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Super Sailor Ptolemaeus

As there were other senshi who seemed more than happy to answer Altea's questions, Ptolemy decided to leave it to their discretion what they thought unwise to tell her. He realized he had already revealed a great deal more than others were comfortable with, but perhaps due to his overly easygoing nature, he hardly seemed concerned.

Ptolemaeus was the sort who took things one at a time, living in the moment. He tried to apply logic and reason where he could, but at that moment he saw more benefit in trading information with the woman who had seemed to have saved them all rather than hoarding what little they knew about their court to themselves.

Who knew? Perhaps she might even have known stuff about them that they themselves didn't. Things like mirror-walking, for example. And the Silver Millennium also seemed to have been something that they probably should have known more about than her if what she had said about it was true.

It wasn't that he didn't care about his fellow court members or their safety. He was simply confident enough that they could take on whatever obstacles came their way if there did turn out to be obstacles. Ptolemy preferred to handle situations as they arose rather than to waste time attempting to prevent future scenarios. Because in the end, sometimes said scenarios ended up coming to pass regardless of what one did.

Regardless of their relatively few numbers and neutrality in the war, they had survived this long together and the super senshi was hardly concerned with the idea of the queen attempting to use the information he had given her to destroy or otherwise harm them. Maybe it was because he felt he could sympathize or possibly even empathize with her loneliness, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Aren't these weird?" he asked Mithra, grinning like an idiot as he picked up one of the crystals from his plate. "They seem hard, but she was cutting them up. And they dissolve like cotton candy, but even though she said they were some of the sweeter ones, I can't taste anything. I wonder if this world's people have different ways of tasting than us. Or just different senses of taste." The teen snorted. "I wonder if we'd even be able to tell that the bitter ones are bitter."

Eternal Sailor Remarque

There were good questions; some things said that he wouldn’t have said himself, but then again, if he’d been the one giving her information about them he’d have been lying out of his a**. No one had said anything that could damage them—yet. At least, as far as he could tell.

He nodded reassuringly to Kiuchi, figuring it was best to give the Senshi a little support than say anything that might wear down his self esteem. He already seemed shaken enough and Remarque didn’t blame him.

Remarque was still watching, still listening—and perhaps his ability to eavesdrop on a few things at once was the only reason he heard Lesath talking to Logos next to him. He raised a hand to wave to Logos in greeting; he couldn’t introduce himself comfortably but he replied, “I’ve had a little practice with training. I’ll show you some things sometime.”

Lesath’s praise was welcome, but he couldn’t enjoy it when she was looking at a crystal like that. Talking about eating it.

“Hey, hot stuff,” he said, unwilling to use her name until they’d discussed things. “Not that you need to worry about what you’re eating, but I think you were just telling me about that new diet you’re trying, and,” he eyed the crystal. “I don’t think that comes with a nutrition label. Aren’t you still full from dinner?”

Altea seemed thoughtful when Kiuchi spoke of the moon and Earth; she nodded, lips slightly pursed, but finally shrugged. She didn’t seem to mind him or any of the others laughing after she’d licked the crystal, though she seemed a bit embarrassed. Eager to move on to a different topic, she answered him to say, “The names are not lost to me, but they are buried deep in my mind. I kept a journal, though. Perhaps I can find it and see if there are any names you recognize.”

Her slightly embarrassed smile appeared again as she looked to Avior and Sinope. “Well, I haven’t tried eating every crystal, but I’ve never found one here that wasn’t edible. I don’t know that they can curdle, but,” her nose wrinkled again. “I might have to look into that, too. You said there were others?” she glanced to the Senshi of Walls again. “I won’t make the mistake of tasting them. But, if any of you do, please tell me what happens.”

She was still curious, clearly, but unwilling to suffer through the taste testing again.

“But, I do not know. Showing you your worlds…” Her voice trailed off and she raised a hand to her chin thoughtfully. It was clear that she was wracking her brain. Finally, she shook her head. “I don’t know for certain. I can only see or move through mirrors I have known. I don’t know that I can help you there, but…I can try. I do not wish for you to get your hopes up, though. The mirrors rarely give me access outside the castle. But, I will try.”

She smiled at Sinope. “Though, I fear they may only be useful for checking your teeth and broach and hair. He had asked about what she could show him, though, and that was easier than his other questions—or Crocus’, so she answered that first. “You will have to forgive me, I am not entirely sure what you are talking about—what is a movie reel? Pho—photos?” she tested the word, unhappy with how it sounded; she put too little stress as she repeated the word and it was clearly foreign on her lips. “I don’t know of those things, but I do know that the castle is full of history, and that is what I would show you. We have portraits and statues and records. I wish to show you what we accomplished, when we were at our best.”

But then, the last questions. The hard ones.

Pain crossed her face no matter how she tried to hide it, as she glanced to Crocus. “Those of us still in the castle are the survivors of the plague. All of Solamnia was wracked by it. I do not know what caused it, only that it came upon us quickly. I think it was just a passing sickness but I would not know how else to identify it if it weren’t. I am no doctor,” she said apologetically.

