Welcome to Gaia! ::

They had all come. Some reluctantly, because they'd been unfortunate enough to be in Europa's path as she made her way across Destiny City, but the team was assembled. Despite the dire circumstances and late hour, the senshi of the deep felt a swell of pride to see the team assembled before her, arrayed in a rough circle around the rooftop, picking at snack food that Valhalla had brought up from his apartment.

There was a bit of a party atmosphere, mixed with a certain nervous energy in the air. None of them knew why Europa had called this meeting on such short notice - despite statements that a time and date would be forthcoming, this seemed rather... sudden. Not to mention that both the presumed captain and Kallichore were wearing mixed expressions of sorrow and rage; the general impression was that something major must have happened.

It was only a question of what.

Europa cracked open a can of tunafish for the pair of guardian cats twining around her legs. "Don't let anyone interrupt us, okay?" she asked Tomlin and Zirconia. The senshi of the deep had composed herself somewhat, dried her tears and put on a brave face. Her grief and sadness were compressing under pressure into something more potent, and she was about ready to do something about it. "I'll give you another can when we're done."

The senshi of the deep got to her feet and took her place in the circle. Oh, how she longed to begin with anger - but that wasn't her way. Leave it to more powerful leaders to begin with sweeping statements about false prophets. Europa was going to begin the way she knew how - with introductory remarks.

She cleared her throat and adressed the mixed crowd. "For those I haven't formally met, my name is Eternal Sailor Europa, and it's good to see all of you together at last." Mentally, she was taking stock of who she had before her: Eight Jovians, to be sure, but also two guardian cats, only one of whom was truly affiliated with the team and the other of whom had had to be vouched for by several different members, not to mention the out of place Vindemiatrix and the reluctant Babylon page - present only because of proximity and because Europa thought they needed to be in on this news.

"I wish," she continued, clasping her hands behind her back, "That it could be under happier circumstances. However, this evening Sailor Kallichore and I bring news of a sinister twist of events, one that I feel it is our duty to make you aware of. She will give you more information in a few moments, but as this is the natal meeting of the Jovian Court I would like to say a few words."

Europa studied her audience, hoping she had their attention. "I know that not all of you fight in the name of the moon princess. I know that some of you don't believe in her, or even outright distrust her. But we are the moons of Jupiter and I see no reason why we have to be unified behind a princess that we have no connection to. What we do have to be is unified with each other. If you do not fight in the name of Earth's moon, then fight in the name of your own moon, and in the name of Jupiter."

She glanced uncertainly from Kallichore to Ganymede and pressed on. "Fight for the brave scouts and knights you were in the past and the the brave scouts and knights who you are and will be. Don't lose track of yourself. Don't follow false prophets."

She was pretty certain she had begun to cry somewhere before the line of false prophets. Europa swept a gloved hand across her face and continued. "If you must die, die with your memories and your heart unmarred by darkness. Anything less is treason to yourself."

It ought to have been clear to those watching that, whatever emotional ordeal Europa had been through today, she wasn't in very good condition to be leading a meeting of this size. But it also ought to have been clear that she was speaking from somewhere deep and raw, pulling words from some recent wound and begging them to listen.

"We are the Jovian Court," she choked. "Many as one." A moment of silence. Europa swallowed hard on the knot in her throat. "...Super Sailor Kallichore, the floor is yours."

Europa placed a tentative hand on Kallichore's shoulder. As one of the most senior members of the newborn court, she desperately needed the senshi of madness at full capacity this evening. But if that wasn't possible, the least she could do was try to bring her back from the edge. Kallichore had lost her whole court this weekend. Tallulah had lost her cousin. The Jovians could not replace what had been stolen from the girls, but they needed to be strong. This was their team now.

"I know what happened to Leto," she said quietly to Kallichore, and turned to adress the gathered senshi and knights again. "Like Kallichore says, the Blood Moon Court has fallen. I was visited by Sailor Leto earlier tonight... and she is a strange doppelgänger of her former self."

