Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Negaspace wasn't the most pleasant of places. Dia could think of at least a dozen other spots, off the top of her head, that she would rather be than near a crumbly, creepy looking castle and the daunting Rift outside of it.

But she was here for a reason. An important reasons.

Pulling out her communicator, the candy senshi squeezed the sides of the crystal tightly and focused her energy into it. Soon enough, the purple crystal began to glow softly, signaling that its internal microphone was listening for whomever she was calling out to.


"Captain Tourmaline," She said clearly and slowly, enunciating the words, "Your presence is being requested in the Negaspace. Now."

Tucking the purple crystal into her pink and white candy striped belt, she spread her legs slightly and rested her hands against her chest. And then, Dia waited.

"I want you."

Her hands moved to rest behind her back, one under the other. A single gumdrop appeared out of thin air and fell into her open palm, which she closed her fingers around just as quickly and as quietly as the candy had appeared. Legs shifted forward, then backwards, the senshi rocking on her heels as she eyed the Captain, a hint of mischief in her expression.

"More precisely, I want you to work out some of this emotion you've been bottling it up." Her head tilted, then straightened. Finally, her hands moved to her side and she began a slow stroll towards her best friend. "And what better way is there to do it than through aggression?"

With that, her arm suddenly pulled itself back and the gumdrop was flung in Tourmaline's direction.

Grinning, one leg moved back to steady herself as both arms rose up into a fighting position. A single finger waggled itself towards the Captain as her eyes narrowed, ever so slightly.

"I'm here, aren't I? I'm ready to relieve what pressures I have, but I'm pretty sure you're the one with the bigger issues here."

One elbow moved up to brush her hair back, tossing waves of pink over her shoulder as she prepared for the Captain's revenge.

She said nothing back, merely grinning up until the point when the other girl came at her, weaponized knuckles bared. Her back leg moved further out, steadying herself for the impending weight that was being forced on her but nothing, not even expecting it, truly prepared her for the feeling of having her hair yanked at.

It was bad enough to have long curly, luxurious waves of pink to deal with on a day to day basis but to have nearly twenty pounds of it and then an angry Negaverse Captain yank onto it... well, needless to say, the pain was eye-watering.

Gritting her teeth, one fist moved out to jab at the other woman's abdomen while the other rose to block any oncoming punches that might have been aimed at her face. She rather hoped her best friend knew better than to hit at her face but considering KittyKat's mood lately... well, she wasn't sure of anything, for the time being.

But Tourmaline had been right. Dia really did need to work out some of her own emotions. Feelings of confusion, of heartache, of abandonment. It was easy to lose all of her worries when the immense pain running through her skull wouldn't let her think of anything else. Her newest priority would be peeling an angry Captain from off of her.

"Can't hurt me any more than anyone else has, friend."

The leg sweep of the Captain was successful in tripping Dia's front leg out, sending her towards the ground. Her back leg remained firm, bending down to her knee as both hands left the Captain and instead flew down to catch herself against the ground.

Forcing her head up, she fought the pain emanating from her ankle and chose to grin at the other girl instead. Her forehead was sweating - or glistening, as Dia was apt to correct people, but she didn't look anywhere near ready to give up.

"Do you think any of those scummy senshi are going to listen when you ask them to hold off on the magic and use their fists instead? I don't thiiiink so!"

Glancing down as she prepared to push herself upwards, she got a new idea. Grabbing her heels off both feet, she hopped up and wiggled the back ends of both of her shoes towards the other girl. "But okay, we can fight your way."

Swinging out with one heel, the Captain expertly ducked and took a step back from the wild and crazy senshi. Dia only smiled, catching her breath as she re-positioned herself.

"Is this how you fought your boyfriend when you found him - all white, pretty and Orderly? Did you ask him to fight with fists?"

Now the real talk was beginning.

Dia had assumed that Tourmaline would strike back, but she wasn't prepared for such a callous, direct response in return to her heartless prodding. It was true, though - had she bothered to look for him, aside from waiting around, filtering through power signatures in random spots in the city? Had she even bothered to ask anyone, outside of the other members of the Wolf Pack?

Was she really that pathetic, in her friend's eyes?

Was she that pathetic in general?

Scoffing, she forced out a humorless laugh as one heel was knocked free of her hand, "At least my boyfriend disappeared and didn't just turncoat. You're wasting your energy, crying over someone who wasn't worth your time in the first place. You should be using those claws against him, instead of me."

As far as the questioning went... well, Dia did what she did best when it came to questions she didn't want to answer - she avoided them. Unfortunately, avoiding Captain Tourmaline's claws was another issue altogether.

The slice drew across the open flesh of her arm and began to stung instantly, enough to make her audibly wince from the sudden and powerful burning sensation. Combined with the stinging her pride was already subjected to, she added, "And don't you think I'd go elsewhere if I could?"

Swooping down, one black heel aimed itself for her "enemy's" thigh.

Her own tears were beginning to well up in the corners of rose colored eyes. If anyone knew about her insecurities, knew where to strike to hurt her the absolute worst, it was her best friend.

The words the Captain spat out hurt worse than the kick did, though the impact of the boot into the side of her skirt stung enough to make her see stars. Tourmaline made a short retreat to add distance between the two of them, then proceeded to crumble, tears streaming down her otherwise angry face. Tourmaline was an ugly crier, but it was only then that Dia realized that she'd never ever seen the other woman cry. She was a stalwart force - always exuding confidence, standing tall with her chin up.

The vision of a floored Tourmaline began to blur in her eyes as the sailor senshi dragged her aching, sore body closer. The Captain's arms moved up in a weak attempt to shield herself, but it was Sailor Dia who collapsed next.

Both knees fell to the ground, gloved hands reaching out to entwine with her friends, squeezing tightly as her tears began to pour out.

"I'm sorry...." Her voice was a rasp, the shame evident, "I thought this would help us both...I-I think it just made it worse."

She couldn't even tell where the tears were falling anymore, the hot streaks spilling across cool cheeks as her face pressed against her companion's shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere."

It was true - even if she'd had any inclination to run away again, she couldn't. She was stuck. Stuck among responsibilities, stuck with her emotions, stuck in a situation where the only answer was to work on clawing her way up and out of. But she wasn't stuck alone.

Her forehead pushed up, adding pressure to the Captain's shoulder as she gave herself space to breathe in the frigid, chilly Negaspace air.

"You don't need him. You have me."

The girls remained quiet for several minutes, the only sound being an occasional gasp for air as they both struggled to regain control of their strained, abused emotions. Dia felt a small relief in her heart at being able to unload her worries, to finally have someone else to cry with - someone who understood at least a fraction of her stress and heartache. She could only hope that Tourmaline felt even a little bit of the same.

Finally pulling away, her arm rose to wipe her face across the back of her glove, emitting one last, final sniffle. "You look horrible with a puffy face, you know."