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Tortuga got the message and was once more reminded that he really needed to get his ring, even though he really, really, really didn’t want too. Too much s**t happened in space, too many veritables that Tortuga couldn’t control, way too many unknowns had him delaying the visit to his wonder... by a few years at this point. However, every time he got a knight message or wanted to let his team mates know something it struck him that he really did need the ring, even if he didn’t want to go to his wonder. It was frustrating to say the least.

The red head did his best to shake off the mood he was in, mostly from the head vs feelings over his need to go to his wonder, and rapidly approached the brewery rooftop. He could already feel the signature of a Senshi waiting there and briefly wondered if one of the senshi would be brining a cat. Because if not they were going to light up this part of the city like a damn lighthouse and Tortuga was too annoyed to deal with the negaverse tonight.

Once his boots landed on the roof the squire paused to take a deep breath, the chilly air biting into his lungs. Spring was just around the corner but Motjer Nature wasn’t letting winter go that easily. Making sure the ring that he had ended up with was still on the chain with his whistle, Tortuga approached Castor, the senshi he had felt earlier and had called them all out to the rooftop. At least Tortuga assumes he called the others.

When the message for a meeting came across her phone she was of a like mind to ignore it. The events of that night still bothered the youngest and most newest member of the five that had been 'plucked' from Earth and deposited who knew where. The senshi of bandages glanced to the drawer that currently housed the ring that she'd found on her finger when she had woken in that strange location and while the mystery around it nagged at the teen she'd not been willing to test things out that much.

Although feeling ambivalent about going out to see why she was being summoned Izobel snuck out of her house before walking to a nearby park. Her transformation was swift and without knowing what else she could do Lacerta moved quickly in the direction that was indicated in the message but also let her senses range out to find a small gathering of order signatures.

It wasn't long before she'd taken to the city's sky line and she grunted at a rougher landing on one rooftop before crossing to the brewery. Lacerta quirked an eyebrow at the meeting location before sighing. She'd had come and that was enough for now. Emerging from the other side of the vents the redhead rubbed her hands together before pressing them to the warm vents. It was with a little sigh of relief that she moved into a spot where the wind was lessened. Her gaze took in Tortuga, Celsus and Castor. She pressed her back against the vents and waited for the warmth to spread. "Guess we're waiting for one more?"

Tortuga had drifted closer to Castor once he arrived, grateful for the steam vents. His squire getup was quite a bit warmer then his page uniform but it still wasn't exactly a match for the bipolar weather system that was the East Coast. Warm one moment, freezing the next. It was frustrating and exceedingly hard to dress around. The redhead didn't get a chance to do more then a nod in greeting to the senshi, prince technically, before the second knight joined them with a soft jingle.

The sound had the squire turning to face the other redhead, a grin on his face. "If someone was meant to bring tea and crumpets then I think they missed their mark. It's hot chocolate and donuts weather if anything. Its freaking spring already but apparently no one decided to tell Mother Nature that." He was just teasing but a hot chocolate right now would have been welcome, that's for sure.

The arrival of the baby senshi had Tortuga sigh. She looked like she would freeze before the meeting ever started, that alone was enough to have him ask. "Do you want a coat?" He would have to do a little magical power flickering but it wasn't like Castor would have picked a spot where they would be spotted, and these three wouldn't rat him out to the dark side so powering down enough to pull off his civilian jacket wasn't really all that much of a risk.

Castor took the lead, it was his meeting after all, but what he said had Tortuga's purple eyes widen slightly. The ring was magical apparently... it shouldn't be surprising but it was. "I had honestly stuck it in an envelope and hid it in the back of a drawer before your note showed up," Tortuga shrugged absently tapping his whistle and making the ring that was strung with it ting softly each time it rapped against the 'weapon'. "So they are magical? I guess it really shouldn't be all that shocking considering where we got them."

