Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was all so bright. So utterly, blindingly bright. How could these creatures see in such brightness, this daylight that seemed to plague this dimension for so many hours of the day, every single day, for all eternity? How could she even see? This… sun, as the inhabitants of this realm called it, covered absolutely everything that existed, but only sometimes. These creatures used the sun's presence to tell time, another strange new concept to one from a realm where all beings had eternal life, or afterlife, and the darkness never ended. Sure, there was light in Hell, and even in her circle of Hell, but it was never so painfully bright, and it never engulfed everything so completely. The only light she knew was from the flames that rained down from the sky, the flaming sands that made up the core of the realm she ruled over, and the torches that lined the corridors of her castle, each made from femurs of those who were foolish enough to challenge her rightful rule over the Seventh Circle. And yet, for one so engulfed in darkness for all her existence, she could see just fine. It should have blinded her, and yet she was just fine. A curious development, one she assumed came from the fact that she used borrowed eyes that belonged to the body she currently inhabited, the body that was currently her prison.

Dahlia currently found herself perched in a crouching stand upon one of the tables that stood next to a window in the lounge, overlooking the City of Tomorrow with wide eyes that rarely blinked. She did not even consider that it might be rude to stand on a table where others ate. This was all so new to her, and she had no concept of such things as table manners, or manners in general. It had only been a few days since she'd found herself in this realm, locked inside the body of an unwilling sacrificial lamb. At least, she thought it was a few days, she was not quite sure; time worked much differently on this dimension than her own, as the humans used the aforementioned sunlight to measure time, where as she simply counted according to the battles she'd fought. Days, weeks, months, years; all were completely new concepts to her. She still did not quite understand the ways of this world, and likely would not for quite some time. She'd been confronted by the people of this realm, those that dubbed themselves the Justice League. She'd originally assumed they were the rulers of this world, given their great power, but was disappointed to find out that this place was ruled by the most common, and in most cases the weakest, of humans for the most part. Why did these powerful creatures allow themselves to be ruled by such inferior specimens?

And why was everything so utterly, deafeningly, quiet? There was some noise here and there. Some things that sounded like something repeatedly whipping at the air in the distance, whirring and screeching and the occasional crash down below the ground level, and of course the humans' talking in that strange box everyone seemed to stare into for long periods of time… but where were the screams? Where were the never-ending screams of torment and agony? Where were the screeches of harpies, the sadistic cackling of the centaurs patrolling Phlegethon as they shot down those foolish humans that believed they could reach out from the river of boiling blood and fire and find safety? Where was the loud clashing of blades and tearing of flesh as the daftest of her species so brainlessly believed they could train to match her power and challenge her? It was all so quiet for her, and that was perhaps the most unsettling thing about this world. Everything was so… peaceful. Those humans from the so-called Justice League promised that she would see combat, but she'd been here already a few days and she had yet to swing her sword even once at someone. It was disturbing, to say the least.

She saw something metallic flying in the distance, suspended in the air by spinning blades. Her head tilted to the side, and the tip of her tail traced the flight path against the cold glass of the window. Whatever the creature was, part of her wanted to challenge it to a fight, and she almost reached for the sword and shield that rested on the table beside her. But she'd been told that the denizens of this world did not fight each other so randomly. She'd been told by those humans that kept her here that she needed to be "polite" to the humans she protected, and that she was only to fight those that threatened them. She was fine with protecting others from hostile threats, but they had to extensively explain to her this concept of being "polite", and even still she did not understand the point of it all. This "peace" word others kept referring to was just as meaningless to her. Those large metal creatures on the ground and occasionally in the air looked vicious to her, or at least more vicious than the other creatures, and she wanted to test her blade against such monsters. But she would follow the rules of this world… for now.

Smoke billowed out between the iron mimic's lips as he smushed out a half smoked cigarette in the planter he was leaning against. He'd kicked the habit some time ago, and had always been a light smoker but since joining the team his cravings had resurfaced and eventually he'd given in to temptation. A smoker wasn't exactly something he wanted to be, health concerns aside, his mother would probably fly out from Star City just to kill him if she found out. Luckily he was across the country where she probably wouldn't find out.

