[MEETING] Hey! Listen! Senshi! [ORP]

[iStoleYurVamps]

Looking at the crowd of faces, it struck Castor how many he both knew and didn’t know. Some he was fond of, some were not fond of him. Some he was pretty sure liked him well enough, some he thought of as deeply trusted friends. However, standing in front of them all, the eternal senshi of hail got the feeling that this meeting was more then what they had been in the past. No one could deny the changes that had taken place since the coma, or the fallout and aftermath. No, the ripples could be seen across the board in the missing senshi, or put more bluntly, the ones who had either been killed by the rampant youma or had simply not woken up. The coma had left them scattered, but now…
Change had taken place, some new force had rippled into the world and taken root in the warzone call Destiny City. Queen Serenity had appeared before them at the Halloween ball. Beryl had done the same, only the queen was flesh, Serenity was just a memory. Serenity was the light of their dream, and memories and dreams could only move people forward for so long. Hope was all well and good, but in times of war, times such as now, the senshi forces needed orders that rested more on themselves then old deities. The force had come in the shape of a crystal, and it seemed with the event at the Luchadome, (long live Don Diablos), there was more than one to be had. Sadly both crystals now rested in the hands of the negaverse, which for all they knew, could spell the end for all.

The warehouse that had been chilly was now an ambient warm, the bodies and clusters of the powered individuals filling the air with life as the less then fancy meeting location became slightly more hospitable. The sound of youths and young adults echoed into a dull thrum as guardian cats kept the energy signal at bay. Flicking open his phone Castor ran down a list of those he knew and did not. From what his phone was telling him, as well as the pointed ‘get on with it glare’ from one particular cat, Castor was pretty sure it was time to start.
“Hey!” A few senshi looked over, but the echo of the room remained. God, was his generation of senshi just more polite or something? “SHUT. UP.” More looks, a few got the message, but of course, like any event, a few chatter boxes in the back continued their conversations.

“SHUT THE ******** UP! Jesus you guys.” That one got the teens to settle. It also got all eyes on him. Well s**t. “Uh.” Crap, why had he chosen to be here? Oh right, duty and honor and some other fancy stuff. “We are gathered here today…aw ******** that.” Castor rubbed the back of his head. “s**t’s going down guys and gals, and while I know some of you ‘had plans’ you all will just have put on your big girl panties and deal with it.” He was eloquent as ever. “I’d love to be spending my Saturday night boning my girlfriend too but this is some serious ******** senshi business here okay, so ya’ll can sit down, shut up, and listen.” He sighed. “Especially when we consider what has been happening and as some might recall, the very real threat of Queen Beryl showing herself in public, not to mention a few possible crystals?” He hoped that got some attention.
“Before that, my” he paused, “Comrade, Sailor Taranis, would like to address you.” Castor motioned to the senshi of sand to speak, fully aware of the animosity that had yet to fade between them.  

[Akina Tokuwa]

Parker Damhnait had never been a leader. He hardly considered himself one, let alone a person who might one day stand to command a room. Sure, he had envisioned it -- dreamed up fantasies about him as a great Nobel laureate, a grassroots politician, perhaps even president -- but these dreams were, to him, like wishing to date the head cheerleader: impossible. The day that he awoke as Sailor Taranis, more than magic had been born in him; there was a new confidence, a spark of hope in an otherwise dreary mental landscape, a desire to change the world for the better. It took many hardships, trials, and losses, but finally, he felt like the man he knew his mother had always believed he could be.

Strolling up astride Sailor Castor, Taranis fought eye contact with his once-friend, now a forced ally. Their relationship was bristly at best, but the senshi of sand would let nothing stand in his way, not that night. He might not be the most likable senshi in the world, but he had something important to say. And for once, people had to listen. They were here, weren't they? He spared one critical look at Castor -- that was hardly the proper way to address the senshi forces, was it? -- but then prepared himself for what would be his first public address to the group. A tremor of nerves rattled in his arms, but he pushed it down.

Taranis also took note of the missing faces in the room. He did not keep mum about it. "How many of us have died?" he said suddenly. It was not the most charming entrance, but, of course, that was the point. "How many more of us have to die before we start taking things seriously?" A gloved hand raised, fingers drawn together in a subtle point. "I know that a lot of people in this room tonight feel exactly this way, just like I do. And I trust that you, like me, are no longer willing to sit idly by. Perhaps you have ideas for how we can improve our fighting force, perhaps you don't. In any case, it doesn't matter because, in this room, as a unit, we have exactly what we need to win this fight, to stop losing senshi as quickly as we shed eyelashes. We have each other." It was a little melodramatic. Taranis was in that sort of mood.

