Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ciara, feeling better following her incident with the statue vomiting slugs, thought that some cool winter air might do wonders to clear her slightly frazzled mind. She took a deep breath, the cold air seemed to freeze her lungs for a time, but gradually, she was able to become accustom to the slight stinging sensation. Any feeling other than queasy was a welcomed one as far as she was concerned.

Across the grounds, she spied Liviana and a small shaky smile presented itself. Careful to avoid any ice, Ciara made her way over to the petite blonde, settling down on the side not currently occupied.

"It's been awhile," she commented, although her rather large maroon scarf muffled the message somewhat.

Ciara's smile was evident in the way her eyes crinkled. She looked past Liviana at Ashley and waved, her speech too muffled to really be understood.

"Ifs ice tome et oo."

At the strange looks she was receiving, Ciara pulled down her scarf so it was no longer obscuring her mouth and smiled a bit bashfully before trying again.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Ciara and, well, I'm not new really. I'm..." she lapsed into silence, wondering if she was at the point that she was brave enough to shine light on the reasoning for her recurring absences from the castle.

Ciara opened her mouth before closing it to contemplate the question. Was she sick? Considering it a sickness wasn't something she hadn't considered before.

Not wanting to leave Liviana without an answer she chewed her lower lip, thinking a second longer. "It could be called that I guess."

Wanting nothing more than to get off the present conversation, she remembered the news she was initially excited about. "I've placed out of the rest of my first year. I'm a second year now. I'm still in the same skill bracket, but at least something has changed!" she explained, gesturing with her hands how she was no longer in a rut.

Excitement flooded through her, replacing the dread she had felt during her previous conversation and beamed at Liviana.

"I think so. Sometimes I forget how to stop the effects, but I don't have to try as many times to get the spell right to begin with." She thought back to her bout of nausea with the vomiting slugs and shiver slightly. "Although sometimes, I wish the spell were a bit more friendly."

Ciara turned her attention to the lake before them. She raised on foot and tapped her heel against the ice, clear enough to be a pane of glass.

She waited for tell-tale signs of the ice to give way, but none came.

"I think it should be- Oh my!" Ciara squealed. Her tapping, it seemed, had inadvertently called forth the giant squid. She looked slightly panicked towards Liviana.

Ciara crawled onto the ice beside Liviana and giggled lightly at the squid. She waved back and went as far as to blow a kiss at the gigantic creature below them.

"It's not nice to scare people," she mock reprimanded with a swift shake of her finger, a smile never leaving her face

Ciara thought about the question, racking her brain for any instance she had heard of involving the giant squid. She found she came up empty handed.

"I don't believe he does. Maybe we should ask him?" Ciara pondered. She leaned closer to the glass and spoke slowly, "What's you're name Mr. Squid?"

Not expecting an answer in the least, she was quite surprised when a gigantic tentacle broke through the barrier of ice. She couldn't even manage a proper scream as shock paralyzed her tiny form.

Rather than moving close to both girls, the tentacle of the giant squid flopped its way over to a place where the ice had not been brushed free of the delicate snow that had accumulated there. To Ciara's great surprise, the squid began scribing what she could only figure would be letters.

Ciara looked at Liviana, utterly bewildered.