Europa rubbed her face with her hands, brushing tears from her eyes. She sniffed once and forced herself to continue. The others needed to be warned of this new danger. "We've all seen, or heard tales of senshi corrupted by the negaverse." She waited for some kind of confirmation from the crowd - explaining ordinary corrupted senshi was not on the agenda for this evening, it was kid stuff.

"What Ares is doing to her court is similar, but it isn't the same thing. We have come to recognize corrupted senshi by three physical traits and a distinctive aura. Ares's new court - the Dark Mirror, they call themselves - they wear black, but their hair doesn't grow and they don't have holes in their chest. I would presume the aura is different, but I don't know. I wasn't henshined when I ran into Leto."

Europa fell silent here. She wasn't certain she could continue the story. It was so raw - like ripping a fresh scab off a wound. But she would have to. "Sailor Leto is my cousin," she stammered, not looking up. "And she remembered I was her cousin, but she didn't remember that I was Europa, and she says she isn't herself anymore. Ares is breaking them."

She had no choice but to believe that any senshi who fell into the ranks of the Dark Mirror was suffering a fate worse than death.

Europa wiped her face across her forearm and faced the court. "I'm sorry," she said plainly. "I'm usually more composed than this."

Ganymede had offered Chris’s roof as a meeting place, and now he was beginning to think he shouldn’t have – not only because he hadn’t bothered to ask Chris for permission, but because there were suddenly more people present than he’d thought there would be. He didn’t trust more than a few of them. Not one bit. And he didn’t like the looks on Europa and Kallichore’s faces, either. He’d been able to tell from the sound of Europa’s voice during their brief phone conversation that something was wrong, but he had no idea that it would be anything like this.

He stood by Valhalla, one hand hanging mostly limp by his side near Val’s, fingers occasionally twitching, as if it were taking everything in his power not to grab onto Val’s hand and squeeze it tight, while his other hand rested in one of its customary positions, planted firmly on his hip. He stood and he frowned and inside rage bubbled hot and uncomfortable in his stomach, and he was suddenly glad he had decided not to eat anything, because he was sure the heaviness of food would have made it all the worse. The hand hanging at his side clenched into a tight fist, his eyes tearing from Europa to Kallichore and back again.

He wasn’t sure why he felt so angry, really. It was no worse than he’d expected. He hadn’t trusted anyone except Valhalla and Europa before now, so hearing this news that more senshi were being led astray didn’t come as a huge blow to him. He didn’t feel any sense of betrayal, not from Ares, whom he didn’t know, nor from any of the other senshi who’d been involved, though his glare turned dark and his expression nasty as it settled firmly over Kallichore. He couldn’t decide if he was more angry or disgusted by the fact that she had once pledged her allegiance to the likes of the Blood Moon Court. She hadn’t mentioned that little fact when she’d told him about them before.

He couldn’t help but consider it tantamount to a lie.

“You never told me before that you were one of them,” he sneered. Somewhere inside, the voice that was his conscience told him that she was already upset enough without him starting in on her, but he was too angry to care at the moment.

If he felt betrayed by anyone, it was her.

“Forgot to mention it, did you? Or maybe you did it on purpose. Thought I wouldn’t find out? I went looking for you for information, I opened myself up to the possibility of working with you, and you’re one of them?! Are you that desperate to kill people?”

The little voice inside told him he was being mean, but he ignored it.

“The way I see it, we had this s**t coming,” he cursed, something he rarely did, but he didn’t see much of a need to censor himself. “Because of people like you! Because of people like them! What the hell is wrong with you all,” he didn’t specify who ‘you all’ was supposed to be, but it could be assumed that he was referring to people like those he’d been told made up parts of the BMC, “that makes you think violence and killing are a solution to anything?! Look at how much more s**t it’s caused! Look at how ******** up everything is!”

He realized he was losing control when he heard himself shouting, and he clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else, already regretting the outburst, but his nerves had been shot this last week and he could barely handle any more horrible surprises. Ganymede closed his eyes so that he would not need to look at anyone, and took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself. When he opened his eyes again, he did not look at Kallichore, but shifted his gaze back to Europa. Her, at least, he felt bad for, even if he couldn’t forgive her cousin for being involved with such people in the first place.

