Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was the next evening after the failed operation against Zinkenite. Early that morning, Ariana had visited Kaatje, and was still reeling from the verbal and emotional blows. Add to that the fact that she'd come home to find her room ransacked and Ares' henshin pen missing... Well, suffice to say that 'frazzled' didn't begin to cover what Birhan was feeling.

Birhan wasn't about to cancel the meeting just because of her own issues. The others deserved to know the results of the operation, even if they hadn't volunteered to help. And of course there was the usual stuff to go through, patrol schedules and the like.

Tonight they were gathered in what had once been a church, though it was long abandoned now. There were no pews, no altar, no pulpit. Chunks of flooring had given way to dirt and to greenery that slowly wound its way through more of the wood and concrete. The walls had long since finished peeling, large sections of plasterboard pulled away entirely to reveal the brickwork underneath. Moonlight beamed down through hole in the roof - thankfully for the senshi it wasn't raining. Birhan stood at the head of the room. Behind her, stained glass was faded and broken. Despite the clear weather outside, the building smelled damp, of moist dirt and rotting wood and thriving weeds. It was no palace, but they'd used the same warehouse too frequently. Birhan wasn't taking chances, especially after last night's disaster.

The meeting began smoothly enough. Familiar topics like patrol schedules and the status of individual members had Birhan feeling vaguely in control. Calm, at the very least, though the continued absence of Laocoon and Scylla worried her.

... Gaia was missing, too. Birhan's fist clenched. She had no proof, but she couldn't help but think there was a connection between spilling her purse in front of Gaia's civilian self to reveal Ares' henshin pen, and coming home to find her room a mess and the pen missing. A window (locked, Birhan knew, when she had left) had been thrown open, so it might have been anyone. But Birhan couldn't help but suspect that was a false trail, that the real entry and exit point was the large vanity mirror.

But no one had heard from any of the three - at least, not that anyone was admitting. Birhan had to simply grit her teeth and move on.

Now they came to the part she was least looking forward to. "As you are aware, we recently planned an operation to target General Zinkenite. A small group encountered him last night. Unfortunately for us," she looked around the room, trying to gauge reactions, "it was a trap. One of their own was posing as civilian bait, and they had a large team in reserve, waiting to ambush us."

Was anyone less than surprised? Any flinches of guilt? Birhan couldn't shake the notion that somehow the Negaverse had been expecting them. Had someone in this room said something they shouldn't have? Been accidentally overheard? Perhaps a full blown traitor? (Albali had never shown, Birhan thought wildly. Or if she had been observing, the senshi of echoes hadn't stepped in to save even Gunn.)

"Our own tactics," she stressed, "used against us, as we once captured several of their number. Thankfully we lost no one, but that may be the only bright point of the night."

Suddenly civilians were suspect. They would hesitate now, wondering if each civilian in danger was really an innocent or another piece of bait in a trap. Lyra had been with them, and the unknown male senshi. The numbers of lost, corrupted senshi were growing.

Perhaps they now had an idea of the team that Zinkenite lead as a General, between the four senshi on the field last night.

These were all things that Birhan might have announced. But she didn't. Everything that could have gone wrong in the past twenty-four hours had done so. And still Birhan prickled with unease. Maybe it was just the eyes on her, many of them harsh and judging. Maybe it was worry for the missing members. Perhaps fear over the missing henshin pen and just what that entailed. Whatever it was, Birhan suddenly found herself without the patience to guess what the Court wanted to hear.

"The floor is open," she said abruptly, "to those from the operation who wish to reveal anything they feel is of import, or for those who have questions."

Let things come as they would. All Birhan could do was face them one at a time, head on. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing that Ares was here.

Sirius was there, of course she was. She listened to Birhan and then threw a look at Kallichore when she spoke but she had a point there.

"How did they know?" Was all Sirius asked once the floor was given to everyone. She was more then aware at the absence of those who were closest to Ares, in fact it seemed empty for a meeting, really empty.

She looked around and then sighed a little. She knew that it wasn't Birhan's fault it went so bad but it was as she said a trap. How did they know, it was one of those things that had gone round her head most of that day. Also where was Ares? She was sure that she would have something to say about their mission. This wasn't the best of meetings she had been to and she made note that the meetings were getting smaller and smaller. Where was everyone?

Ever since Fallon vanished into the night after prom, Requiem's enthusiasm about the Blood Moon Court operations and leadership had wavered. Sure, Birhan was a fine enough leader, but Requiem had her mistrusts. She didn't know much of the situation, only that Fallon rushed into her room in the middle of the night in a panic, saying something about Birhan, Scylla and Gunn - and then she hadn't seen her friend and housemate since. Whatever had happened, she knew it was something serious.