Slowly, he moved toward the other side of the stage. It was a method his old debate coach had once taught him, a way to involve the entire room in the words of the speaker. "I am here to talk to you about the first of what will be a long line of new strategies implemented by the senshi. These new ideas are going to come from the people in this room. There is no reason for us to always learn everything the hard way. A new senshi shouldn't have to watch a civilian die to understand the importance of rushing starseeds back to bodies while they are still warm. You shouldn't have to lose a Nega in the dark because you never knew some of their upper ranks can teleport. You shouldn't have to make the mistake of trusting a corrupted senshi simply because you have never run into one before and don't know they are to be feared." His hand dropped to his side.

Behind him, Taranis felt like he could hear Castor wishing he'd get the point. The senshi of sand was a waffler. And all of his nerves translated into his lips and pushed them to keep moving. So he tried to move it along: "One of the first steps in the road ahead of us is better information-gathering. Many of us in this room know some Negas by their face, their weapon, their signature battle style -- these are things that we must start compiling so that every single senshi is privy to the same information." The leather of his gloves tightened as he clenched a fist.

His jaw set into a hard line, adding to his obvious tension. "I am going to spearhead this movement, though I will need assistance from everyone here, as well as specific individuals to assist in upkeep. The same technology that can keep our senshi phones protected can be used to keep this database a secret as well, something that only we can access -- and something that I believe will save lives. We are done fighting blindly. It is time for us to share our experiences so that we can be stronger for it. Known senshi-killers should be a priority, but every single Negaverse agent is a danger to us. The better we know our enemy, the easier it will be for us to prey on them. Know a Nega that seems to always go for the easy kill? Tell us, and we will tell everyone. We can set traps for that Nega. We can use that one trait to manipulate them into our hands."

There was so much to be said, but those details were for other meetings. This one was just about discussing ideas. Before their falling out, Castor and Taranis had discussed this moment in excruciating detail. They had planned it, and now it was being executed. Better not to overload everyone on their first race out of the gate.

Taranis stopped suddenly, his boots squeaking to a halt. "The Negaverse are not the only ones who can be cunning -- we can be just as cunning." His eyes darkened, grew serious. "And the Negaverse are not the only ones who can kill -- we can be just as vicious." The note hung in the air, a black raincloud over them all. Many senshi accepted this as fact and it was obvious by the seriousness in their eyes, but judging from some of the shuffling, the idea did not sit as well with others. They were perhaps newer, or simply highly idealistic. In any case, Taranis felt the truth in his words, and stood firmly behind it.

His mouth opened to continue, but there was a flurry of frills in the back. Was that a hand waving, or just some over-the-top sitting? Unfortunately, Taranis recognized the bundle of vanity and annoyance from a mile away. It took a lot of concentration to keep this distaste from his voice, but his words still rang with a touch of frustration. Taranis looked once out into the crowd, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Sailor Rosalind, did you have some wisdom to add?" And then, much lower: "Or are you just getting bored?" The senshi of sand fell back in line with Castor.  

[thefancycakes]

Perhaps Rosalind would have been more inclined to be less imperious if it wasn't Taranis that had been speaking. Maybe if the senshi weren't relegated to such a detestable area for their meetings, Rosalind would have been a tad less belligerent. Maybe not-- the Soldier of Wealth wasn't known for being the sweetest and most respectful of senshi, now, was she?

No sooner had Taranis finished droning on and on when Rosalind stood up from her reclined position on a soft sack of something (she didn't know what kind of warehouse it was, she just found the most comfortable seating possible), snapping her fingers to get the attention she required. "That's fine and dandy, Taranis," she started haughtily, "but you know what I think needs to be discussed?" She was now strutting forward, arms crossed and back arched, so that she could put forth an air of professionalism and superiority. Didn't higher-ups do that in business meetings? Walk back and forth while blabbing on about whatever it was they had to talk about? If Rosalind had her way, she'd have been carried up to Castor and Taranis' position in a palanquin by half-naked, oiled-up men, confetti cannons shooting rose petals, followed by a train of leopards.

This was why she wasn't a born leader, naturally.

