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Elpis

Elpis nodded at how worn Caedus seemed, and tried to fuss, just sloightly. Truthfully, she wanted to try helping him as well as Order - alien or not, he was a person, and deserved looking after. And yet, he seemed content with the hill. Well alright, but that didn't mean she wouldn't bring food, or supplies, perhaps even help him with a small camp if needed. It seemed a good enough diversion from patrolling nightly, especially if she decided to make him a daily hot meal to last for day hours, maybe get him a warm blanket, and offer company.

He'd been afraid, and Elpis didn't blame Caedus one whit, the senshi instead speaking to him in a soft voice.

"I'll be by in a while with some things." She said gently. "Get some rest my friend."

The Super Senshi rose, and turned to Porrima, smiling and nodding idly.

"Doing okay? Want me to do a patrol walk with you?"




Cordoba

The page was quiet, watching Caedus seem to sway, or was she seeing things? She wasn't sure, and the page gently placed her crystal in her gloved hand, both holding it and tugging a glove back on for a good few moments before looking around. Some were worried, some were fine, and Cordoba? The page was studying the gem or crystal in her hand thoughtfully, walking to leave silently. The page was sure Mistral might want to know what happened, and while studying the crystal might be unwise, Cordoba figured using herself to feed it was good. Better was if he annoying pen-stealing co-workers at the station manhandled it a few minutes, and the Mercury page crept for her apartment quietly, looking around only once to assure herself others were busy, before she was gone.

Cordoba Exit.

Miss Kitty

"Ah, you shall want to fill yours in later then." Miss Kitty nodded. "To be truthful, my 'owner'... She would be crushed if I had left. And besides that, she's a sensitive soul to be sure. I fear for her if I left."

Not that Alex would let anything happen, or Tor, but Miss Kitty never knew. The Mauvian smiled, nodding.

"If not for Sandalwood, I'd invite you to raid cupboards with me. Sandlewood however is..."

Special came to mind. Miss Kitty didn't know if THAT cat was Mauvian, or simply nuts, or what.


Stonehenge

The Polaris page was watching, nodding to Polaris.

"Alfred." He said calmly. "Alfred Abney."

The page bowed, still observing. Niflhel was agitated by the group- Caedus, but the page didn't have a full opinion yet. With such little information, he didn't dare form one, and for now, remained calm.

"Beg pardons but - a magic ring?"

That... All he could think of was Lord of the Rings and he made a confused face, brows raising.

"I shan't need throw it into a volcano to depose of some evil overlord will I?"

And when Sintasha approached, he bowed his head, studying the other page quietly and thoughtfully, letting them converse before he decided to speak to the other page.

"Stonehenge. So, we're both new." He said calmly. The page offered the other page a handshake calmly, deciding for now to withold judgement. He wasn't rude, and so he saw nothing wrong with him. Aside that, with the right eyes he almost resembled his cousins.

"Charmed."

Havasu had been passed a crystal and against his best judgment he had accepted it. Luckily his half gloves protected him from the energy siphon until he decide if it was worth the risk to use it. With a shake of his head he slipped it into the small leather bag thing on his thigh that was part of his new belt gear. He absently wondered if it would still be there when he powered down and then back up again.

The cowboy watched as Caedus answered what questions he could before leaving. Apparently the whole group was too much for him so he bounced, granted not far but still. He was the one that called the damn meeting in the first place. Havasu couldn't help but roll his eyes, he had manors drummed into his head and one of them was a host didn't leave till the last guest did. Meh... dude looks like death so he might be feeling like it too. Hav thought to himself as he focused on what Phact was saying.

"Caedus might have had some way of muting the strong power signature of so many order fighters but with him basically skipping out such a gathering might start to attract unwanted attention." He added to Phact's warning. The idea of meeting up later to privately decide what they were going to do was a good idea, even if a small part of him didn't want anyone else there but him and Phact. As the song said, 'you can't always get what you want' so it looked like he would be stuck with anyone who showed up at indicated park. "I'm game but I would rather not freeze while we make targets of ourselves so if everyone is cool I'll take us to my homeworld. Where its warm and we can go swimming..." He glanced at Phact and hastily added, "After discussing everything of course."