Nonetheless, Requiem still kept up her responsibilities and minimal activities that were required of her membership. She went on the patrols, checked in on and time, but kept her distance from the most recent operation against the Veritas Negaverse group. She had meant to be there the night before for the hostage exchange, but was caught up in a battle with a Negaverse agent on her way over. By the time she got there, the exchange had been complete.

As per usual, the short Senshi of Burial sat in the back by the doorway, bouncing one leg over the other, playing the role of a fly on the wall. She didn't have much to chime in, considering her lack of involvement in the exchange, so simply listened in.

Sailor Gaia had received the summons while sitting in Fallon's motel room, cataloguing whom they could trust. What Ares was planning, in full, Gaia did not know, but she was of the opinion that whatever it was it would be something grand in scale, to show her off as the obvious leader, brighter than Birhan Istat's mimicry.

Slipping in to the back of the meeting, Gaia heard the last part of the speech, the part where Birhan Istat revealed that she was a piss poor leader if Gaia had ever seen one. Ares would have never walked in to a trap with those that she already distrusted-- it was not the same as losing her pen to the ISS, they were trusted comrades that had acted on mutinous thoughts.

And to what end? They were worse off than they were before. Gaia scoffed a bit at the end of Birhan's speech, and she noticed Birhan glancing over to her.

She waggled her fingers in hullo.

Albali's comments - intelligent and lacking the ire that Birhan expected from her - were a suprise. Birhan had to agree, though. She nodded at the beribboned senshi. "Yes. Either he knew we were coming, or he always protects himself with such traps." In any case, perhaps still the best target, but not with so few members. Zinkenite, if ever the focus of an operation again, required nothing less than the full strength of the Court.

Not many senshi had anything to say. Attendance wasn't bad, but it seemed those not involved didn't want to bring attention to themselves. Until, of course, a familiar blue-clad figure took the stage.

Birhan was willing to sit through criticism and barbs from those who had been at risk, like Gunn. She drew the line at taking it from Nemesis. The girl had done nothing but complain from day one. Birhan had no idea if Nemesis was the same to Ares (probably not, or surely Ares would have called her out or even kicked her out), but the fact was that Nemesis hadn't been interested in keeping the Court together from the day that Ares had assigned the next op to Birhan.

"I don't see anyone else volunteering," she said coldly to Nemesis. "Would you set up these meetings, find a safe location, call all our members? Would you volunteer to plan and lead a mission against the Negaverse? And who the hell do you think would follow you - you who can't even be bothered to help out your fellow senshi!"

Oh yes, things might have much different if they'd had an Eternal on the field last night. Nemesis was strong and experienced, yes. But also rude and selfish and entirely uninterested in doing anything except bitching.

"Let's be honest, Nemesis. You wanted Ares to name you in charge while she was gone. But she didn't even trust you enough to promote you to the Inner Sanctum. And you know why?" It was risky, prodding at Nemesis like this. Birhan would be all that surprised if Nemesis up and attacked her, but by god Birhan was sick of sitting back and letting Nemesis run her mouth at every meeting. "Because you aren't a team player. You don't see the members of this Court as your allies - you see them as competition! And you'd rather watch them fall, or tear them down yourself, rather than support them."

Birhan swept cold eyes across the room, eyes that widened when she caught sight of Gaia and then narrowed again. "I put that to the rest of you, as well. You let petty squabbles and power plays influence your decisions, instead of remembering that if we want to achive anything, we need to stand together. You signed up under Ares, yes. I did as well. But our vows weren't simply blind obedience to one Queen - our vows were to this Court. To each other. To the fact that we are the only ones willing to take this fight to the Negaverse. That we are all we need to save ourselves, not some Moon Princess, not some Queen."

But perhaps the others didn't believe that, at heart. Most of them had joined when Ares was still pretending to be a Queen, possessor of the Parallal's Crystal. Maybe there were still waiting for someone to lead them, to save them, even if it was Ares instead of a Moon Princess.

"We are supposed to be strong." Birhan's voice dropped. "We are supposed to be there for one another. But I see so little evidence of that. Gunn might have been captured last night - to be tortured and eventually killed. Or worse, turned. And where were the rest of you? Too busy nursing grudges to help. I don't ask your loyalty for myself. But you should damn well have it for this Court, for your fellow members... or what the hell are you doing here?"

The last was bitter, quieter than the rest. Birhan stepped back again. She wasn't going to defend her failed op. Gunn was entirely correct when she said that Birhan should have cancelled it when volunteers remained so few. The simple fact that numbers had been so low to begin with? Well, that was a problem in and of itself. If this Court was going to splinter so easily without Ares, what the hell would happen if their leader ever fell in battle?