"We all know that the Negaverse is awful, they're old news. That much I'll agree on," she stopped, then exhaled before continuing, "but I think that killing is the only thing that sets us apart from them. If we were just as vicious as they are, we'd be the Negaverse. Hellooooo, anybody home?" Rosalind threw her ringed hands up in the air, rolling her eyes all the while. "Anyway, that's not the wisdom I wanted to add, as you so eloquently stated. What I want to know about are those Crystals that have been showing up." The prissy sailor soldier recalled the two she had encountered; one at the Masquerade ball, the other at the Don Diablos brawl. Neither of them were necessarily happy events. "What purpose do they serve? I mean, obviously, they're extremely important-- otherwise that hag Beryl wouldn't want them, would she? The witch herself actually showed up to incite her minions during the Halloween Ball! That doesn't happen too often, does it? I'll admit that I had never heard of her until just a few weeks back. But that just solidifies my point of how rarely she graces us with her presence."

Rosalind realized that she been going on for awhile. The good thing was that she didn't care! The copper brunette brought her golden pumps together, the heels clacking on the storehouse's cold pavement. It was a distinctly feminine clicking as opposed to Taranis' rugged clunking of boots. "As a matter of fact, I don't ever recall having to compete with the Negaverse. Battling? Duh. But most definitely not competing. I realize I'm all over the place, and not nearly as emotionally dramatic as Taranis, or as commanding as Castor," she threw a glare in their direction, "but I honestly feel like they're leaving something out."

"What about our Queen? I don't think she's the voice we've all heard at some point, but she's definitely someone of importance." Sailor Rosalind looked out a window, and at the vast starry sky above them. "She only recently showed up to collect the Crystals though, which brings me back to my point-- what are those darn things for? Why do both of the Queens need, and or want them so badly? Does our Queen need them to be an actual person, as opposed to a sentient wisp of a Queen?"

Rosalind had finished what she had to say. She looked around at the myriad eyes staring at her, some expectantly, some judging, some bored-- at any rate, the Soldier of Wealth traipsed back to her seat. Wiping dust off the surface of the sack that had settled after she got up, Rosalind gingerly sat upon it once more. "One last thing-- I'm done with outrageous Crystal hunts. They're getting disgusting. That is all." What was next? Would she have to dive to the bottom of a public pool to get a Crystal? Blech!  

[nessy]

Being in this place, in this time, experiencing her first real senshi meeting had left Super Sailor Chibimoon unsure how she felt. At one moment she was rather outraged that someone could be so totally brash and casual about being a senshi; of course everyone wanted to be here! Taranis' statements had decidedly gotten her warm approval, she wanted very much to clap for him. Apparently, when she had thrown him off a building all those weeks ago, it was a very good thing the Lady hadn't finished him off. The senshi would have lost a greater asset than she'd known at that time!

What had truly piqued her interest though, were Rosalind's questions. Did they truly know so little about how things were, how things had been? Chibimoon had been raised on the lore of the Silver Millennium and had been tirelessly interested in those things she had not been present for as a senshi. The current enemy was one of those things she had missed, but had studied under Mercury's tutelage. The young senshi knew how to answer what was being asked, and hesitated as light murmuring filled the room. Was no one stepping forward?

Nova's words and urgings sounded in the princess' mind, strengthening her resolve. Chibimoon had been hiding in the shadows at the side, angled away from the group so that no one could see her to note on her fuku or hairstyle. "I can tell you those things, Sailor Rosalind." Her kitten heels shuffled lightly against the ground, but her tiny chin was held high as the Chibi Senshi of the Moon stepped up across from the elegant Rosalind. Lightly, she curtsied to the room. "I am Sailor Chibimoon. Queen Serenity is my mother's mother." She still hadn't quite mastered the word 'grandmother', but it had the desired effect. There was murmuring and a buzz all around the room, but her voice was still clearly audible above the talking.

"Queen Serenity and her daughter are dead. The Queen will not come back if you find them all." Her face screwed up as she tried to find the words to articulate what she wanted to say, wishing desperately that Nova were here to act as her translator. Luna could have always stepped up, but somehow Chibi did not think she was going to. This, like all things, was a test of her will. Apparently, she had to do storytime on her own. "I do not speak so well, I am sorry. What was in the cake is what we called a nijizuishou; you would call it a Rainbow Crystal?" A nod from the stoic grey-haired Guardian Cat brought a smile to her lips, and the severe little girl loosened into the lively teen she usually was. "On the Moon, the Queen used her Crystal to lock the very strong youma inside." Seven fingers were held up in the air, the number not quite known to her in English. "There were so many. When they were in front of Sailor Moon, the Princess was found and so was the ginzuishou. Her Crystal." It was so very hard to tell a story accurately when you didn't speak the damn language! Why couldn't they all have been reborn in Japan?!

