Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rivera pushed open one of the large doors that led to the 100 meter tall studio... As she did, she did some calculating in her head. If it's a hundred meters tall, and it's a half dome, then it must be twice as wide, being circular and all. What were the builders thinking... how many artists are there around in the school anyway? She had heard about this new edition that seemed to have appeared magically overnight after some revelation by some architect and a few votes of aproval from the student body.

Her feet were silent as she glided across the smooth marble floor... This would make a gorgeous dance hall! Except for the fact that table and chairs are justs about every where, not to mention easles, drying racks, sculptures and other odds and ends. The place was quite a mess... then again, to the artistic eye, it would be rather more a wonderland than a mess. The beams of light that flashed across the room were reflected so many times into the shadows, there were nearly no shadows remaining, nothing more than the little blotch of darkness constrained within a few inches of her feet. This is the perfect place to do art, where no shadows would get in the way. Shadow boxers would have to go down stairs though... they'd have no luck up here.

Rivera gathered her materials, bought on the internet a while ago. The Sakura picnic was coming up, and she heard about a kimono fashion show. Naturally, Kira wanted her to join... He seemed to be missing for a while after the star test, probably suspended for some reason or another. Such bad luck... Usagihana was looking for him. Drawing the sleek, dark aquamarine blue silk from her back pack, she made sure that there were no creases in it. A picture fell out of her silk and she lifted th paper up... It was that picture of a kimono she printed off of google image. She's never seen a kimono before, so making it would be difficult without a pictorial reference. However, looking at it still didn't help so much. Looking at the sewing machine, she sighed and took up the silk and scissors. Time to use some artistic license and do something strange...

Trying was the least she could do for Kira after he saved her life.

Kasumi strode into the room quietly, shutting the door behind her. This was the room she had been looking for. She silently walked around the room, her fingertips brushing the tables , and her messenger bag filled with art supplies. Shortly after she had organized her room, she left to find the supposedly beautiful art room. She had been skeptical, but now, after finding the room she had so desperatly wanted to draw in since she was younger, she was blown away.

She ignored the people already in the room. At this moment she just wanted to be alone, which proved to not be difficult. The majority of the small crowd was gathered around one girl silently drawing in a chair. She seemed oblivious to the group around her.

She pulled a chair up to the large window, sat down, and pulled out a watercolor painting of an angel. It looked like an ordinary angel, just as you would expect. Every detail had been carefully sketched and painted. The only surprising thing was that the angel had black wings, and a darker complexion, with black eyes as well. Kasumi smiled. Everything she created had something unique to it, something from herself. She pulled out her paints and kept working, using the sunlight streaming in from the massive window as her only source of light.

Rivera sighed... she wasn't going to get this thing finished anytime soon... Picking up the silky fabric, she realised that she had only finished sewing together the basic robe. None of it was embroidered or decorated. Not even the sash was finished.... maybe it won't be done in time for the picnic...

"I can't think that way..." She whispered to herself and shook her head. She wanted to show Kira that she wasn't just some battle-obessed warrior princess from who knows when. She wanted to show him she had a beautiful side as well... Then, there was the problem of what to do with her scars. Foundation and make-up doesn't cover everything... Perhaps an illusion? But Kira could see through her illusions probably. He wasn't exactly a weakling at sorcery...

Deciding to work a little longer, she took up the silk and began to weave thread magic into the royal blue silks. A spool of the finest and purest silver thread unwound itself by her wrist, the thread lifting into the air and glowing faintly with its own light. Rivera infused it with luminence from her own life force, making it brilliant and radiant of its own accord. The thread was like a line of moonlight... Lifting her hand, she drew a circle in the air with her index finger and put the image of a waterserpent behind her motion, forcing it into her magic. The thread twisted and formed a flat pattern in the air... a long, sleek, serpentine body with jagged spines and faerie fins... elegant, narrow eyes and a refined snout... The fangs were slightly protruding, and feathery patters appeared across the skin of its bat like wings... Such a strange creature she would weave into the works of her silk, to emblazon the skirts of a stranger robe that could hardly be called a kimono...

She smiled as the entire robe lit up in light... so beautiful! It's been so long since she had been able to create something beautiful like this... Maybe there was a chance after all... Rivera scattered icy mist onto the dragon pattern... every crystal of ice turned into a real crystal, clear and flawless like little stars among the silver lines. The mist became silver dust, swirling in the deep blue of the robes... Yes... Kira would be happy to see this...

Rivera felt a shiver run along her back. At first, she put it off as nothing. She put away her kimono patterns and was about to take out the fabric for the sash when she felt a pain rip through her... no... not her... more like her soul... For a second, she felt the whole world caving in on her... yet it went away as soon as it came. The moment of stillness before the storm was so unearthly, she stood still with the world, as if it could keep everything stable.

And the storm came with a deafening roar of silence as her chaos continuum warped itself around her of its own accord. Rivera was afraid... She quickly bound her powers to her with space sorcery and supressed it with an effort... it hurt to contain it, but she was used to pain. It would stay put for a while... Her chaos continuum wasn't supposed to do anything without her opening it first and she didn't even think about opening it at all... so why-- ...Rivera turned her head... her eyes widened in shock as she finally recognized the lingering aura...

"Darc..."

Rivera buried her powers deep within her soul and bound it in her strongest barrier spell, a cocoon of protection and restraint... it was like supressing a thunderstorm. It was hard, but not impossible. She nearly tripped over her chair when she turned to run after him. Her canvas craft bag saved her from falling over completely, blocking her from the chair and allowing her to catch her footing before running out into the hall after Darc. Her heart was racing, but she couldn't understand why. Her feelings belonged to Kira alone... so... oh, right. It was the three expressos she had that morning to keep her awake. The painkillers she took made her want to sleep all day.

There were still bandages around her arms and her ribs. The one wrapped around her left calf made it hard for her to catch up. Rivera ignored pain like she always did and kept running until she caught up to him. By then, her heart was already racing at an unbearable speed. After the incident during the star test... her heart had never felt the same. It was weaker from a wound inflicted upon it when she was impaled. The same went for her left lung, which was already very weak to begin with. Clutching the wall with one hand, she leant against it until she had enough breath to whisper again.

"Darc! ... wait... what are you..." She couldn't finish speaking between gasps of air.

"Wait!" Rivera whispered harshly, coughing a little as she walked slowly towards him. "It's okay... it's just the chaos continuum activating... I should be fine... it's not so bad..." She reached him and faced him, standing up straight slowly until her posture was perfect and her expression relaxed, demured... it was as if she could feel nothing. "See? I'm fine... it's not your fault even if I'm not..." She forced her eyes to stay in a warm, green shade, keeping signs of pain away from even her only outlet of emotions. She refused to let him know. "It's been a long time... I'm sorry for the last time..."

All Rivera could do was to stand stock still with her entire body frozen to space while he walked away. Every inch of her felt coated with ice. What was the price of comfort? It was at the cost of lost friendship... What was the price of friendship? Only the will to gain happiness and pain... a pain she can still bear as well... it was all set up so unfairly for her. For Darc too. Fate was cruel after all. Rivera closed her eyes, forcing her tears back, keeping her voice steady when she whispered. "I'm... sorry..."

Letting the bittersweet presence of his existence linger for one second longer, she savored it. The fact that he was still there and that she would be able to stand to smile in pain was a matter she couldn't just let go... Letting the last reaches of it die away, she walked back towards the art studio.