Her eyes found her servants; she looked upon them fondly, but didn’t seem to see anything odd in them. “You all seem so interested in them, but they are simply what they are. Are we so different? They are living beings, and they are not immortal. Sickness is a danger to everyone. It’s why it is unsafe to venture outside of the castle. I think the sickness has passed, but if you venture too far, I don’t know what you might uncover. You might get sick yourself. It has been an age since it first came upon us, but I don’t know that my time is the same to yours. I will need to determine what you use to compare time before I can accurately answer how long ago it was for us. I don’t suppose we travel around the same star, but it was not so long ago for us that the pains of our losses have healed. I am still in mourning for my people.”

There were portraits on the wall still, of many people. Some of them seemed royal, but others seemed like there might not be anything special about them. There was no reason for them to be on the wall, dressed in far less extravagant clothing and performing simple chores or posing, but they were smiling and seeing them made Altea smile.

“There are those that look more like me, and those that look less like me. We are not related. But they,” she nodded to the pictures, “Used to live here, in Solamnia. Some still do, though this castle is large, and sometimes my people are brave enough to venture into the worlds. They are trying to save us, to save Solamnia. To help us return to our glory.”

She smiled with such tenderness. “One day, we will. We will shine bright in this darkness once more.”

Distantly, a strange wind blew outside. There were no windows and it was impossible to tell what time it was, but Altea raised a hand to her mouth as if to stifle a yawn. Only, it was a yawn that came out, but a cough. It wracked her body violently and she gripped the edge of the table tightly with her free hand. Servants moved to her side as if to tend to her, but she brushed them away. It took a few seconds but her coughing finally died away. She seemed tired, though; like even her smile was straining her.

“I am sorry,” she rasped; she cleared her throat and then continued, with a bit more strength. She repeated the apology and continued, “It is getting late. You all must be so tired after your ordeal. I understand this must be hard for you, but I hope you will be able to excuse me. I have been up for too long and my body grows weary. I hope you can forgive me. I will look into helping you get home in the morning, perhaps we can talk more then?”

She had played with the food on her plate but had seemed so interested in their conversation that she did not eat more than a bite or two.

“For tonight, I hope my rooms can accommodate you. My servants will take you to them. We have many available, but if you’d rather share a room you are welcome to.”

She stood but seemed weak on her feet. One of her servants moved to her side, taking her arm as if to escort her. She looked at it fondly and then looked back to the group. “If you need anything, you may ask them tonight—or me, tomorrow. I know this is inconvenient to you all, but I am so excited to have you here. It is so nice to know that we aren’t alone out here.”

She bowed then—an action which her servants mimicked, and leaned heavily on the one escorting her. She seemed frail, and tired, but there was no telling what strain pulling them from the mirror had caused on her body. At the very least, she seemed earnest in her words.

Even as she was escorted out of the room, the servants began to line up at the table, prepared to clean it off and take the Dark Mirror Senshi to their rooms.

Will edit later - Sinope exit

Basic Senshi Mithra

Mithra still wasn't sure what to make of all of this, especially the food. This was going to be a hard stay, no matter how long it was. It seemed though that the conversation was winding down and there was less crucial information being passed around, and so Mithra felt herself lose a bit of her edge, to the point where she only listened, a bit bored while trying to will herself to try the stupid rocks.

Honestly, rock candy would have been better.

But it seemed as though the Altea, she refused to call the woman Queen, was done for now, if the violent coughing fit meant anything, and eventually the rest of them stood up and it seemed that there were more servants now. They were to be escorted by them apparently, though Mithra wondered if they weren't there to try to keep them from getting to any secrets by exploring the castle. Well, nothing to do now but try to survive as best she could as she followed the servant that seemed to be assigned to her right now to the room she would be relegated to for the stay.

Lesath was patting some newbie (not that she wasn't one herself, but this was clearly a newbie new-bie so therefore had earned the title) on the head like a little puppy and LJ, despite all of the strange suspicions going around, couldn't help but snerk.

Kibob was busy trying to convince her to eat more crystals, choosing to risk her life by ingesting god knows how many of the fragments into her gullet. LJ halfway wondered if she would start sprouting crystals as a result. Or worse - what if she turned into one?

Before she had additional time to vocalize her concerns about the side-effects from eating crystals, the Queen had announced it was time for bed. She slid one into the confines of her fuku for further inspection later.

And okay, well. Lovejoy hadn't expected to be staying a night in a creepy castle but hell, this was starting to sound like a downright haunted house story waiting to happen.

Count her in.

Dragging her best friend from the table by her wrist (in the attempts to also prevent her from choking on a crystal, the woman was eating them so stupid fast), she let the silent servants take them to their room. The white haired girl wasn't about to lose sight of her pretty little crazyhead, not when they were stuck in some weird mirrorspace castle with the strange and usual Altea at the helm.

NOPE.



[Lovejoy Exit]

Hekate / Merkeb WIP