White-gloved hands waved in front of her face, a dismissive gesture. "That is not to happen here. They are very powerful, and did give even normal humans power that they were not born with. We need to take them and use them alone. It will make the power of the senshi so strong that Beryl will not be able to stand in front of it!" Passion lit her red eyes as the teen spoke with a fervor for the group she was so very devoted to, though she knew almost none of them personally. "I am her child, and I don't know where the Moon Princess can be found. I do not know if she was born again at all. We need to win, Taranis said: 'We are dying.' We cannot die!" The passion in her eyes was darkened with sadness. "None of these senshi might see Princess Serenity. My mother might be dead still. Born again is never fast, even if we need her." That proud chin tilted up again.

"We must show her, if she comes, that we are strong without. That we are proud, we are senshi. If our power is enough, Beryl will be sealed away again, dead, it does not matter. She must leave our home, and it is our home!" The last word echoed somewhat in the warehouse, even though the bodies were there to dull the sound. Catching herself, smiling again that odd smile, Chibimoon curtsied again and stepped back. It would be interesting to see who the first to speak out would be.  

[LizzyMoo]

Thanks to a certain defective cat that lacked a tail, Sailor Iris and Sailor Metis had been forced to sit near the very front. The Senshi of Rainbows was the sort who would take a seat in the back and try to just listen in. Never really speaking up, blending in as best as a relatively tall girl would in a crowd. The front was probably the last place she really wanted to be, thanks to the presence of a dipsh*t. She crossed her arms and attempted to listen in, but she honestly didn't feel like listening to Castor, or even Taranis-saurus Rex. They honestly just sounded like they were puking out all the information that Luna (or whatever the hell her name was) was preaching out since day one. A careful listener, Iris was not. Her ears somewhat seemed to tune in when the subject of the crystals came up. ********* had tried to explain it before, but it hadn't really stuck.

It was when the pink-haired senshi began to explain that things seemed to set in. Sort of at least. The explanation of "Serenity this" and "Serenity that" actually was more confusing than she cared to deal with. The accent also didn't help the girl's cause (that accent actually sounded a bit familiar, hmmmm).

So after such a passionate speech, there was one who was willing to stand up and ask what was on her mind. A yellow-suited senshi with feathers sprouting out of the butt of her fuku. "Uh, yeah... sooooooo..." A gloved hand ran itself through her oddly styled blonde hair. "I'm honestly confused."

One guardian of the group working on masking the energy signal couldn't help but smack her hand against her own forehead.

Ignoring the obvious cue from ********* that she should probably sit down, Iris continued to stand there, looking across the crowd. She wasn't a public speaker, but at the same time, she wasn't intimidated by a large group of people essentially staring at her. "So... Luna... that's what she goes by these days, right? She kept gettin' on our asses 'bout findin' someone called Serenity. S'posed t'be a Princess or somethin'..." Iris' shoulders shrugged slightly, since she had no clue. "And now, Chibimoon 'ere's talkin' bout all these different Serenities."

Once more, a hand ruffled through her own hair as she attempted to piece together her own question. "I'll admit... I wasn't at the masquerade and junk... not my thing. So I dunno what really happened. From what I've heard... a queen showed up? Is that the Serenity we've been lookin' for? Or not? Or what?"

Normally, ********* would have kept a pretty level head about all of this. Yet, she broke away from the group of guardians, stepping lightly with that playful jingle accenting her movements. She approached the senshi that was a part of her team and stood there for a moment, looking up to her gold eyes with her own green ones. And then rather suddenly, the circus girl whacked the tall senshi across the side of the head. She did all of this with an easy smile upon her face.

"Stop being such a dummy!" she scolded before once more running back to the group of cats.

Sailor Iris scowled a bit. It didn't really hurt, it was just more annoying than anything. "Hey! I'm just askin' what a bunch of us are probably wonderin', cat!" Crossing her arms once more, she sat back down in her chair with a relatively noticeable THUMP. She turned away as if now disinterested with this whole meeting.

Before truly returning to her current task, ********* found a very familiar pair of cerise eyes looking to her, as if silently asking for the floor.

"Well, perhaps she can answer your questions." With a single gesture of the hand, she gave the Princess of the Zodiacs the floor to speak.  

[Melodine Cantus]

It hadn't been easy to deal with all that had happened lately, what with two losses of the Crystals. Chronos had been glad to hear of a senshi meeting, which was what they sorely needed. Castor's way of opening the meeting was pretty harsh, but Chronos barely blinked. The Negaverse was a well-oiled army and they were not. Even the Zodiacs, guardians of the borders, were falling apart and she pursed her lips at the thought. They were working on rebuilding things. What more better that organizing everyone on their side and having an information database?

Like alerting the newer senshi as to who the real threats in the Negaverse, like Obsidian, were. They couldn't afford to lose any more lives.