“What do we do now?”

So far, Sailor Vindemiatrix had been reasonably lucky. He had gotten to fight monsters and defeat them, and he supposed he had a rival in that Negaverse agent who had taped him to the pavement, but all in all, he would have used the word "enjoyable" to describe his experience. The threat of death or injury was never lost on him, at least - even with that thrill of adrenaline he got when fighting youma, it was not lost on anyone in Destiny City that people were out there getting hurt, getting killed.

But he had had good times with Sailor Europa, and was still proud to know that he had been there to see her power up, that weird night at the pool. Prom night had been scary, but it had all turned out alright. And any time he had spent thus far with Babylon while out patrolling had been fun, for sure.

Andrea the high-schooler, beneath the uniform, felt a bit out of place at the talk of Jovian unity. He knew that Vindemiatrix was not a part of this court, but the rest of him found reassurance in the presence of the people he knew, and trust in their friendship with the people he did not know. What had happened sounded terrible; he had not met any corrupted senshi, did not know about their lost memories, and could not even conceive losing a friend like that. Much of this news was as much a surprise to him as to some of the other gaping strangers, and it was most certainly not a pleasant surprise.

He had come with Babylon, but wanted to be there for Europa, as well. He stepped towards his friend, the Eternal Senshi, who was trying and failing to put on a tough face for the crowd, and took her hands in his.

"I'm sorry," he told her, and pulled her close for a hug. More than she had gotten on prom night, truth be told, but that had been an experiment, while this situation called for deepest sincerity. Vin closed his green eyes for a moment, hoping he was providing some comfort for his friend and that she could not feel the chill knot in the pit of his stomach.

Then he opened his eyes, peering over Europa's shoulder at Kallichore, not recognizing the other senshi other than the fact that she, too, was crying. "I'm sorry," he mouthed to her as well, making eye contact but not reaching to embrace her; he didn't know her yet.

Stepping away when he was finished, he winced at Ganymede's words, but bit back a reply. This was not the time to be starting a fight, nor continuing one.

Glancing to Kallichore again briefly, the Senshi of Wine finally replied, "What do we do now?"

To be honest, Kallichore was expecting that kind of reaction out of Ganymede. She purposefully left her affiliation with the Blood Moon out of their previous conversation because of his volatile reaction to it. She knew he hated the very ideas the Blood Moon stood for, and blamed everything on them. Kallichore knew that and embraced it because really, who could blame him? Any reasoning she could give him would be tantamount to an excuse to him - her naivety, her desperation to make a difference, her alliance to Ares being goaded by a want to be strong like her... None of it would have made a lick of difference to Ganymede, and no doubt he hated her right now.

Hated her with the fury of a thousand suns, no doubt. And at that moment, she didn't blame him at all. She rather began to hate herself.

"Would good would it have done to tell you? It wouldn't have made a bit of difference to you if I had told you that I was once a part of them and was leaving. I don't have any blood on my hands, but that doesn't matter to you either. What matters is that I was one of them and you hate them and therefore, you hate me." Her voice wavered from utter hopelessness to self-targeted rage, and the one fist she clenched by her side shook with that anger. "It doesn't matter to you that I left. It doesn't matter to you that I wanted to leave for a while, to find a better position for myself. Less blood, more progress. It doesn't matter to you that I hate Ares and everything she stands for..."

Kallichore turned away from Ganymede. There wasn't a hint of fight in her body nor in her voice. She wasn't about to have an altercation with her fellow Jovian. "All that matters to you is that I made a mistake. That I was wrong. Well, so be it." The end came in a whisper, no rage to be heard at all. Instead, Kallichore chose not to fight at all.

Against his will, Ganymede's eyes tore away from Europa to meet Kallichore with a hard, infuriated gaze, and he ignored the hand Valhalla had on his shoulder, just as he ignored Europa snapping at him.