Castor sucked in a breath-
"A contact within the dark mirror. Despite the fact they're of chaos, they are senshi, a dying race. Moreso, now that their 'truce' with the negaverse is held together with wet paper, any powers outside earth have implications upon them as well. I informed them of events but not the depth of what we encountered and obtained. Nothing more and nothing less. I do not seek the death of senshi, and they're of like mind. It benefits us both to share such information."
He sighed.

"Leto has been an invaluable ally- and she understands discretion as well as our ever growing need to preserve senshi lives over any 'alliance' with those of metallia's thrall. The fact we still lack answers to what and who we encountered is... unsettling."

Lifting up his hand he flexed his fingers, the ring looking almost comical over his glove.
"And yes. When I got back I took some time on my world to study an experiment. It has abilities both when I am as now, and when I appear human. Mine is congruent with my sphere, allowing me to radiate cold and create something akin to black ice on surfaces. Beyond that, not much else. Strangely, I find it does not draw from me or my world. It is almost in a way, self sustaining."

Tortuga shrugged when Lacerta turned his offer down, it wasn't like it mattered all that much he was just trying to be nice. Instead he focused on the bubbling pot of emotions that was forming between the two highest ranked people at this little gathering. It didn't exactly take someone with a PhD to see that the two other males didn't like each other. Hell, Tortuga was pretty sure that a toddler could figure it out.

"Uh, was it meant to be a secret?" The tall redhead asked out loud. "Not that I spread it to the four winds or anything but I did ask my cousins and my group. I can't say I have any connections with the DMC but one would think that all of us aren't stupid enough to discus anything as possibly dangerous as this with someone we don't trust." Tortuga looked at both of the other men, hoping that him stepping in wouldn't result in just lighting the fuse for a fight. "Personally as long as the specifics, including the other's personal involvement, weren't mentioned I don't see any thing wrong with asking someone we trust. The sooner we figure this whole thing out the better off we will be right?" As far as the squire was concerned telling others about their little adventure needed to be handled like a phone number. You don't just pass it out to everyone and their brother, and sure as s**t don't do give it to someone you think will screw you over with it. And before you give out a friends number you make sure its cool with them first.

"Besides he already did it, no taking it back now. Can't exactly go back in time now can we," He paused and asked, "We can't right? I don't think any knight or senshi has that ability, do they?" His knowledge on his fellow fighters were rather spotty so it wouldn't really be that surprising. Mentally shaking his head and physically waving his hand in the air as if to clear it Tortuga focused on the task at hand. "Ok so Castor's ring makes a mini ice rink and Lacerta's makes it so she can step on LEGO's. I'm guessing that means Celsus', Scylla's, and my ring all do something different too." He was probably the only one who had no idea what his ring did.

The redhead frowned slightly and crossed his arms, both to keep warm as well as to find a comfortable stance... this uniform didn't have pockets much to his annoyance. "I know that they don't seem dangerous, don't feel dangerous," and they didn't. He might not be the best of knights but Tortuga did trust his instincts, for the most part, and nothing in him said the rings were inherently a danger to him or his group. "But I honestly would prefer a more certainty then our gut feelings before I use it." He didn't want to risk his friends or family if something went wrong.

Celsus' mouth fell open.

He had no real answer to Castor's blatant disregard for spreading their secrets. Not that the rings were necessarily a secret, but considering that all five of them were on Order side, it surely called for at least a little discretion. The fact that Castor had decided to simply go on a lark about them, potentially putting not just himself, but the rest of them at risk, was almost staggering in his disbelief.

The ring on his hand was warm to the touch. It soothed him, somehow, in spite of Celsus' rising aggravation.

"You say that you trust our judgement, and not our friends'," he said slowly. "And yet you go telling the Dark Mirrors? You can tell me all you want - " because he alone seemed to be the only one who saw fault with this theory, who saw the beginnings of a tempestuous ending, " - that you trust them, that you have an alliance with whoever this Leto is, but I don't have one. None of you have to agree with me," he added, with a glance at Tortuga and Lacerta, because he was not their leader and would never try to be, just as Castor was not their superior or his prince. "But I am not a part of this. I will not sacrifice my own values in order to pretend that we have some standing when everything is already so fragile between the Dark Mirrors and the rest of us."