There were so many confusions the senshi pointed out; confusions that Chronos once had. The confusion surrounding the Crystals were quickly dispelled by Chibimoon, something Chronos needed to hear. Even if it wasn't her own Crystal, it was still important. She didn't blame Iris for having qualms about the Serenity business; she herself had been boggled when faced with the similar names, even when it was her own family.

She stood up, giving a silent appreciative nod towards *********. "The Queen Serenity that appeared before you and spoke to you all is your Princess' mother. Chibimoon's grandmother and my aunt. She is not the person you have been looking for, but she always will be there for all of us, to give us hope in our darkest times. She was there at Barren Pines to give the Zodiacs and the remaining survivors strength. She was there when we lost the first Crystal in the mayhem of Halloween. And she always will be supporting and watching over us, like she has." She would forever remember and cherish that comfort she had felt twice from her Aunt, who loved them all.

"But that is not enough." Princess Chronos continued, her voice growing louder as she turned her eyes towards the crowd. "We have lost, yes. But we have suffered much more losses before these two Crystals and we have picked ourselves up from those defeats. We are still fighting. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. There are still five more of these Crystals, five more chances for us all."

"We need to formulate a plan." She pointed out bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. "One of the main problems I see is that the Negaverse has teleportation on their side. They grab the Crystal and then, immediately vanish to present it to their Queen. If any of us grab the Crystal, we do not have the same advantage as they do, and thus, they still have a chance to snatch it from us."

"Does anyone have any ideas of what we can do?" A hand shot in the air, and she inclined her head towards Sailor Europa. "Yes?"  

[Silverah]

Europa had been in Hermione Granger mode since the start of the meeting, alternating between listening intently, raising her hand (and being ignored), and scribbling notes. First she'd used paper; when she ran out of paper, she wrote on her thigh. "Well, I do," she said, hopping to her feet as soon as the green-haired princess gave her the time of day. She wiggled out from between Regulus and Bellatrix, stepped over Pyxis, and took the floor.

"I'm Super Sailor Europa," the teal-haired girl introduced herself, "And I head a team called the Basterds. We're pretty large and easy to find, we're all sitting right up there." She pointed. It was kind of awkward and embarrassing for everyone involved. Europa cleared her throat.

"Our primary goal is information gathering," she explained. "We fight and patrol just like the rest of you, but we also catalogue and cross-reference what we learn and are trying to put together a full picture of events both past and present."

Smoothing her skirt, she continued. "Like Sailor Taranis already said, we would all greatly benefit by sharing our knowledge and cataloging the negaverse agents at work in Destiny City." It sounded a bit pretentious, and she winced before finishing the thought. "We have already begun to do this, but our information is only as complete as our nine members have managed to make it. I would like to formally submit our file as the basis of a complete encyclopedia of enemy operatives, and to request that the rest of you work with us to make it as detailed and exhaustive as possible."

Knowledge was power, and Europa was mixing metaphors and talking like a spy thriller. Once again, she gestured to the eight senshi (and one cat) who sat gathered towards the middle of the throng. "My teammates are Bellatrix, Regulus, Polaris, Pyxis, Pomona, Themis, Maia, Eos, and Abel, and if any of you have any questions to ask or information you'd like to volunteer, you can direct yourselves to any of them, or to me."

She glanced around nervously, hoping she hadn't gone too long. Europa still had plans to go on a bit longer, and she didn't like the bored expression she'd spotted Castor sporting.

"There is no excuse for ignorance," she emphasized. "We all need to educate ourselves about our enemies, about our history, and about what's going on in this city right under our noses. We need to know what they're capable of, what we're capable of, and what they've already done so we can try to anticipate what they're going to do next."

She might as well have just barked CONSTANT VIGILANCE at them for ten minutes, really.

"Read the papers. Look for erratic behavior and mysterious deaths and disappearances. Everything in this city is connected." Someone had watched a few too many episodes of Law and Order. Europa scanned the crowd once more and zeroed in on a red-haired super senshi with an impatient look on her face. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that we'd like to be a resource to the greater good. Did you want to say something, um..."

She searched her mind for a name - perhaps they'd encountered each other in the past?

"Lyra, is it?"  

[Lilwolfpard]

For the most part Lyra had been sitting in the middle of the crowd listening to those whom took the chance to speak up. She was shifting back and forth almost uncomfortably during the speeches. She was a listener, a thinker... and not much of a public speaker herself. On some degree she agreed with a few things, and on others... well, she was skeptical about.

