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Normally Acubens would have gone right to Mirrorscape with her treasure. Her realm was basically where she wanted it -- covered in greenery and flourishing with life. Next she would set her sights on the community area. She wanted it to be as earth-like as possible in the hopes that the more life she injected into the space, the more stable it would be for other forms of life.
Tonight, however, rumors and whispers drew her to this hill. Rumors of a being with uncanny knowledge and possessing of strange and wonderful items. If Acubens couldn't learn what she wanted, then at least she might find something else of worth.

Even if it was some useless bauble or trinket.

Heading up the hill, she wondered for a moment if she hadn't been misinformed. Or misunderstood. There was nothing here, and no energy signature to speak of. The thought of turning around slipped into Acubens mind... and then slipped right back out. If she got to the top of the hill and nothing was there, then she'd turn around and go back home. She'd crush the crystal by the citadel and begin the process of terraforming that space.

She passed through the bubble almost without knowing it and was suddenly met with the sight of an otherworldly being and his strange wares. Still, despite how hard Acubens tried, she could not detect a single iota of energy from him. He also didn't show any signs of agitation or aggression, which eased some of her tension, though not much. She was an Eternal... surely she could hold her own if she needed to...

Acubens didn't have time for pleasantries. She ignored his greeting and held up the glittering green gem between the two of them.

"I'm hoping you have some information for me. I'm told you have strange knowledge."

Acubens shrugged and handed the gem over to the merchant while still keeping him at arms length. There was nothing in his stance or visage to instill distrust... but there was also nothing particularly reassuring about him either. Acubens had heard form White Moon and Negaverse contacts alike what had happened the last time some stranger from the stars came to earth asking for resources.

"I'm not one for gossip," she said simply, retreating back out of swiping distance, "at least not while I'm on the clock. And no one has ever accused me of being anything less than direct."

Though Acubens was nearly dying to know who had been here before her and what they had asked. And what information they had given away. This merchant struck Acubens as someone who was able to weasle whatever he needed from a person without giving too much away himself.

"We like to keep what we are and are not capable of creating under as much lock and key as possible. I'm sure you'll understand."

She gave him terse smile and a nod before she continued.

"But since you seem to have some working knowledge of my people you won't need too much background information for my question. Some years ago, we encountered a crystal. It is currently suspended in a bubble but... we know so little about it." That wasn't enough. She knew it wasn't enough. There was no way the Merchant would know what she was talking about with so little but... how much was she willing to give away to a stranger? And not just a stranger but... someone not even from earth in the first place. Did she tell him about Altea? About Solemnia?

"It's a black, double terminated diamond shaped crystal. with some kind of... reflective coating on it. Do you know what it is?"

I’ve met quite a few chatty members of your Court.

Acubens almost rolled her eyes right out of her skull. She'd have to call a team meeting when this was all over and remind the court not to give out secrets to strange merchants from space. It seemed like that was fairly obvious but... clearly not. She also had half a mind to ask him what he had been told, but she doubted he'd be so straight forward.

And then the thinly veiled request.

Acubens ventured closer, slowly and only by a few more steps. It was true, if she wanted information, this merchant would need a closer look at what they were using. But then there were the myriad other questions that surrounded that invitation. Who was this creature? Where was he from? What did he want? What would he do with what he learned from Mirrorspace? What would he do once he was in Mirrorspace.

What would Remarque think if Acubens invited this stranger into their inner most sanctum. He'd looked concerned enough when she'd brought Misha in with them for Lacerta's corruption, and she intended to awaken him as soon as possible at that point. This creature...

Could he even become one of them?

Every question birthed a million more and Acubens almost felt lost in the storm of it all. She watched absently as the Merchant arranged items on his table, only truly waking up when she noticed a small bag. Why did it seem so... familiar to her? Like she knew where it came from and yet... it was just out of her reach. She forced herself to focus more on the Merchant as he spoke but her hands still tingled with a need to reach out and take.

"Climate isn't quite the right word," she corrected. "More like... an absence of one." That wasn't too much, right? "the Mirrorscape functions on it's own rules. Rules that we assume are set down by that crystal I told you about. Which is why I want to know about it. I'd like to know what is making rules for me and why."

Finally, Acubens reached out idly and took the bag, almost as though out of boredom. Her only tell was how her stance relaxed. She felt the fabric in her hands, a roughly woven textile of... animal fiber? No. Plant. Within she could feel tiny oval-shaped bead, like melon seeds. Seeds. That's right, they weren't beads at all, but seeds. Her face nearly lit up at the realization.

"But you say you've never been to Mirrorspace. What about other homeworlds? Or wherever the Negaverse resides? Have you been there?"

Acubens noticed the smugness in the Merchant's expression but said nothing. She wordlessly deposited the seeds in her subspace pocket and considered what the Merchant had told her with arms crossed over her chest.

He'd been to homeworlds. Made sense since Acubens had supposed that he was from the stars anyway. He landed where he pleased. That also made her wonder... had he been to her homeworld? It made her heart stop. That was, perhaps, her one last regret from defecting to the Dark Mirror Court. She could never go back to her homeworld ever again. If there was some way that she could do so... or even just hear something about how it was doing... but then he said that they all looked the same so what was the point. The hope left her as soon as it arrived. To be fair... what would she do if she learned it was thriving or starving?

And so she moved on to the other issue at hand.

Somehow, she knew without being told that her description of what was above the citadel wouldn't be enough for the Merchant to work with. And now Acubens was faced with the predicament of whether or not to let him into Mirrorscape. She didn't suppose there was much he could glean about them from just the common room and the Citadel but... then again she was applying human parameters to someone who was decidedly not human. She regarded him sharply as she thought, weighing her options with uncharacteristic care. If it were just her at risk... if she were the only one in danger... it'd be a no-brainer. Do what needs to be done and clean up the mess later. But this put everyone at risk. And not just the court, but their families.

"If I take you. And I still have not decided that I will. I'm also having someone else accompany me." No need to divulge exactly who Remarque was or why she wanted him there. "That's not up for discussion. You'll be blindfolded until we get to the Crystal, you'll learn what you need, and then you'll be blindfolded on your way out." It wasn't a question.

Acubens wasn't exactly comforted by the Merchant's willingness to comply with her conditions, but she also didn't suspect that comforting her was the goal. She watched him for another long moment before she nodded her acceptance of his agreement and pulled her compact from subspace. She turned and addressed the senshi on the other side in tones she hoped were hushed enough to not be overheard, but still not hushed enough to raise concern.

"I think I found someone who knows something about the crystal on top of the Citadel. The thing is that he needs to see whatever it is. He's agreed to a blindfold while he's being taken to the crystal but... I need some backup. Would you mind meeting me in the common room?"

There was a pause, and Acubens' heart stopped. Remarque regarded her with his usual look of mixed hesitation and consideration but finally nodded and agreed. He would meet her where she asked, she presumed as an eternal. Which, to be fair, was probably the better move. No reason to show that many cards to a veritable stranger. They were already taking a huge risk without showing such a trump card.

Remarque usually trusted her, even if her impulsive nature butted up uncomfortably against his natural caution. Hopefully, this trust wouldn't be misplaced now. Somehow, however, Acubens felt in her gut that it wasn't. Whatever this being was, he wasn't a threat to them. Interested, sure, but not a threat. It was almost like... he was too powerful to be concerned with them, in some cosmic way. And that was both comforting and deeply, deeply disquieting. Like a lion passing through a herd of zebra, not looking at any of them and yet fully capable of eliminating the herd.

"I expect you can leave this shielding, right? We'll need to pass through a mirror that I have not far from here. I won't blindfold you until we're there."