Welcome to Gaia! ::

Eternal Sailor Cybele

Of course it filled Cybele's chest with a soft sort of pride to see that one of the knights that she'd taken under her wing recently sitting confidently in that picture, reaching out to those who would listen and trying to bring people together. Cybele believed in her mission. It was one that she'd been working on, herself.

On the other hand, the thought of having a large group gather out in the open like that set a cold lump of cautious fear in her throat. Celadon was taking precautions. She understood that. There were Mauvians. There had also, she'd been told, been Mauvians around the night that she'd been corrupted.

For both of those reasons, she was there. She wore her Eternal garb, of course. There was no reason here to upstage Celadon, or worse, to attract unwanted outside attention. She walked slowly as she made her way to the site, paying careful attention to her extended auric range and peeking into any other abandoned warehouses for anyone who might be following.

Either she was alone, or they were better at hiding than she was at hunting them.

She would keep an eye out, but she also pushed down her anxieties as she finally spotted Celadon. She put on her practiced smile, and she waved.

"I've seen Order work together before, for what it's worth," she told her. "I believe we can do it again, perhaps better than before. Whatever you have planned here, I support you."

She'd always had a feeling that Celadon had a good head on her shoulders, even if they disagreed now and then.

Sailor Tempesti/Rowan Trumoia

Rowan wasn’t normally one-
No. Tempesti right now. Right. Tempesti.
Anyway.

She wasn’t normally one to go wandering through industrial areas in search of abandoned warehouses, but this meeting sounded like an important one. Barring a trap, of course, and given what little she’d learned since awakening that wasn’t entirely out of the question. The call for expertise wasn’t exactly something she knew how to fulfill given her inexperience in the area (unless they needed a violinist to provide ambience for their meetings in which case she was the right person for that job), but if her being there and boosting their numbers was somehow beneficial then that’s what she was going to do. She wanted to help however she could, and she would be lying if she said that she found the disorganization Aruna had described anything other than troubling, so this opportunity seemed one that she couldn’t pass up. Still, she was more than a little bit anxious, idly twisting a stray lock of hair around her index finger.

Tempesti glanced over at Sailor Aruna, as always she was grateful for her friend’s presence. She’d been there since the first time Rowan had encountered any of this and she wasn’t sure how she could have coped with any of this without her.

Super Sailor Aruna of Landslides

Aruna walked beside Tempesti, eyes scanning the warehouse for any familiar faces. She didn't sense any Chaos auras nearby, which helped slightly to calm her anxiety, but she still made sure to be alert. After all, last time she got caught off guard she ended up with what was now turning into a scar down her arm and ribs. She knew that this was both a good and bad idea, good in the sense that they needed unity, but bad in the sense that it could make them sitting ducks as well.

Giving Tempesti a small smile, she spoke quietly. "I don't recognize anyone so far. Doesn't mean they won't show up though before the night is out." Truthfully she had hoped to see her two coworkers make an appearance, though she was fully prepared to loop both Kerberos and Murikabushi in on what got discussed if neither was able to make it. She would simply have to make sure to pay attention to all the faces and names, and be diligent in taking mental notes.

As an Eternal (Puck) joined the group, Aruna turned to nod at him. She was unfamiliar with this particular senshi, though she supposed she could say that about mostly anyone still, with her circle still being so small. Her voice was soft as she greeted him, though still quite easily heard in the quiet warehouse. "Glad to see more people coming in. I think everyone is welcome."

It had not been the easiest decision, and not for the first time Joy had found herself simultaneously frustrated that she could not in some way simply ask Gouvernail for advice at her leisure, as well as annoyed that she wanted to in the first place.

She wasn't sure she trusted the promise of dampers, and felt a little like she was walking into the proverbial barrel of fish, but in the end, she went - not knowing what to expect nor anticipating any pleasure, but simply out of some desperate hope - that might have already squashed by cynicism had she been two or three months further along in her journey - that she was walking into a movement of some actual forward momentum towards resolution, and she could wash her hands of this entire thing promptly, and let the idea of "knighthood" once again be a word that conjured up long evenings poring over Malory and watching Excalibur, and not what it had ended up being for her.

