Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was not as strange as Fallon might have thought to suddenly share head space with another person. The initial adjustment had been confusing and strenuous, and the sudden combination of memories from two distinctive lives had kept her up all night just thinking. But after saying her goodbyes to Corinna and returning to Crystal Academy that first night, Fallon felt... oddly normal. There was no second voice in her head screaming for attention, no change in her precise manner of walking, nothing that made her feel unbalanced or ill. It had been a stun at first, one that Cora had to slowly draw her out of, but once that was done, Fallon just went on with life.

Was it really that simple?

The transition was aided by the onslaught of memories from the Black Earth. Fallon felt no animosity toward Corinna for the sudden drastic change because Ares was there. And Ares felt everything but animosity toward the Queen. There wasn't much confusion either because she now possessed the memories of two lives, and the new addition held her answers. What am I? A senshi. What do I do? Wield smoke. Questions did not pop up in her mind because the answers were already there. Things came to Fallon in bursts of realization, almost an information overload, but the overriding impulse of all of it was a sudden gripping devotion to the parallel community.

So when Corinna announced that the senshi who had crossed over through the mirror so far would be having a picnic together, Fallon nodded briskly and offered to make all the food as if they'd be doing this together for ages. Which, of course, they had. Just not on this soil, or in these bodies.

Spring was in full bloom across Destiny City, save the brisk nights of chill breezes winter left behind. The wildflowers had pushed through and dotted every green space with bursts of lilac and fuchsia and goldenrod. Birds built nests of fallen sticks among the wide, fanning branches of trees back in bloom. It was a cloudy day, and the worst of the sun's rays were diffused by the puffy white clouds that billowed by overhead.

Perfect for a picnic.

Fallon had arrived there early, quite early, and took the liberty of snatching up the picnic table under the wide arms of an old oak tree. It was the best one, and she had taken the care to stake it out early. She covered it in a white table cloth to hide the scratched in quotes and initials, plopping a floral bouquet centerpiece down beside a pitcher of iced tea and another pitcher of lemonade. Four picnic baskets (who owned that many?) rested on the benches, one for each expected parallel. The Queen's looked larger than the others and had a few wildflowers woven into the wicker latticework. The one intended for Aphrodite had a broken handle.

Dressed in a high-waisted blue sundress, Fallon floated around the table, smoothing the cloth here, tugging it there. She expected people to start arriving in the next few minutes. Any longer and they would be late. The thought made Fallon cringe. It would certainly be a bad foot to start out on.