He had no hard feelings about the Dark Mirrors, nor even the Negaverse. Celsus was a strong believer that there were good people in all places, it was just a matter of figuring out who.

"We can't chance the past, no," he said, with another look at Tortuga. "But I would have preferred to have been asked beforehand if I had felt discussing them with someone outside of Order was warranted. You can speak of your own ring, Castor, but you don't speak for mine, or of mine, and I would prefer that my involvement not be simply tossed about. Leave my name and my ring out of it, if you please."

If Castor hadn't given specifics, then the irritation, Celsus felt, was still warranted; but he would not need to be so frustrated and he would not need to feel as though some breach had occurred. He had spoken of his ring to Corvus, but she was already in Order, and so it was not the same at all.

He wished she was here. He wished he was not here.

Celsus folded his arms across his chest. He knew he was not making himself popular with either Lacerta or Tortuga by disagreeing with Castor so defiantly, but Celsus had been in this war a long time. The risks were too great sometimes to simply let things slide, and he had a lot to protect from his standpoint. There were things that were important to him, and that included the entirety of Order.

He lapsed into silence, merely watching, because trying to express these frustrations seemed fruitless.

Castor did not rebuke Celsus at large, but his expression soured all the same and worsened with Lacerta's admonishment.

"You are correct in that it is a breach- but in this the risk does not outweigh the reward. Or rather, the greater risk that is run should their royal be ignorant to what might occur to those who rely on them for protection. I do not ask for trust in them- I ask your trust in me and my decision to inform them of the risk. Unlike the negaverse agents, who's very thoughts are privy to Metallia, the mirror senshi are not bound so- None of your names were given, and I imparted nothing that might hint or betray who among order was present with me.It is as I said- I informed them of events but not the depth of what we encountered and obtained. Only Cosmos knows the details as I sought her counsel. Or do neither of you hear my words and only hear what you expect? Did I not say I trust you all and in what you would tell? I only want to caution you on who and how much. We have been given a power- and that power is unknown to Cosmos. Allow that if you will to sink in. More- ask yourselves why you'd seek your friends and not allies. Why would you not seek Cosmos? Why would you not seek the code? Why would you not seek your princess?"

This, he looked to Celsus, taking a direct jab at the knight.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing it, trying to ward off the cold.
"...That... was uncalled for. But yes- I apologize for not asking nor informing, but I am doing so now-These rings are unknown sources of power. And in the end- senshi are dying. Even if they are of the dark mirror I will seek to keep them safe. It has taken me time to understand my role and duty- but it has changed since I last took up arms. I cannot be idle as senshi die out. Cutting them off only hastens our own genocide."

"My intention tonight was to confirm my suspicions and share what I had managed to glean. The rings on whole seem to be magical. Different effects- but as to how well they align with our innate powers remains to be seen." He no longer bothered with a gentle touch, holding up Lacerta's hand, eyeballing the ring much as Cosmos had done to him.

Then- his crystal summoned he held it to the ring briefly, eyes focused before letting her hand go, crystal vanishing as quickly as it had been summoned.

"Cosmos gave me a task. To keep her informed and-" He sighed, pulling away entirely from the younger senshi looked annoyed. "-she wishes me to keep eyes on you four. One of the skills of a royal is to know corruption before it takes root. Until we know with a certainty these rings are as benign as we're lead to believe we must not place a blind faith in them. I have no real intention to hover or monitor you all- I ask that in the event you feel changes to either contact one another, myself, or cosmos directly. She is currently, our best resource- If and when Caedus returns, I would propose we seek him out as well. Crystals such as the ones in these rings might be known to him, and, when he should return, he might offer us some clues as to the origins of them. As is-"


He sighed. "The same as before. Nothing. While I doubt the code will have much to say of them, it would be wise to seek it out for now as well. And while you all might detest me- it would be our benefit to train with these rings. Any skill is worth perfecting as he saying goes."