Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was cold outside, the fierce, unfriendly sort of cold that hurt when it sunk in, so that Maria's face ached with it, and she pulled her coat tighter still in some vain hope that it might protect her. Unfortunately, the parkinglot outside her work place was extensive, and she was parked near the end of it, which meant she had a lot of walking yet to do.

Her dark hair whipped around her face, cutting across her vision and sticking to her lips, a reminder that she had not brought her hat today. Her scarf too, had been forgotten. It wasn't that she wasn't practical, she had often been accused of being overly so, but dealing with Edward had meant a late start in the morning, and no time to focus on small details.

Stupid boy, sometimes it seemed her younger brother would never grow up. But with Mother dead, and Father being... well... best to pretend at virgin birth and ignore his contribution, wasn't it? It fell on her to be his family, even if, in his twenties, one would think that he would be done with needing looking after.

Distracted by her thoughts, she slipped, nearly falling, and regained her balance only with difficulty. The ground was icy, threateningly so, and the snow made the world invisible except for white.

Ironic then, that her death would have so little to do with the cold and ice. Instead, Maria stopped suddenly, hissing through her teeth as pain bloomed in her temple, brutal in its force and unabating. The pain was practically a tangible force, something grabbing her, pushing her down. She shuddered, stopped, leaning against a car as she tried to get herself back under control. No hope for that. Her vision went blurry, and she found herself stumbling as she tried to walk forward even as, somewhere in the back of her mind, her practical side scolded her for weakness.

She made it to her car. Indeed, she even got out her keys, and got herself inside. There was a strange, slipping feeling to all of this and at the same time the knowledge that if she wasn't careful, she would end up vomitting. Everything seemed very fuzzy, and she decided wisely, that maybe she shouldn't drive just yet. Instead, she leaned her seat back to rest. In her confused state the idea of a ruptured brain aneurysm didn't even have the potential of occuring to her. She'd just wait until this headache faded.

And fade it did, as she too faded.

Perhaps, if her religous ideas allowed for it, she would have awoken with questions of heaven and afterlife. But Maria was grounded, with no time for such ideas. She knew her body, and thus, when she awoke, she knew she was awake, not dead. Still, she felt strange. The last thing she remembered was a headache of unbelievable intensity, and now, well she'd never seen this room before.

There was something on her neck, and that too was odd. As she sat up, she lifted a hand and ran a finger along the chain. Huh. A bit garish for her taste. And where'd it come from? Well, she couldn't possible be the only one... wherever she was.

Maria's logical mind immediately tried to deal with the other, and the invitation to questions. Alright, fine. She'd ask questions. But what to ask? Questions collided in her mind, and were quickly ranked in order of importance. Who the woman was was currently irrelivent.

As to how she'd gotten here, who cared? She was here. Where was here? No clue, but it didn't matter at the moment. Why was she here? Now there was an important question.

"Why am I here?" She asked at last, her tone carefully measured. And then, quickly after that, as another concern hit her, "Am I safe?"

Because the reason really didn't matter if they were going to kill her. Though, of course, it didn't seem very logical to revive her only to kill her all over again.

Sifting though the information, Maria quickly picked out the three main points. First, no one was going to harm her at the moment. Second, these people and their gods were in some form of danger. Third, she had been picked as some form of guardian. She didn't bother to fool herself into thinking she had a choice in the matter, this was their territory.

Her fingers fluttered upward, touched the chain that now roped her neck. Parenting was a unique sort of slavery, wasn't it?

"This then, has something to do with my role?" She asked, tracing the rose and sword.

"Who is it that will be put in my charge?" She paused, as she sorted her new circumstances and came up with more questions. "Do these... reborn gods have any unique needs or problems that I need to be warned of?"

Well, that opened a whole bag of issues, didn't it? Certainly, Maria believed in the possibility of redemption, but it was a whole messy process, wasn't it? Still, as earlier noted, there was no point in actually fighting this. Better to simply role with the punches as best she could. Besides which, twins? Just ******** fine, really. Edward would be babysitting, that much was certain.

"Twins. And they will remember this past? What they've done?" She asked, her fingers leaving the necklace now as her hands fell to her lap. She looked tired. And she felt the same. She had not planned for this. And now her whole life would have to be adjusted around this intrusion.

She'd never intended to be a mother.

"I see." She wasn't pleased with the unclear information, but there was nothing to be done about it. Apparently, the details of this experiment would only come with time. Well, enough. She could wait. Certainly, she didn't mind waiting for her life to be further interupted. This was going to wreck hell on her schedule, even with Edward's help.

"And how am I to contact you, as this child grows?"

Maria too, was anxious to return home. This wasn't exactly how she'd planned to spend the evening. There was, in fact, a robotic spider she was working on that needed her attention. It was only half way built at the moment, and she had some ideas for some lovely adjustments. But first, she needed to get this over with. "I don't believe I will require funding. My job provides what income I need. Unless the children turn out to have some particularly lavish needs."

"If I could have the numbers, I'd like to return home. I still need to tell my brother of this... adjustment to our living situation."