She was not so sure about putting so much faith in the dead princess or queen. As chibimoon spoke, Lyra couldn't help but wonder if she was the 'heir' why had SHE not taken the throne and been the princess. Was there some unspoken rule where the princess had to be named 'serenity'? Some here chose to put blind faith in a dead princess... hell Lyras own guardian cat would always stress this. Always wait for the moon princess she will save us she is the power of good etc. She understood that and believed for some time, but recent events have caused her to wonder that if waiting for such a thing to happen, in the meantime the negaverse will kill them all and by the time this princess shows there would be nothing LEFT to save.

On the front of acting and sticking together, she was all for that. A divided team was a dead team... picked off one by one they would be otherwise. The negaverse is organized, and from what she could make out they all knew their places and ranked up in accordance. They all had ways to contact each other and share information... plus they all seemed to train one another. This not only would build trust in their organization, but build their power and numbers as well.

"Thank you Europa." She smiled at the senshi remembering her as she stood.

"My point is a bit off topic, but in the end could be a round about way to help us all. If everyone here has noticed, the Negaverse has a structured system of higher ranking officers and lessers, of which they make a note to build teams and train off one another." She had seen a lieutenant go to captain, and therefor gain lieutenants under him to train. She was certain anyone with a mind here could put two and two together as well.

"Also as we have already stated... we are a bit scattered as well, the negaverse has the clear advantage of that on us. I was talking with Mu Cephei the other day about this problem," A nod in the supers direction to point her out. "And what we suggest is some sort of mentor/men-tee program. One where super sailors can help train and mentor sailors, and Eternal sailors can train supers and sailors." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I realize that we have teams, and this i propose as something to not effect the teams. This should be something i think more as a senshi to fallback on, to go to someone with more experience and to ask for help or advice if they need it... needless to say if they were on your team or not. I think this would build trust between us all, keep us all tied together, and also." She nodded again towards Europa. "As another way to keep information traveling through the grape vine."

She backed away after saying her peace, sitting back in her chair, and little more red to the face from embarrassment that her idea was stupid, and waiting for the next speaker.  

[LadyNozomi]

Sailor Perseus had sat through this meeting much as she had the last, small notebook in hand with her furiously scribbling away notes in shorthand. The whole thing was beginning to make her brain hurt, in all seriousness, more than her law homework ever had. She stood after Lyra had sat, turning to address her peers. Some of them were familiar, some of them were not. She was actually somewhat shocked to see how many more faces she'd recognized since the last meeting.

"I think thus far the senshi's points before mine have all been valid. The need for teams, organization, and information is now more needed than ever before. With every Negaverser that gains rank, we suffer. With every team they make, trap they set, starseed they steal...we, and the other people of this city, suffer." She paused, scanning the crowd just as she had been taught. "I for one, am sick of suffering."

Her bright eyes turned to the panel of cats sitting around the room. "When I was awakened, I was given a name, an attack, and a cellphone. Little information was offered other than a vague overview, and I didn't know enough at that point to ask questions." Perseus sighed, snapping her little note book shut. "What I want to know is why we aren't supplied with more information from those that know it, rather than having to hunt down a Guardian to ask it of them? This is a war that we've all been thrust into just for being born who we are, and having a bit of background information to keep us alive seems like it would be intelligent."

The whole thing, lack of organization particularly, was a headache that had started months ago. "Not only that, but the other thing I have been pondering on since the beginning of this meeting is your role here, Sailor Chibimoon. You say that you're our princess's daughter, but how did you get here if she is not?" Her eyes turned to lock onto the startlingly pink ones of the little princess in front of her. "You also seem to know a lot of information that I've only just heard about now. You implied that the crystals being combined in the past summoned the princess, why wont it work now? How do you know it wont work?" The hair on the girl seemed ever so familiar, like something she couldn't place.

"If my life and the life of those I love is constantly at stake..." Her eyes stayed on the princess she'd just questioned. "I would prefer to have the information to make the right choices." She sat with little more than a whisper of fabric moving, making sure to open up her notebook again to write down the things that she would hopefully be able to make sense of at a later point. Perseus loved the idea of a database, and hoped that it would come to fruition at some point in the near future, so much so that she would find Sailor Taranis and hound him until it did.  

[nessy]

Chronos was there. The lost child part of Chibimoon wanted nothing more than to go over and seize her hand, hold it and use it as an anchor to reassure herself that she was doing alright. Chronos would never let her pink cousin drown, the Princess of the Zodiacs was far too sweet and caring to allow it. So she must have been doing alright? Certainly, none of them were trying to cart her off and throw her off the top of Destiny Tower for her crimes...which meant that none of them really recognized her. That alone gave her a boost, so that she was able to answer Perseus to the best of her ability. "I am sorry, I should have told more." Tilting her head slightly to the side so that one long, cotton candy tail of hair brushed the ground lightly, she found the word and nodded almost to no one in particular.