"If you had told me and then said you wanted to leave, it would have made all the difference!" he said. He did his best not to shout again, but his voice came out a bit louder than usual all the same. "All you had to do was say something! You think I would have just walked away if you said you wanted to leave? You think I wouldn't have tried to... to help or show you that it doesn't have to be like that or whatever the hell else it took to knock some sense into your head?"

He didn't know what to do with his hands. The one at his side was twitching again, and the one on his hip no longer felt comfortable there. For something else to do with them, he lifted his arms up and crossed them over his chest.

"I might be a b***h, but I'm not completely heartless. I wouldn't have thrown you to the wolves and I don't intend to do that now, even if I am severely pissed off at the moment. It's great that you realized your mistake and I'm glad you're not involved with them anymore and, yes, I'm even glad that you made it out of there alive, because I'd have hated to start this first meeting on an even more depressing note than we already have. I committed myself to this, Kallichore, which means I've committed myself to you. I don't agree with the way you thought before. Hell, I probably don't agree with the way you think now, but you can't blame me for being angry, not when I went to you for information and you held back."

If she had told him then, of course he'd have been angry, but he'd have been much less angry than he was now.

"I didn't ask for any of this, so excuse me if I happen to get a bit snap-happy when s**t goes down," he said, though he never lost his attitude.

Cyllene flopped onto the ground and sat down as easily as she possibly could in a mini skirt and fishnets. She rested her head in her hands, completely overwhelmed by strangers yelling at each other, crying, hugging and holding hands. She had no idea what the bloody hell was going on.

All that she got out of the situation is that one girl's cousin was taken or missing or something, and Kallichore lost a team of some sort. Oh, and that s**t was about to go down. Great.

She groaned rather loudly and rubbed her eyes, hoping to all hell that they weren't bloodshot. Maybe the fancy magic of henshining got rid of that effect of her previous activities that evening? Man, she could really use a cigarette. This whole being a pseudo super hero s**t was exhausting!

She leaned back, her arms stretched out behind her to prop her upper body up and her legs extended in front of her on the ground with one crossed over the other. She eyed the snacks that the boy who lived in the building had brought up as her stomach grumbled. Munchies were a b***h when there were lives to be saved 'n' what-not.

She looked up at the group of Senshi and Knights around her that decided for some reason to remain standing and just stared at them all, completely dumbfounded by the entire situation.

"Yes, I did think you would have thrown me to the wolves and never spoken to me again, regardless of whether or not I said I wanted to leave. And I don't blame you for being angry. I was already out of the group by the time you and I had that talk. I thought it was a good idea to leave it alone at the time."

Kallichore finally turned to face him. Why she thought that he meant so much then and there, she wasn't sure. Ganymede and her had never seen eye to eye when it came to... anything, really. She often wondered if they would eventually be at each other's throats. Obviously it was happening right now. She did honestly believe not telling him was the best option because of his tendency to react rather suddenly and loudly. For some reason, Kallichore desperately wanted Ganymede to like her, but knew that possibility flew out the window when she kept information from him.

She held her arms against her chest, almost hugging herself while she faced the others. She was always the stoic one, the one who did things because they needed to be done, moral or otherwise. Now? Now she was seriously reconsidering her position in the grand scheme of things. Next to Europa, she felt almost evil in her previous convictions. But if destiny had taught her anything, it's that people can change.

"Regardless, my pledge to you, Ganymede, to Europa and to everyone else here... it still stands firm. My old Court is gone, but that doesn't mean I haven't found a new one. A better one than the one before. We can continue on whatever mission we decide, but without heartlessness and bloodshed. If any one of you were in danger, I'd be there for you and lay my life on the line all the same. That's my pledge to you, Ganymede as well as all of you." She made a small gesture to the rest of the court proper and managed a small smile. It would take a while for her to really come to terms with what had happened, but after that, she'd come back as strong as ever.

Kallichore then cleared her throat. "I was working on a primer for the Blood Moon and now I believe it would be of more use to all of you, especially the new senshi. And knights." She gave a short, polite nod to Valhalla. She didn't want him to feel left out. "It contains shreds of information I've been able to pick up in my travels. I think it would be of great use to the court."