Today was shaping up to be a rather dull one. There was nothing exciting happening and no one really around to pester. He'd been up early as usual when things were quiet and people generally kept to themselves. He'd gone for a five mile run and now that he'd finished his little break he figured he'd stunk himself up pretty good. A shower had become necessary so that had been Mason's next adventure - a 15 minute scrub down. After toweling off and getting dressed he found himself at a loss for what to do. He checked his phone. No texts or missed calls. He had no errands to do nor any plans for the entire day. But just as he was about to wallow in despair, his stomach growled and he realized he'd forgotten to have anything to eat.

At least it gave him something to do, and the more time consuming the better so maybe he would go out to eat. Maybe somewhere out of town even. A joy ride to breakfast then back. It would eat up a lot of time anyway, and maybe by then his body would be up for some more physical activity and he could get some training in. A part of him hoped that the stronger and faster his human body was, the easier it would be to move his iron form. So far he hadn't noticed any real change, but he also really hadn't improved as much as he'd wanted. First thing was first though, and breakfast was to be had!

He tossed his towel into a pile in the closet and departed his seat on the bed to gargle some mouthwash and then brush his teeth to clean out the residue of the green, minty liquid. He honestly used it for his breath as he wasn't convinced it was actually good for his teeth. It was as he was tying his shoes that the idea hit him that bringing some company could also be fun. Of course his two favorite people were Elke and Lily, of those who were left on the team anyway. Elke had her own place in Gotham unfortunately. Why she was so set on being a detective and Justice Leaguer was beyond him, not to mention the inconvenience it must have been to live offsite. And with everyone else living together he wondered if she ever felt left out. Not that they all spent a ton of quality time together and went on group outings without her - in fact they were often up to their own things - but there was something to living under the same roof that instilled some familiarity regardless of how often she was around. He tried to make the blonde feel like part of the team as much as possible when she wasn't around though. It was convenient he'd acquired her number. Speaking of, he hadn't spoken to her at all today and to correct this mistake he pulled out his phone and sent a text to her;


'Good morning, Sunshine (:'


Unlike him, she seemed to be a late riser. The last time he'd come over at about ten and she'd been fast asleep. To the point she hadn't even heard him come in, or out. He'd called back at nearly noon and it had sounded like he woke her up. Though he'd slept in a lot in his younger years, he really didn't like it now. It just felt like wasting his day away.

And without any Elke sightings, his choice for who to take to breakfast had been narrowed down to one. It was good because his bike was only a two seater anyway. He hadn't seen Lily this morning either so he assumed she would be in her room still, though he'd avoided the kitchen and lounge on his trek back to his room so it was very possible he'd missed her. Still, her room was closer so soon he found himself standing at her door, groomed and ready to take off, purple helmet in hand. A loosely balled hand knocked a few times on the door "Hey Butthead, are you in there?" he called through to her. Considering what she normally wore as 'coverage', he wasn't about to barge in on his multilingual teammate. Who know what he would never be able to unsee? He already knew what he would be getting her for Christmas - some turtle necks.







________________________________________________

I'm not a slave ...







In all honesty, Gabriel couldn't say for sure why he had decided it was a good idea for him to join the league. Of course, he had reasons for doing so but at times he wasn't so sure they were solid enough to keep him there. He'd wanted a break from his career, a place to go where he could escape from that and use his ability without having to worry about his identity being revealed or just exactly what it was he was capable of. It was a place where he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder to assure no one was watching him when he took on another form, whether it was human or non. He supposed there was a small sense of belonging in this strange place, belonging in the sense he knew he wasn't the only weirdo out there who had powers. Here he wouldn't be judged for being different, here he wouldn't be looked down upon or feared for being more than just a human.