He felt the touch of someone's hand on his shoulder and jerked instinctively as though he'd been stung, Celsus' eyes widening, his head snapping to the side before he realized that it was Bifrost, coming to stand next to him.

His mouth opened to say something, but there was a second figure that had appeared, and Celsus felt as though his stomach had dropped out of him. A tremor ran through him, a welling sense of fear, nausea and apprehension growing inside of his chest.

"D - Denebola," he croaked out, and he wanted to disappear, to get out of this place.

"I - did you get one of the crystals?" he asked, desperately trying to change the subject before it started.

Sailor Enif

"I agree. I'm actually surprised I didn't know about this sooner, it seems like it would be hard to hide this as it is."

A curious observation, golden eyes trained those around her then Caedus.

As Lysithea and Adria left, saying farewells, she realized she hadn't really introduced herself to either of them. Though maybe she wasn't so surprised because she'd been caught up in talking to Cassiopeia and trying to make sense of what Caedus was saying.

She understood so little of it.

"It was nice to meet you both as well~"

Then just like that it seemed the meeting was being adjourned and she just wasn't sure what to do with herself. Maybe go home and process all the information then go from there?

She could always come back and ask Caedus questions if need be.

"I should probably head home myself."

Sabine had taken a crystal - there was no question of whether or not she was going to. Her gloved hand prevented it from gathering energy from her, something that disappointed her a touch. Still, it would be easy enough to remove one of her gloves and hold the Crystal in her hand - something she would try later, in private.

Her mind was whirling though, as Caedus commented on humanity being the best and cleanest source of energy on the planet. That would explain then - why the Negaverse always seemed to go after normal people then. Was she willing, then, to take the plunge herself? Caedus had said the crystals wouldn't harm anyone, and she was inclined to believe him.

She made a mental note to come and pay the stranger a visit, on her own, later. She had questions but didn't want to have them aired with others around.

Sabine knew the park in question - she wasn't entirely fond of the idea of heading to Havasu's wonder - they didn't need a distraction - but she kept herself silent on that opinion before she met Phact's gaze and nodded. "I'll be there," She said. "But for now I should probably head home. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, she tightened her grip on the crystal, gave everyone a small curtsey, and was quickly dashing off into the night.

Ganymede wasn't sure she entirely believed Valhalla's insistence that all would be well. Caedus had done absolutely nothing to reassure her. She eyed her husband for his comment about needing a sleep aid and would have crossed her arms over her chest in displeasure if she weren't trying to hold onto the crystal through the fabric of her dress. Eventually she took it into hand again and fiddled with the pouch attached to Valhalla's belt until she could drop the crystal inside of it.

She listed to Themiscyra discuss the Code, nodding along in understanding. She'd had her own experience with the Code and couldn't say she trusted it any more than she trusted Caedus. She didn't trust a lot of things, obviously, but this bullshit was going a little too far for her tastes.

“It's all very... convenient,” she said. “The Code starts spouting off s**t, this guy comes out of nowhere and offers us a way to attack the Negaverse, which could easily result in all of us getting killed or forced into the rank and file. Kind of makes it seem like that's his plan.”

To Alexandria she added, “Just follow along for now, I guess. If he steps out of line, we deal with him then. Gather energy if you want. Don't use these crystals on civilians. We can supply more than enough energy on our own. If I go to Ganymede I can absorb plenty, considering how quickly I heal there. The next time we come here, we'll see if he actually opens up a way to the castle like he says. If he doesn't, he goes down.”

She didn't care how powerful this Caedus might be. He wouldn't get away with stringing them along.

Ganymede overheard Venice and his page friend's discussion about providing Caedus with bedding. She glanced at them as if she disapproved, but ultimately decided they could do what they wanted. She didn't like that they would be putting themselves in unnecessary danger. Unfortunately, nothing she said to them appeared to be getting through.

“You don't know what he'll do to you if you come back here alone,” she warned them. “He could be putting on an act. The sooner you learn not to immediately trust someone who has no solid proof to show who he is or what his intentions are, the better off you'll be. This is a war. That sort of naivety is only going to get you killed or corrupted.”