She entered the room nervously and as early as possible, surprised to find someone she had already met there. As we often do, she reasoned incorrectly from incomplete data, surmising that perhaps there were fewer of them than she had imagined - that there were a handful of unfortunates in the sea of Bad News that was Destiny City, and she thought with a stirring of discomfort that perhaps they were as outnumbered as she had assumed, from everything she had been told, that the Academy must have been once.

It was not a friendly thought.

She offered a thin smile to Ekstrom as she saw her, but did not pause to offer any other greeting, her nerves on edge.

Erytheia

Erytheia recognized the face on his signet ring’s call. It was Celadon.

He remembered her from when she was a page. They had met and he had given her information about homeworlds after they had both helped another knight save her own world from strange creatures. He certainly hoped that Celedon had been given a break from such happenings after that.

She seemed calm on the message, but what she said was important and urgent.

It is something he had long thought since the members of a court he had joined long ago had disappeared and he had lost contact with them and their declared mission.

What if they could organize against the Negaverse?

But back then (and even a bit now) he was too shy and vulnerable to start such a thing.

A pain tinged his heart as he remembered what Tama had said to him before leaving him for the last time.

‘I have people in the Negaverse that have my loyalty.’

Could Order provide such things? Chaos had taken the one thing he loved most by force — and had created a willing bond if it.

It made him… angry.

“Celadon.” He greeted her. “I see you have found your ring. We will have to catch up after the meeting.


✪

Nectaris, Knight of the Moon and Pendour, Knight of Neptune

Pendour glanced absently at the sky, the way she often did, her fingers tangled in her hair. Some of the others from the house were coming, she thought, but she and Nectaris had gone a little ahead.

"I wonder what it is they're planning, exactly," she murmured to the small pink girl at her heels.

"They wanna channel the power of friendship, obviously," said Nectaris, who bounced along, finally seeming like her grinning self and not so bogged down in all of the problems that had popped up in her love life recently. Stuff like this was always good for her, anyway. She liked the power of friendship. "And it's always, like, good to know as many people as you can, yeah?"

"Maybe," said Pendour. These things always made her worry, though. What did they want to work together towards? Hope, or destruction? It was hard to feel down with Nectaris in a good mood, but if people were trying to form Order into some kind of army?

She swallowed. Cybele was there, next to the knight who had called all this, which didn't make her feel much more hopeful.

[DANUBE, page of Cybele]

She had received the message with some surprise. The name and image of Celadon had been familiar, and the 'squire of Cybele' was itself more than enough to get Lan up and moving. She had not been around knighthood long enough to know first-hand how their side worked together, for better or for worse, but it was easy enough to infer from the message.

That was enough to make her nervous.

She ran a hand through her hair as she reached the warehouse, relieved to see other people arriving. Danube had transformed on the way, but was careful not to stay in one place for too long. She didn't want to attract attention, and she didn't want to bring the forces of evil with her. She slipped inside and instinctively looked around for Celadon. She wasn't hard to find, and, shortly after, Cybele.

Danube wasted no time making her way over, some of the tension in her shoulders easing. There was another page there that she didn't recognize, and Danube gave her a warm smile and soft hello before giving her own small wave Celadon's way. She didn't want to be a distraction, and she wasn't sure Celadon would recognize her anyway.



-----------

[EMAIN ABLACH, knight of Earth]

Of course Teegan had answered the message, despite being in the middle of working on his homily for the next morning, leafing through some of the literature at the church to find an obscure reference he was sure he remembered from seminary-- But, there had been no question in the matter. He'd told the other three where he was going over text, but whether or not they met him there was up to them. He couldn't remember if Tobias had work, and the other two were probably grading things--

Anyway, Emain Ablach stepped into the warehouse, taking a moment's pause to let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light before proceeding. He saw Nectaris immediately. It was hard not to what with the shock of pink she was against the backdrop. His head swiveled from side to side, trying to see who else was there. He took note of people he recognized, noting with curiosity the people that were less familiar. He needed to get to know them. It was important that they at least know each other's powered names if they were going to work together.

"Boo," said he, entirely unseriously, as he approached Nectaris and Pendour. "Glad to see you both here."



-----------

[AMORIS, page of the Moon]

Tobias had not only received the message from Celadon, but had of course received the one from Teegan. And if Teegan was going, then sure as s**t Tobias was going, too. He had been at a craft store, looking for wax melts for a candle-making project he wanted to do, so once he paid and left, he'd driven home, left the car in the driveway, and made his way to the meetup location. Transforming into Amoris took some finagling, because he kept running into gaggles of people just as he went to commit, but eventually he was able to swap his shorts and hoodie for the pink tuxedo and hustle himself over.