After all, he'd never asked for this. He'd never consented to inheriting the powers his father had forced upon him. They had certainly changed his life, they had certainly helped him better himself but at the same time it had removed him from having any real relationships outside of that with his mother. His ability had assisted in bringing him fame, that was something he couldn't disregard but it had also isolated him. As a celebrity he couldn't form any real relationships whether it was a friendship or more. People simply liked him because he was rich and famous, they always wanted something from him or with him but it was only because of his status. After all, who wouldn't want to get with a celebrity that had it made and be spoiled while having to do absolutely nothing? The fan mail, the constant attention, it got tiring and that was precisely why having the ability to be anyone he wanted was a gift in disguise at times. Ironic how the thing he hadn't asked for had brought him fame while also being his release from it.

Seeing as there had been next to nothing happening at the Watchtower, however, Gabe had been forced to find a source of entertainment for himself to pass the time. Of course there was always his career he could have been dealing with, signing contracts, giving fans his autograph, doing self promotions but the reason he'd joined the league was to take a break from all that. Little did he know that not having the hustle and bustle of his career life tended to make things pretty quiet. Ultimately, ee decided to fill the void by studying each and every member individually, after all, the more he knew about them, the more convincing he would be posing as them should the need ever arise. After a couple days of being around the Watchtower, Gabe had managed to gather a fair assessment of those who had actually been present for him to observe.

At current his conclusion was that most if not all of the members that inhabited this place were bizarre or crazy in some shape or form. Two of the females that had arrived around the same time he had (Lola, Dahlia) seemed to have absolutely zero concept of social etiquette or normalcy, not exactly a trait he'd personally perceive as a benefit to the league. Their lack of ability to blend in seemed like it would be more of a detriment and nuisance than anything, then again, he wasn't the recruiter so it wasn't really of his concern. Of course, while those two ladies had certainly managed to top his list by simply being themselves and not realizing they stuck out like sore thumbs, there were certainly other members that had caught his eye. Based on attire, the guy that wore the top hat from time to time who dressed like a magician had certainly managed to catch Gabe's eye a time or two. He seemed friendly to the point Gabe was almost wondering if he should peg him as naive but based on hearing the guy's elaborate tales from his travels, Gabe decided he needed more information to cross reference in order to come to a solid conclusion. He also hadn't missed the sassy feline-like woman (Savanna) that always seemed grumpy for one reason or another. While she seemed more normal than the rest on the surface, Gabe suspected there was likely more to her than met the eye. Of course, that was likely the case with every member he'd encountered so far but this one especially.

While his attitude generally didn't help with him developing friendships beyond anything superficial, Gabe still happened to be a social creature. As such, he decided to wander the tower and seek out something to occupy himself with as opposed to confining himself to his room. Even people here had recognized him, of course he hadn't expected to completely fly under the radar, even super heroes watched movies it seemed, but so far he hadn't encountered any fanatics. Naturally there had been the request for autographs for family members, for personal fans but it hadn't been anything overwhelming or time consuming. For the most part people within the group he'd been assigned to seemed to have no knowledge of him, something he almost preferred. A clean slate was always nice in certain regards.

Gabe entered the kitchen, figuring it would probably have a few people there and if not, he'd be able to have a quiet breakfast to himself. His initial suspicion was confirmed when he entered to find ghostboy eating an apple along with a few others. It seemed weird chick # 1, demon girl, had taken to perching herself on top of a table and staring out the window at a helicopter. Watching her sheer amazement at something that was so normal and easily explained to him brought a smirk to his features. His smirk only widened upon seeing Savanna's reaction to the strange woman. He could understand Savanna's sentiment, it was very evident by her mannerisms alone that Dahlia was not human. Alongside that from the few words he had heard her speak, he was aware the world that she'd come from had been far more interesting than earth seemed to be. He intended to discuss it with her one day and find out more about her and her home world but for now he decided to educate her on his own. While there were a number of people hesitant on approaching the strange woman due to her ominous aura among other things, Gabe lacked their fear. "Have you managed to find out what those are yet? Remind me to show you what the internet is assuming I don't have to teach you how to read first."