Just look at Val.
…..........

Anyway, Ganymede's distrust of Caedus only grew when he seemed to imply that he would not be joining them on their attack of the castle. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, and with her hands now free she was finally able to cross her arms over her chest. She glanced around the crowd to find any other distrusting faces. Unfortunately it seemed that most of the ones close to Caedus were falling for his sob story.

Idiots.

“If he's not willing to put his life on the line with us, he's not our ally,” she said, “no matter what sort of promises he makes.”

She clasped one hand around Valhalla's arm and gave it a gentle tug.

“Come on, Val,” she said. “We need to go home.”

To the others, Ganymede said, “We'll be in touch.”

Then she turned on her heel and began walking away from the hill.

They'd figure out what this guy was up to, one way or another.







Ganymede Exit

Super Aegir

Ambrosia's claim that the curly-haired super wouldn't notice her presence on his back was met with a grin; it wasn't that he didn't believe her so much as he saw some of himself in the energetic senshi, but more of his little sister. So when she exclaimed about someone named Lenka, he only chuckled a bit while pairing the name with a female senshi wearing a costume that reminded him of a watermelon.

"It's okay." He whispered back, but quickly returned his attention to what was being said around them, with the things Caedus said and did. The crystals really were interesting, he should get one. If for no other reason than to present it to Ash for analysis...but he couldn't - or wouldn't - step forward with Ambrosia on his back. Caedus didn't seem dangerous at the moment, more like he was about to fall over exhausted, but still.

Aegir turned a bit, catching Thyrmr's eye and gesturing him over and making a quick, low introduction of the chibi to the pale-haired super. "Thyrmr, would you get one of those crystals for me? I think Ash will want to see one." And maybe, if their silver lady said the artifacts were 'safe', he'd participate in offering energy. But not before.

"Don't touch it bare-handed, if you can help it."

Others were starting to leave, their 'guest' clearly exhausted in a way that Aegir could empathize with. Once he'd gotten the crystal, once Ambrosia was ready to be let down, then he could think about heading back home. Methone caught his eye, her tone and words getting a nod from him - either way, they should have a bit of a discussion. It was important.

----

Aue of Lemons - HE'S OUT

As little as he cared for the goings on, Aue found himself thinking about taking one of those crystals. Curiousity drove him forward, towards the walking corpse, but immediately after getting a closer look he just noped right the ******** on back to where the Hobbit was still standing, pausing briefly to say only one thing.

"I need a drink."

Without a backwards glance, the senshi of lemons walked on, leaving the crowd of milling senshi and knights like a bad concert. If Remus followed, that was fine. If he didn't follow, that was also fine. Either way, he was going to get a goddamned drink and do his best to forget having seen the Crypt Keeper in the flesh.

Palatine didn't know what to think any more than Varuna did. She was suspicious of Caedus, but also completely apathetic about his existence. Either he was duping them or he wasn't. There was no way for them to figure that out now. That said, she didn't step forward to retrieve one of the crystals he was passing out.

She had mixed feelings about staging an attack on the Negaverse. On the one hand, there was the opportunity for revenge. She'd not forgotten New Year's and was not entirely against getting even. There was even the chance that they might put an end to this war once and for all. It seemed that this Metallia was responsible for quite a bit. With her gone, things might return to normal.

On the other hand, it would be a dangerous mission, and Palatine wasn't sure she was up for it. She glanced toward her daughter and noticed that Ganymede seemed to look forward to the opportunity despite her distrust. That unsettled Palatine. Ganymede had been through enough. Palatine didn't want to see her hurt again.

Inevitably, Palatine knew that, if Ganymede meant to go to the Negaverse's castle, so would she.

“Well, now that this seems to be done and over with...”

She glanced at Varuna and with a jerk of her head motioned that they should head out. “If you're not getting a crystal, we should go,” she said.

She eyed Sessrumnir upon turning on her heel.

“I'm going home,” she told him. “Power down and call a taxi. You've had enough to drink.”

She didn't bother waiting around to make sure he followed her advice. Palatine left only a moment later.



Palatine Exit