Amoris looked around for Emain Ablach, assuming he had been beaten there, but couldn't immediately locate him. How hard could it be to find someone carrying around a huge wooden shield? Harder than expected, evidently. Amoris shuffled to the side so that he was out of the way and squinted into the warehouse proper.



-----------

[IMHOTEP, squire of Mercury]

It would have taken less to convince Diryas to step away from grading exams than a summons by a Cybele squire. So when he got the notice, followed up by Teegan's text that he'd be late coming home, Diryas had promptly marked his place in the stack of papers and closed his answer key. He assumed Zebulon would be coming, naturally, so he didn't bother saying anything to him before grabbing his keys, toeing on his shoes, grabbing a coat, and heading for the sidewalk outside. The coat and keys vanished once Diryas felt he was a safe enough distance from the house and in a quiet enough area to risk it. Imhotep's clothing was more than warm enough for the weather. He wouldn't need the coat anyway.

It was a brisk trip to the meetup location, even still, Imhotep glancing frequently to make sure they weren't being followed. Even as they arrived, he took a more circuitous path toward the door. Other people were arriving, and he was pretty sure he saw Amoris head inside. So if this was a trap, somehow, there was hopefully more than enough people to handle it. He spared a look to make sure he hadn't gotten separated from Promethei and then headed inside, himself.

-----------

[ANCHA, senshi of Red Tide] and [SACHA, Order Mauvian]

'You coming?' was the text she sent to Hydor. She didn't bother asking if he'd gotten the message. She assumed he had. "Ready?" That was said to the white mound staring back at her with two amber eyes. She arched an eyebrow when there was no immediate response. After a moment, long front legs revealed themselves in a languid stretch as Sacha peeled himself out of the furry orb he'd curled himself into.

"Of course."

It was still surreal to her that she could talk to her cat and have him respond with people words. Coming home from tour to an open kitchen window and no sign of her beloved cat had been nerve-wracking at first, but before she'd had a chance to formulate a missing poster, he'd waltzed back on in from the fire escape. He'd been bewildered as to why she was upset. She'd been bewildered as to how he'd gotten out, how he'd managed out on his own given he'd never been outside without a cat carrier in his entire life, and then he'd spoken to her.

She'd noticed the star on his head belatedly, after hastily texting Hydor what to do about her cat talking to her. She supposed she'd deserved the dry, 'he's a guardian cat, then' response.

The trip to the warehouse was quick, uneventful, just the way she liked it. Sacha padding next to her, Ancha made her way inside.



-----------

[BASILUZZO, Knight of Uranus], [STROMBOLI, Squire of Uranus], and [SAFIRA, civilian]

Basiluzzo and Stromboli exchanged a glance as they entered the warehouse, Stromboli chancing a look back at the person who'd insisted on coming along. Safira was disguised the mundane way, with stage makeup and costume clothing. They'd both tried to get her to stay home, but her response that they were going to a place with all allies made it more difficult to argue. There were mauvians there to keep all of the powered signatures down, and both of them were prepared to take Safira and run if Chaos crashed the party anyway.

This was such a big part of her son's and husband's lives, not to mention her son-in-law's, plus the talking cat, plus the various and sundry people that came through their home, plus their adopted daughter, on and on, that Safira was bound and determined to be of some use. And rather than have them relay everything back to her, why not go to the source? That did not mean that Basiluzzo and Stromboli liked it. But Basiluzzo knew where his stubbornness had come from, and Stromboli didn't feel strongly enough to actually fight with his wife about it. Not when every precaution was being taken. Not when she gave them permission to take her and run if something did happen.

Basiluzzo and Stromboli just prayed that nothing would happen.

Stromboli saw Nectaris and Pendour and gestured toward them to get Basiluzzo and Safira's attention before raising his hand in a wave. Not convinced they'd see them over everyone there, Stromboli started making his way over immediately. Basiluzzo puffed his hair out of his face as his mother followed just as immediately, trying not to will himself grey hairs. She was surrounded by senshi and knights. As long as the mauvian dampening continued to work, she was arguably safer where she was than walking down the street.

That did not stop Basiluzzo from looking back toward the entrance with a degree of wariness.