Revealing the capabilities of the internet to a demon seemed like an endless possibility of fun. What would happen once she discovered porn and the other dark delights of the internet? Would she cringe in disgust, would she be utterly confused, would she become addicted? The outcome was something he wasn't able to predict and that in itself excited him, the prospect of discovering it one day. It seemed, however, that day would not be this one. Just as Gabe was about to inquire further with Dahlia, he was interrupted by the excited announcement of crazy chick # 2, the bare-footed Atlantean girl claiming she was going to the street. Like Dahlia, Lola also possessed zero concept of how she was expected to act in public and was also easily amazed by things he'd become desensitized to due to growing up with them. He knew allowing the Atlantean girl explore the 'street' by herself was a recipe for disaster. If she didn't end up getting hit by a car there was probably a thousand other ways for her to meet her demise or run into some form of trouble. He wasn't aware that joining the league would involve babysitting children in women's bodies. "Whoa whoa whoa, hold your horses there. You definitely aren't going out to the street until you get some shoes. Last thing we need is you stepping on some dirty drug addict's needle and contracting some STD."



And I'm not a slave to a ...

"The death of one is a tragedy. The death of a million is just a statistic."

Having a day where she was able to sleep in let alone get a proper eight hours of sleep was a godsend for the workaholic officer. As much as she loved keeping busy and making herself useful, a break every now and then was a relief to her. It gave her time to visit with her parents and assure them she was alright. It also gave her some quality time to spend with Lincoln, who was always enthused to see her and her mother was always grateful to have a day off from dogsitting. Not that Lincoln was badly behaved or anything, Elke had taken the proper time and dedication it took to train him. Unfortunately, though, with her schedule becoming so busy due to serving the force alongside being a league member, it made it difficult for her to give him the time he needed. Luckily she had the best mom in the world and she stepped in to take care of Lincoln when Elke couldn't.

Instead of being roused from her sleep by her canine companion, however, it was the buzzing of her cell phone indicating she had a text that stirred her from her sleep. The blonde awoke with a small groan indicating minor irritation at the prospect of being awakened before her body had chosen to naturally rise. Nevertheless, it wasn't exactly a foreign concept to her, being woken up before she wanted to get up. Due to the fact she worked so much it was a pretty regular routine for her to have her sleep schedule cut short. In general she was probably working on four or six hours of sleep if she was lucky. The fact she'd gotten a full eight was definitely a refreshing change for the workaholic officer.

The blonde sat and stared at the ceiling for a few moments before even bothering to reach for her phone located on her side table. She thought back to the mission they'd most recently had and how disappointed Deacon had been when the team had been taken off it. Thought back to how messed up it had been they'd been expected to protect the princes from someone the league and princes' security alike hadn't been able to describe to them. It was a ludicrous proposition and expectation and made Elke's blood boil. They had done the absolute best they could as a team under the circumstances they'd been given. Hopefully their future missions would go more smoothly. It would sure help if the team trained together or at least bothered with some form of team bonding instead of everyone going their separate ways for the most part afterwards.

Finally the blonde reached for her phone, clutching the side of her bed to brace herself as she did so in order to not fall off the bed. She methodically entered the authentication code required and took a peek at the phone only to find herself rolling her eyes. Oddly enough the text hadn't angered her like it normally would but it was certainly still cheeky on Mason's part. Perhaps it was slightly sweet ... not that she'd ever believe him to truly be capable of that. She knew he hadn't texted her out of the sweetness of his heart. That was the last thing on earth she would expect from Mason. She was no fool. The fact he was texting her indicated one of two things: a) someone had asked him to (unlikely) and b) he was bored and had nothing better to do (highly likely).

'You must be really bored if you're texting lil' ol' me! lol'

After sending her text, Elke proceeded to get herself out of bed. First thing first was breakfast. It was the most important meal of the day but one she had a bad habit of skipping lately due to being rushed from moonlighting as an officer. Second was pampering herself with a bath instead of a shower for once since she rarely had the opportunity to do so anymore also due to the fact she led a double life. After getting herself dressed and presentable for public, the third thing on her list to do was spend as much time with Lincoln as she could before she had to check in at the Watch Tower and see if she was required there or not. She felt guilty for having to pawn him off on her mother as much as she did. Elke had raised the doberman since he had been a puppy and the fact she was away as much as she was now distressed her when it came to her canine companion.