"You will laugh and say yes when I tell you I should not be here. My home is a place called Crystal Tokyo. My mama and papa were Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion, and that sounds very strange to you. In my time, Sailor Moon did not die. In this time, things are very wrong. I do not know how I am here. I do not know where she is." It was easier to speak about after so long, and the deep well of darkness inside of her had been sealed off with pink butterflies, glittering ropes of stars, and overlaying all that were the white feathers of a Pegasus' wings.

"For the Princess, it did not...summon? It did not find her, she found them. Tuxedo Kamen was dying, she cried." A finger lightly pulled at her eyelid, tracing down her cheek to get the point across. "Inside her tear was the power. It made them all join and make the Silver Crystal." Fingers touched her own brooch for a moment before looking eagerly out at the room. "You understand, yes? No tear, no princess? If we can have them all, it is worth trying to see if someone feels like crying, but what if not? What if we cannot get them all? That is what I think." The pink heels scuffed the ground.

"You do not have to listen to me. I am a princess out of my time, with little power. Some of you are stronger than me." Eyes looked to Iris in front, Castor to her side, back at Chronos, thinking always of Pegasus and Nova. "I just know the past, and my home. I do not know this place." Feeling awkward now, Chibimoon moved back to lean against a box. She didn't know who to call on, didn't think she should. It wasn't her meeting, after all. She didn't want her own meeting.

Dangit.  

[surreality]

Like most other senshi gathered in the warehouse, Super Sailor Alcyone sat quietly with her group of teammates and quickly took notes as people spoke out their minds. It had been a long time since she'd seen a congregation of sailor soldiers; well before the coma, most likely around the time when Beryl first made herself present in the city about a year ago. The number of people have since then doubled, and she was surprised that even now she had only seen a handful of those young and inexperienced faces. Where could they be hiding in those dark alleyways?

Quite a few people had brought up good points to discuss. The senshi at large were not in the best shape to retaliate against the Negaverse, now even stronger with the help of at least two rainbow crystals. Furthermore, there was still an issue of misinformation: it was rare when a simple civilian became a crime-fighting sailor scout and had the knowledge to fight efficiently, let alone survive a captain or a lieutenant's attacks. Alcyone knew that she herself could have used more information than, 'hey, find our princess and fight the baddies!', and even now, she hardly knew why finding the princess was so important when there are other things to be done.

People were dying. Their city was dying, and if what the small lady said was correct, so was the supposed princess that they've spent the last year looking for. She should no longer be the focus of their strength and will; it should be the very people who are falling victims to those fiends.

There was a silence that enveloped the room as the last speaking person took a seat. She hesitated for a brief moment, and when nobody else claimed the opportunity she rose, slowly at first, to meet the room. She still couldn't believe how many new faces have appeared.

"Hello! I'm Super Sailor Alcyone, and I'm a part of Team Pleiades." It was an introduction simple enough. "I believe a lot of good ideas were brought up. Some aren't new: we've been talking about putting together an information hub for quite some time now, and while it's important, I find that there are things a little more crucial to focus on. Such as our will-power to fight."

At this point, she turned her gaze towards Sailor Rosalind, a powder puff of fabric petals amongst her peers. "And I disagree with you. I do not believe that we'd become just as low as the Negaverse should we begin to dispose of them. We are not killing innocent bystanders like they're prone to, Rosalind. We are protecting the majority of the city by decreasing their numbers, which if you haven't noticed by now, are on the rise. They have become a considerable threat, and us running away is not helping."

"We need to fight!" She addressed the room. "Like Super Sailor Lyra said, we need to form stronger teams and practice. We can't sit around and wait for a princess to come to our aide-- that is not the reason we were brought here. We are the protectors of Destiny City, and we are failing tremendously. We need to team up, learn from one another through information and experience, and I believe we should also begin mutual sparring."

"What better way to hone our skills? We need to become more comfortable with our attacks, and our own physical bodies. Some of us can only use our power for so long, and when it's over, what then? Do we run? That would be our only option if we didn't know how to fight on our own. We need to learn."

Besides, they could build a high tolerance for pain and stamina should they practice on each other.

"We can't keep waiting for something to happen; we have to make it happen ourselves. That is all."  

