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Esquiline

Esquiline watched Pollux with increased anxiety. It wasn't going to help, getting angry at Caedus. Strange as he may be, he was in charge of their friends' lives.

"It's not going to help." she said. She could see that the being was tense. "Being mad at him. He only opened to portal. And he's the one holding it open." she added, looking away from Pollux. "I wouldn't upset him, because he could just as easily close it up on them, before they've gotten a chance to escape."

Celliwig inched closer to the portal, brow furrowing at the sounds that she could hear coming through from the other side. The loud, raised voices weren't helping. The questions weren't helping. The frustration wasn't helping.

"Maker's breath," Celliwig muttered, shaking her head as one hand came up to tug on the end of her braid. She seemed lost in her own thought for a moment before she turned to flash a violet glare at the pushy senshi.

"Why are you being such a d**k? If -- If you're so worried about what might happen you can go in and help them. You could lead them out. You could -- You could do something other than stand here and b-b***h at the one guy holding the portal open. You didn't go. You stayed here, like the rest of us. S-stop bitching and just... Pray to whatever you believe in or go in there and help." Cranky Senshi Man at least seemed qualified to help whereas there wasn't much she could do with a stick other than be fodder.

Celliwig didn't want to be fodder.

He rolled his eyes like any mature adult.

"I have asked a question which Caedus avoided- deftly I might add. I asked what HE would do in the event THEY failed. If asking to what a stranger will do when what was all but promised to him does not come to fruition is not given to him- is that not a fair question? But please, continue to put words in my mouth and attempt to dismiss me by insinuating I am somehow at fault for asking a simple question."

"Methone. Either you must really have confidence in my brother and others, or you're being willfully ignorant. I thought you had intellect. But, I've been wrong before." He shrugged.
"But then I suppose love does blind a person to reason."

Pollux remained irritated at the women, and he didn't bother hiding that before letting out a slow breath.

"You continue to evade or you missed my question. I did not ask what you would do should they fall, only should they fail, as in the one you sent them after still lives. That's quite the straightforward situation. They return through the portal and they confess that they have no energy left, that your hated captor lives, and worse, you've likely been reviled to their agents. Either by your own powers or, by some idiot unable to keep their mouth shut. It's not a matter of what you will do for them. It's what you will do for yourself."

Pollox stepped forward, lips a thin line of irritation and lack of patience.

"You've put your trust in those you shouldn't have. What you wanted will not come to pass, and cannot come to pass."

Hvergelmir disengaged from Teide and struggled to her feet, fighting down a fresh round of coughing. "Enough," she said, with what was meant to be a loud, desperate bark -- it came out instead cracked and hoarse, her growing laryngitis diminishing it to something that threatened to become inaudible. She held up a hand, palm open and facing outwards. "Please."

This was not helping anything. People were speaking purely from their own emotions -- and while she was beside herself with worry, too, it was becoming obvious that this was building toward too much of a problem.

Hvergelmir looked at Celliwig first. "Might does not make right," she said, "and questions are not an evil. In the Negaverse, their right to rule is defined by their strength, and questioning their superiors' decisions is a punishable offense. We are not the Negaverse. Everyone has the right to ask questions here. Everyone has the right to understand the table they sit at. Caedus has opened a portal for our allies, and many people might be grateful for that. But it's dangerous to conflate asking questions to ingratitude. Pollux," she coughed again for a few moments, before regaining her voice, "is worried about his brother. Surely you can understand his desire to explore every avenue -- that he might never forgive himself if he felt he lost his family somehow through negligence, or because fear of giving offense kept him from speaking up."

A voice was nothing to be afraid of, but to be welcomed and celebrated. It was one of Hvergelmir's least favorite things about this war, and always had been: speaking was considered dangerous, but violence was considered advisable. Speaking could lead to many options . . . violence only ever led to one.

"Pollux," she said, turning to the man in blue. "I understand your suspicion. Many of us here share your concerns. The truth is, we were offered something of great value, but which, under the circumstances, we were not equipped to accept -- access to the stronghold of our enemy, but with an army unprepared to make the attempt at sacking it. Many of the people who went through the portal did so because the opportunity seemed too fleeting to resist. Now, the reality isn't that we're lucky and must feel grateful -- that's yet to be seen -- the reality is that our hands are tied now. Whatever comes, our allies -- our friends and family -- are in that portal. Allowing tensions to explode on this side of the portal only stands to endanger the people on the other side. I know this is frustrating -- " another hacking cough -- "but please."

Hvergelmir did not specify what exactly she was asking Pollux to please do. Instead, she simply stared at him for a few long moments, letting her expression convey the sentiment: Adopt a softer approach. Yours is not working.

She turned to Caedus last, her voice curling down to a near-whisper after having pressed it too hard, like a candle guttering at the end of the wick. "Caedus," she said, raw-throated, "you said your brethren were all killed. I'm sorry -- I can't imagine your suffering, or all the years you've had to live with it. I know this is a painful question, but -- did they die saving you? Can you please tell me -- what was your role among your people? Why were you the ambassador to the Earth?"

Super Sailor Eros

The short senshi grinned, pleased as a cat with cream. The lady was lovely AND friendly, which was a winning combination in her mind. She gave her hand a warm squeeze before the other reclaimed it. Even that much contact was enjoyable… she liked the feel of her fingers, which did nothing to discourage the mental images she was getting.

The tanned hand reached out to play with her hair and Eros’s smile turned downright inviting, very nearly turning her face into the touch.

“I don’t know, to be honest… I haven’t used my magic yet.” She admitted with a sheepish, but playful look.

Sadly, her opportunity to get closer to the pretty senshi was cut short by some commotion by the portal and when Methone turned to deal with it, Eros pouted after her. The expression was only for a moment though, smoothed away soon enough. She had to content herself with possibly getting a chance later to pick up where they had left off. There really were more important things going on than getting her next lay… but she could still mourn it. She trailed after Methone as she linked her hands behind her head, content to hang in the background.

Pollux

There was a pause in Pollux's posture as Hvergelmir spoke before he simple walked back the way her came. It was a sort absences as her returned soon after, a honey flavored ricola in hand.

"My brother spoke highly you if I'm correct. Hvergelmir? You're both correct yet mistaken though. Castor is not the one who worries me." He was just as prickly as before.
He offered her the honey drop before looking back towards the city.

"That's a bit of an odd claim." Pollux frowned gears in his mind turning with the information.
"A captive king would not go unnoticed. Not without reason."

He turned, and finally, the inkling of concern was there in his face. The slight hints of a fear that was just under the surface.
"How exactly did you escape?"