After taking Lincoln for a long walk in one of the local off leash dog parks and assuring to play fetch with him (his favourite game) while they were there, she finally made her way to the Watch Tower. From what she gathered upon entering the doors, there wasn't a whole lot going on. Of course there was still the hype and talk about their most recent mission that had made news headlines but other than that the place seemed relatively quiet. She'd been informed (by Mason, seeing as he absolutely loved taking the initiative to text her) that there were a few new members who had apparently joined the league since their latest mission in the past couple days. This was one of Elke's main motivations for making a stop by the Watch Tower, to assess and to meet and greet the newest members.

Seeing as it was still fairly early in the day, Elke decided to wager she'd have the best chance of running into someone in the kitchen having a snack or perhaps even a late breakfast or early lunch. Her intuition proved to be spot on and a congregation of people happened to be in the cafeteria already. Among them she recognized Savanna, Deacon and Aurelio. Another face she happened to recognize but didn't know personally by any means was that of Gabriel Clyne? Just what in the hell was he doing here? He was a friggin' celebrity and immediately Elke grew apprehensive and wondered if they were going to end up on yet another escort mission for yet another spoiled brat. There were also three new females she failed to recognize at all: one sitting on a table staring out the window, one rather tall girl that she was lead to believe was the Atlantean that had been talked about and the third ended up introducing herself as Isis or Gypsy when they were on the field but the fact a celebrity was there with his presence unexplained took precedence over the other unknown faces.

"I'm Elke, Noir on the field," the blonde officer introduced herself as she entered the room, projecting her voice to assure she was loud enough for everyone to hear. She immediately made her way over to Deacon, however, a puzzled expression on her countenance as she stood over him and prodded him for a bit of insight into the new members. "So I guess I'm gonna be the first person to ask this but ... what in the world is Gabriel Clyne doing here? We aren't doing another escort mission for another over privileged rich brat are we, Deacon? Also: we should be getting the group together in order to host proper introductions so everyone gets to know one another." The distress and lack of enthusiasm in her tone was impossible to miss. Having a duplicate mission of what they had done two weeks ago was just not something Elke was looking forward to in the slightest.

Deacon Richards
Location: Tower Kitchen
Thoughts: Informal Introductions

Hearing Savannah enter the kitchen and opening the fridge was something that he sort of expected. Given her schedule, which he seemed to have down in his head, she was recovering from her work out. Despite his seeming distance, he was trying to do some research on his team members. They lived together, for the most part. He was going to have to talk to Elke about moving into the Tower, in order to avoid any emergencies. He was sure Superman could talk to Commissioner Gordon about having her on loan to Metropolis PD for a while. At least then she could actually do some police work on the side.

He read up on his teammates files, their history (medical, psychological, etc.) and tried to figure out what made them all tick. He didn’t want to screw up like before. The older members told him that it wasn’t his fault, but he felt it was. He represented the leadership of the League, and to have the Vlatavan embassy recall the princes to their sovereignty was a failure on his end. He did not make good decisions, and people did not like that.

After all, they represented international interests, and as such they did have to dance that tight rope of world politics.

“Morning Savannah, enjoy your work out?” he responded in kind, following up on her query about Dahlia, “Dahlia is a unique case, to say the least.” reading her file, whatever the hell constituted a file frankly for her, was a strange case. The soul of a demon inhabiting the body of a human. Reminded him of a character from a TV show. Buffy? No, the spin-off. Right that show, to think s**t like that happened in real life these days.

Taking another drag of his e-cig, he let out the vapor in an almost comical manner upon seeing Lola. It had been an improvement from earlier, but to say that she was by surface standards modest would be questionable. Nothing against her, as a cryogenic time-traveler, he had quite a bit of culture shock as well. She was going to have an adjustment period, which would likely start with the need to wear shoes.