Birhan was feeding into Nemesis' hate, was fueling a fight. The only reason they hadn't fought before was because, for the most part, Birhan was able to rise above Nemesis' petty insults and jabs at Birhan's capabilities. The moment Birhan argued with her was the moment that Birhan truly gave Nemesis any say, power even. "I would not, because I know my limitations. I know that I don't have the skill or experience to lead. You, however, failed to acknowledge this part of yourself. You failed to know yourself, or perhaps you refused to see that it was there. You wanted so badly to lead that you would convince yourself that you were capable of it, when you were and are so clearly not. You can't lead worth jack s**t, and it's because of your incompetence that the mission failed. You failed."

Her gaze was vicious, her lips pulled back enough that the whites of her teeth could just barely be seen. It was infuriating that Birhan pretended to know her, when it was likely that Birhan knew jack s**t about why Nemesis was not a member of the ISS. Her self dignity refused to allow her to share why she wasn't in the ISS. If Birhan didn't already know, she would never find out that Nemesis wasn't a member of the ISS because she was a team player. She had loyalties outside of the court that she refused to give up. She would not give up on her friends, on people she had grown to love. Her desire to protect them was as strong as her desire to follow a court that carried the same beliefs. It was this split loyalty that kept her out of the ISS, and while she was not fine with it, she was slowly coming to accept that. "You are doing the very ******** thing you're trying to ward everyone else off of, casting even more disloyalty in the ranks, even more distrust, hate, competition, what the ******** ever. I am a member of this court because I believe in this cause, but that does not mean I will take s**t from you, when you are the last person in this room who has the right to talk s**t. Every senshi we lose, every member of this court we lose, is a loss in this war. I would never wish them dead, you ******** c**t."

As far as she was concerned, she was done with this meeting, and as long as Birhan was running things, she'd keep her distance from the court as much as she possibly could. She would not follow someone who did not deserve to be followed. Birhan wasn't right for the job, and the only person who fit the bill was Ares. Her gaze turned to Albali then, her hardened eyes softening just a bit as some support was spoken. She knew there was a reason that she liked Albali. The girl had some ******** sense, and some ******** class on top of it. Albali could say things far more eloquently than Nemesis could, and in less words too.

Leto quirked an eyebrow at the implication that anyone who didn't take part in the failed mission was disloyal.

"You know, just because I wasn't there, doesn't in the least mean that I am not loyal to this Court. I give a s**t about my teammates as much as anyone else does. But I'm sure as hell not going to get involved in a mission that I'm not confident in. I'm not going to risk my life for a lost ******** cause. I refuse to run into a mission like that with my fists swinging and hope I hit someone on the other side. There wasn't enough planning. There wasn't enough support. The fact that only 4 of us took part should have been a clear indicator that it was a bad idea."

A deep frown set upon Leto's face. She agreed with Birhan wholeheartedly that even if the Court didn't want to follow her, they needed to work together. But she absolutely would not get involved in missions that were not 100% supported by the rest of the Court.

She fell silent again and watched as other members of the Court entered.

The doors at the back of the church opened. They were not dramatically flung, or kicked wide in a hurry. No, there was just the squeak of old wood on older hinges, and then the hollow clicks of a pair of heels over the smooth floor. The back of the church was obscured from view. Only the sound of slow, methodical heel clicks gave away the approach of a new guest. There was no power signature unique to the group here that could warn of an approaching Negaverse agent, nor even the strange thrum of the Black Moon senshi's light aura. Just clicks of a heel, and the pregnant pause left in the wake of Birhan's words.

A silhouette appeared in the old archway for a brief moment, and then Fallon Iva Novette-Naim stepped forward. A civilian. Her eyes were red, perhaps from crying, and she was dressed simply in a black and white dress. In her hand, she clutched the henshin pen that had been stolen. Despite the number of people gathered in the room, Fallon kept her eyes on Birhan Isat.

"I am here," she said calmly, voice echoing off the walls. "You might not recognize me, not all of you, but I am here. I am the girl beneath Sailor Ares. I am the Captain who you have been without." Fallon kept walking until she stood at the center of the crowd of people. "I am sorry that I left you for so long, but it was something that could not be helped. I had a lot of demons to face, and I refused to do so, not for a long time."

One hand reached up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. "Birhan Isat deserves more respect than we are giving her. She stood up to me in a way that no one has before, and if it was not for her actions, I would not be standing here in front of you all today, prepared to apologize." Ares let her gaze skim across the crowd. She tried to command, even if it felt strange in civilian shoes. "I am sorry for leading you off our destined path. I took us -- all of us -- to a place where we were never supposed to go, and for that, I will have to repent. It took me a long, long, long time to see how wrong I was. But now, I know."

She shook her head, a tumble of cinnamon. "I need to know that this Court can accept my apology."