weren’t catching up under better circumstances. “It’s good to see you, too.”

He resisted the urge to crack a smile at Mithra, but nodded approvingly. She’d have plenty of chances to throw a punch. To Telesto he answered, “This most certainly leads to a nest. I don’t know if they’re spawning there, but I know there’s plenty of them waiting.” Assuming they hadn’t all fled, but given the status of this hallway, he doubted it. Lazily, almost, he rolled his head over to Acubens. “I checked, responsibly. But my hands can’t see, so my head had to go through at some point. But that’s when I saw all that I needed to know.”

He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and then shrugged; he kept his voice low for Acubens when he answered, “Don’t spread yourself too thin. You’ve got a lot of people depending on you already.” And, some of them were already teaming up with others.

He nodded appreciatively to Avior, because when Mirrorspace had a habit of falling apart, a few more walls to help keep things together would be very appreciative. Cheesiness aside.
*
It wasn’t much past ten, but the longer they waited, the more time he supposed there was for their mystery problem to become aware of them–or plan some sort of retaliation. He pulled out his watch to check, just to make sure that he wasn’t pushing too hard, too fast.

It was time to go.

He waited until there was a lull in conversation, and glanced to the mirror behind him.

“All right. Let’s move in. If you get overwhelmed, call for help. Nobody’s on their own in here, so keep an eye out for each other. Let’s take care of whatever’s causing these problems and get home so we can enjoy the rest of our night.”

His wings twitched behind him, spread out a little and then folded back in.

He had every intention of going first, just to make sure the situation was the same.

It was.

Once he stepped through, the same familiar black-purple sky hung over head. There was no ceiling here; whatever this place once was had long since fallen to pieces. White walls and flooring were ruins now, amidst toppled or broken pillars. There was nothing decorative enough to identify, and it seemed like this area had been in decay for far longer than their troubles.

It was easy to see, even with the dark, warped sky above them; a broken, white galaxy spun in fragmented whirls. It was unnatural, and moved too quickly to have been real stars. It was too close; if Remarque held his hand up to the sky, the slowly churning lights would have still peeked out behind his fingers.

Energy pulsed across the strange domain, like electricity in the air just before a lightning strike. At first, they seemed alone, but the longer they stood in the empty expanse, the more the shadows seemed to stretch. Seemed to multiply. Seemed to stretch.

Remarque took a few slow, cautious steps forward, and as he did so he was aware of the group of Dark Mirror Senshi that followed. Their auras were far more pleasant than the strange, humming energy throbbing around them.

Even here, the sound of broken glass echoed–distorted and strange like it was both nearby and far away. Sometimes, small pieces of debris seemed to break away without warning. Sometimes, it seemed to fall from above, appearing from nowhere.

A spike of energy made their target easily identifiable, though it was not presently visible; a few hundred feet away, something shined brightly. Between them were broken walls and monuments.

And a rapidly growing army of shadows.

Quote:

As you arrive, shadowy figures will begin to manifest; they seem to pull off of the shadows cast in the area. They are fast and wraithlike; if one can run through, it will feel as though you have lost a bit of energy. Unlike wraiths, these shadows seem to be able to manipulate the energy in the area and can condense themselves to do blunt force damage. They might grapple with you, grab you, or in the worst case, they can attack with a cutting sensation. At player choice, all attacks can either be the sensation of damage or attacks can do actual lasting damage.

It only takes one physical hit to destroy the shadowy figures, and when you do they will disappear into a haze of glittering black glass shards that rapidly disappear. However, there are many shadows–and they’re fully intent to keep you away from the source of energy in the distance.

The sound of glass cracking echoes from all around–including beneath you. While there are some large mirrors visible in the distance, if seems difficult to reach them; there are crumbling staircases to other platforms, but it would be wise to avoid the edges.

Below you, just as above, there is an endless expanse of dark space.

The goal is to make it through the rapidly growing army of shadows and head towards the source of energy! You will be attacked along the way and can puppet who attacks you, and how many do so.

The next plot based post will come at ~6 PM EST on Wednesday, August 30th and following posts should occur ~every 48 hours unless otherwise mentioned. However, due to a hurricane, this might be delayed. Players can post as often as they like between prompts, and there are no repercussions for missing a prompt. You can join at any point in time; if you miss any prompts, you can handwave that your character was there in the group without needing to explain a late arrival.

When posting, please include your character’s name and rank at the top of your post and link to their journal!

* - There was a lot of introspection/a little bit of nearby response in the first part of this post; if you want to skip it, the plot relevant response for everyone begins after the asterisk!