“I have to agree with Gabriel on this one Lola. You need to wear shoes before you even consider going outside.” he called out to Dahlia, “Dahlia, would you please come in here? I feel like now would be the perfect time to make some introductions.”

Aurelio soon made his entrance, in his usual grand style. The magician always was an interesting one for the ghost, a strange individual that traversed not only space and time, but dimensions as well. God knows the kind of world he hailed from. Though perhaps it may not have been that much different than this one. Guess he’d have to ask him about it at some point.

The arrival of both another team member, Isis as well as Elke was pleasant, ”Great now all we’re missing is Goliath and Babel.” He did a quick “Mason, Lilly, please come to the kitchen.” page over his communicator to get them there with the rest of the team.

Elke came close to him, mentioning something about Gabriel, “And I’m supposed to know him? I had no idea the guy was famous.”

Clapping his hands together, he looked about him, “Alright folks, Aurelio aka Eldritch has made his introductions. I’m going to ask that everyone else do so once Lily and Mason get here. To start, I am Deacon Richards, Phantom in the field. Team leader, and ghostly adept.”

A demon, an Atlantean, a magician, a teenager, and a whole other crazy assortment of characters. Sounded like the start to a shitty joke. Guess he was gonna have to figure this all out and soon.

Savanna dropped the bottle of water from her mouth before shrugging her shoulders. "Everything was great until I fell square on my back and banged my shoulder during my last dismount." She was still steaming over it. She knew there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the fall, well other than dismounting sooner.

Again Savanna found her eyes drifting back to the supernatural creature in the other room. "I can see and feel that much." She spoke lowly to Deacon, trying to keep her words from reaching the demons ears. "I have a really uneasy feeling." She sighed and shook her head. It wasn’t anything Deacon needed to worry about, at least if he trusted the thing. She would just have to work against the urge to run.

She watched as another new girl came bouncing into the room. "Hi." Savanna greeted with a raised brow. Why was she so excited? No. Savanna was not going to question this one too. The team was already awkward enough, not to add in this? She shook her head. "No thanks. Maybe if you wanted to go shopping, but not to just walk around." She said declining the offer.

She had missed Gab and his stent with the demon thing, but as he entered the kitchen and said something to Lola. She could only nod in agreement as she took in the man’s looks. Wasn’t he a movie star or something? What the hell was he doing in the tower. Not that she would actually fan girl over him or something. She was far too good for that.

It wasn’t long though before a face she knew and actually liked came into the room. His comments though elicited an eye roll from Vanna. "Oh yeah, if you find the look and smell of sweat lovely." She really needed to start showering before hitting the kitchen. "Then again, you are strange, so that could very well be your thing." She added with a shrug. It was all good natured though. She didn’t know why she liked him over most of those in the tower, but she did, though she doubted she would ever actually admit it.

Another newbie came into the room introducing herself as Isis. "My my, looks like our numbers keep growing." There was little enthusiasm in her voice. After all, if they weren’t a s**t team before, they sure as hell would be now considering just two of the new members didn’t seem to get this world. And now Isis was offering to read palms. Though her code name seemed to explain a lot about that.

Another stiff sigh escaped her as Elke came in. She could almost envy her and Aurelio. They didn’t seem to live in the tower full time. She missed her privacy.

Savanna seemed to grimace as Deacon called the demon thing into the kitchen with them before radioing the other two team members who were missing. She didn’t want to get any closer to the thing than she needed to, but before she could make and movement to leave the room, the demon appeared before them. Another unsettling thing. Though the words that came out of Dahlia’s mouth didn’t do anything to settle the feeling Savanna had about her. At least she didn’t say anything about murdering the lot in front of her.

Savanna fought the urge to pull at her water bottle label. It was something she did when she felt nervous, but she refused to let any of the others in on her secret. "Savanna Carrol. Kat on the job." She kept her introduction short and sweet. If they had any questions, she would answer, but she wouldn’t drone on, not when she was fighting the need to flee the room.



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