[Akina Tokuwa]

Super Sailor Taranis did not give his team a flashy name, but he could respect those that did. Hell, did he even have a team? He was training Sailor Themis and Sailor Denebola to an extent, and he organized patrols with Castor. That was... a team? He never thought of them as sub-groups, just one big breathing organism. It was how he went about it anyway. Taranis thought of organizing as a whole, not as individual pieces, but looking widely at those who rose to speak, he wondered idly if perhaps he should try to form a team. The idea was quickly shaken away. He was a pragmatist, not a motivator. He doubted his ability to motivate or unify people.

Bright eyes bounced to the jellyfish-bowed girl. He had heard of her before. She was on the team that Polaris and Themis were a part of -- the head of it, if he remembered correctly. Europa seemed to be a font of information, which made her even more appealing to the senshi of sand. He crossed to her immediately, discussing in hushed voices the highlights of the information she had gathered. Though he disliked her keeping anything in hard copy, he understood the need for it prior to making use of the senshiphone -- something he planned to change as soon as possible.

In a low voice, Taranis bent to Europa and said, "This is wonderful, really wonderful, Europa. We can convert this all on to a database through the senshiphones so only we can access it -- only people on our side. But I need help, everyone's really, tracking down the information, if you already have a plan of attack." Themis, too, he thought, could help in this end. From their brief talks, Taranis knew he had a sharp mind for data. Europa, too, seemed to have an eye for detail. How many more in this room would want to help him in this end?

When Alcyone stood up, Taranis watched her. New idea or not, no one had done a damn thing before on a widespread scale, had they? His pride made him bristle at her statement, fighting the urge to point out the sheer lack of progress that had been made on that end, but he stopped. He would change that -- especially with someone like Europa already prepared to lay out some information to start it off. It was not a new thing to collect information, but Taranis could make it accessible through the senshiphones. That alone made his proposal unique, if only in a small way. Besides, to hash that out was splitting hairs -- if everyone agreed, good! It would only make the database stronger.

Her next statement agreed much more with him. His head bobbed in agreement. Already, some were training new senshi, but it was certainly a cause that needed more attention. If he had had a proper mentor coming up through the ranks, Taranis would not have had to lose so many battles.

Still standing by Europa, Taranis angled toward Alcyone and chimed in, "We should separate into groups -- supers up here, eternals there, and then sailor scouts down front. Before anyone leaves, we should get in touch with someone ranked above us about self-improvement." His eyes bounced to Themis and Denebola, but then moved across the crowd. Who would come to him? His eyes moved to Castor, picking the eternal senshi of hail, even as it pained him to think it.

Then he turned back to Europa to continue talking, waving one hand to invite any other information-centric people to come their way.  

[LP]

Hugbell had been hiding in the back, she was still sorta unsure about all. She was looking at all the senshi, there were tons of them. She frowned when she saw Chibimoon, she looked like about the only other chibi that was around.

Hugbell twitched, for having a sphere called comfort she wasn't quite comfortable in the meeting. She watched the potty mouth senshi as he called attention and the others as well talk. It was when everything seemed to wrap up she inched her way up to where she'd seen Chibimoon. Then everything was lost in a sea of bodies.

She was too short to see where the pink haired senshi went. As she wound her way through she found herself ending up beside Castor. She paused and tugged on his arm softly. Butter yellow eyes looked up at him innocent and a bit scare of the sheer number of senshi. "Excuse me..." She said meekly.  

[kalindara]

Foramen had hung firmly at the back of this gathering, only curiosity making him take any notice of the "all senshi mandatory" status - ha, like he hadn't skipped before. Castor opening it made Foramen grimace. He'd seen the blue senshi in meetings before and had the same opinion of Castor that most other senshi came away with of Foramen himself. The second senshi to speak up, though, had some interesting ideas. Nothing that others hadn't suggested before, but it seemed people were finally planning to put them into action.

And besides, Foramen was all for any plan that meant he didn't have to rely on others for his intel.

So he waited until the meeting was officially over, and the little goons started socialising like this was a ******** dance party, not a gathering of magical warriors, to approach Taranis. He made sure he walked close enough by the supposed 'princess', Chibimoon, to see if she had the same effect that her grandmother had. He lingered, but felt no urge to follow orders or protect her with his life. It was a plus to not auto-worship someone, but all the same, a downside in that the pink girl wouldn't be able to rally them like Queen Serenity had, even as a ghost. Shooting the pink princess a glare, he moved on, coming to halt behind Taranis.

"Hey," Foramen said, trying (and failing) to school his expression into something other than irritation at being here. Arms crossed firmly over his chest didn't help him to appear friendly. "You actually have someone to code this database of yours?"