Welcome to Gaia! ::

There was a lot of weight to the information he had given; options to different facets of the organization where she may find a good niche more suited to her personality and physical capabilities.

The Rift was something she knew of but had yet to step foot in that part of Negaspace. Even though she was half youma it was deemed too dangerous to explore even with a captain tagging along. That being the case she had very limited interactions with her full youma counterparts with the exception being the ones a few officers kept as either partners or pets. Never did she approach any of them but rather observed from afar.

But what he had said regarding the officer that had nearly killed her had opened her eyes to something she hadn’t given any consideration to. If that particular Lieutenant, or Captain, who had failed with her corruption lived by the mantra of ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try try again’ then she may only be the first of many.

“No, I don’t.” She replied. “Unfortunately there is nothing I can do to help find them. I never saw their face. I was approached from behind, or maybe they simply teleported there. I don’t know…” Somehow they had snuck up on her. It might take this happening again to finally catch the person who did it.

Laven sat down at the table across from Wolframite with a tray containing a bowl of tomato bisque soup, a simple grilled cheese sandwich and cup of milk. For a while her appetite had been nonexistent; but it was coming back slowly.

“Anyway,” She lifted one of the halves of sandwiches and dipped it into the soup. “It’s not something I really want to dwell on.” The nightmares had become few and far between as of late but she suspected tonight might be an exception.

Glancing at his tray, Lavendulan noted how meat heavy his plate was and wondered if that was always a personal preference or if it was a dietary change attributed to his youma side. Then again it wasn’t like her choice of food was by any means balanced either. Nonetheless it kind of made her smile.

“So, what do you do to keep busy, or have fun?” She inquired with a thoughtful hum before taking a bit of her sandwich.

“Study mostly, I have two quarters left until I complete my degree.” Although she may have to extend it into the summer if she couldn’t get the lab hours to line up or find someone who could commit to taxiing her to the University then bringing her back once class was over.

“Otherwise I do small stone sculpting with river rocks.” Laven held her hand up and made a c shape with her index finger and thumb to give a rough estimate of the size of each rock. Then again she could have just taken the ones out of her bag to show him too. “Some of my favorite ones were brought back from recent deep-sea diving trips.” And by recent, she meant very recent as in within the last two months.

“I’ve only spared against my Captain once but I will say that, while it is useless in a combative sense, I do enjoy being able to breathe underwater. Not having to worry about running out of air or regulating a tank as I ascend or descend.” Not to mention having the ability to swim faster than she would otherwise be able to with just the scuba fins. It allowed her to evade most marine life that would otherwise want to eat her. “I’ve found a few valuable things that have fallen off boats before; a cellphone in a plastic bag and a couple pieces of jewelry.” She didn’t keep any of it, but it was definitely neat to find.

Lavendulan seemed a bit puzzled by his joke with the way her head tilted to the side curiously. She didn’t ask for clarification and instead assumed it was someone from his past; a White Moon Senshi or Knight perhaps.

She took another few bites of her sandwich as she thought about how best to explain her craft. “If you’ve ever been to the state fair and visited their Hobby Hall, you can usually find a display of egg carving… Where people have cut out detailed patterns from like ostrich eggshells. Definitely not as delicate as that but the idea is the same but with a stone instead. I’ve done a few Celtic knots or roses…” Laven shrugged her shoulders then shoved another bite in her mouth to keep from rambling.

“I can show them to you later if you’d like.” There were three completed ones on her desk with two works in progress where the design had been sketched but she hadn’t begun carving just yet.

“I never really had an interest in fighting.” Laven wiped the crumbs off her hands onto the napkin. It was probably why Lopezite never really pushed her to go train but rather left the decision up to her if, or when, they would practice. “But after what you said earlier, about what could happen if I keep avoiding it...”

She chewed on her lower lip in an almost contemplative manner. “It might not be a bad idea and learn how to at least defend myself. I don’t want to keep leaning on my partner like a crutch when he takes me out on patrol or be a hindrance because I don’t know what to do…” She offered Wolframite a weak half-smile and shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t really a want per say, but more of a need out of necessity if she wanted to survive long enough to reverse what had happened to her.

Back when she was still Marissa, a college grad student with a full-time job. She had taken a women's self-defense course once, a class held by the DCPD. Her instructor, Erica, was a really good teacher, but the timing conflicted with both her job and school so she had to drop out early on and was never able to go back and finish the lessons. Plus, in her mind, it didn’t really matter if she went or not when the dangers she faced had fins rather then feet.

Lavendulan placed the other half of her uneaten sandwich on a napkin and wrapped it up nicely to take back to her room. She lifted the glass to finish off the last of her milk before setting it back on the tray beside the mostly empty bowl.

She thought carefully on his question and though there was more she’d like to ask, Laven felt that she had taken up enough of his time for one evening. “Maybe tomorrow, or the next time you’re free.” Perhaps due could ask him to show her around more of the Dark Kingdom while they chatted considering there really was only two buildings she was familiar with.

“But...um. When you go on patrol next, I would like to take you up on your offer, please.” Her confidence as of late was sorely lacking but in time she hoped to be back to her normal self. “I’ll try not to get in the way.”

Lavendulan nodded her head. "Deal," she said as she too rose from her seat.

"Thank you again for your time. I'm happy to finally be able to say that I met my neighbor." Five months after the fact but better than never. Lopezite would at least be happy to know that she met someone new.

"Take care," Laven waved goodbye before exiting out the same door they arrived through and made her way back to the barracks. Today had been a long day and she, for one, was exhausted. Which is why she planned on calling it a night once she put her stones away and got into something more comfortable to sleep in.