Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mintaka's refuge shouldn't have bothered her so much. It was just a creaky old estate, sprawling over maybe a dozen acres -- well-loved by its new owner, far removed from the dangers of Destiny City proper. It was nothing like a worn old bench under a streetlamp in North End Park, that she'd once thought of as a kind of second home. And Labyrinthite, she reminded herself, was not here. No one was coming for her here: to talk or otherwise.

(The bench had ended in splinters, she remembered. Eventually it had been removed; now there was just a slab of concrete under a streetlamp, with holes where the bench had once been bolted down. She didn't go there often.

There was no reason to.)

Laney'd tried to tell herself many times that Mintaka wouldn't end as she had. That, somehow, she'd never find a shadowed face (or faces, plural; or no faces, just monsters and teeth) darkening her doorstep one day. That her desire for peace and cooperation and neutrality would be met with better honor than Hvergelmir's had been.

But she didn't believe it.

What she'd done had been worthwhile, she still believed that much. Laney didn't regret it, not really -- not even when she choked, some days, just trying to brush her teeth. Not when she lived off of murky nutrition drinks and had to scribble everything she wanted to say on a dry erase board with painstaking slowness. She'd had a good run of it, helped a few people. But these things were risky, and they had a limited shelf life, especially if you were too successful. The war had outlasted Hvergelmir's luck.

Laney traced a hand along the doorframe. How long would this place last? How long before the Negaverse found it, razed it to the ground or put it to the torch? The wood was old and dry -- how quickly would it catch flame? How many people would die, when the Negaverse came for Mintaka and her safe haven someday? What price would they exact for her brazen optimism?

It didn't matter, she told herself with a shake of her head. They weren't coming today. Today the refuge was safe, and the Negaverse's dark eye turned to greater matters somewhere else, back in the city. The sun was still in its heaven, all still right with the world. Laney was just here to pick up some books. Herger had brought back a few for the camp's children, recently, and they'd loved them. The woman he'd gotten them from had offered more -- some for Mintaka's refuge, and some for the Resistance's camp. That was all.

Laney was just being morbid and self-pitying. She had to let that go. She admired Mintaka and her cause -- how could she not?

Putting her own ghosts to rest for a little while, Laney adjusted the kerchief over the scarred lower half of her face and raised a hand to knock.

Sabina had dusted off her bicycle for this trip. It was rusty in some places and creaked an awful lot when she had first pulled it out, just like the door at her store. But it worked for what she was doing right now. Behind her was a cart of books covered in a blanket that was secured to with weights. It was a major pain in the butt for her to pull it behind her but she didn't have a car. Being a small bookstore owner did not make her enough money for that kind of investment. Plus cars drew way more notice. After cleaning the bike up and oiling it in the right places, that baby made barely any noise at all. Way easier for sneaking around with books going to the Order. However, doing all this just made her even more mad and her knuckles would tighten at times till they were white. If only I could pummel them into the ground. One of the hardest things about staying in the city was that she had to stay meek and obedient. What she really wanted to do was power up and beat them senseless like her brothers had taught her.

She finally made it to the estate and man was it an estate. Sabina let out a whistle of appreciation. Though she dearly loved her studio, it did get lonely. She did know that more than one person lived here. It made her miss her family more. She often thought of them but didn't want to risk contacting them. Her brothers would have put up a fight. For their sake, she hoped that they had known when to give up and bide their time. She kicked out the stand and went up to the door. Three neat knocks, then she was at the cart carrying the books to the door. The books were bound in stacks to make it easier to carry. There were five stacks in total and she lined them up next to the door.

Fai waited just a moment before responding. "It's no problem for me! Half way point, and I'm glad to have you in my home Laney! You've done many wonderful things." She smiled at the woman again, "Oh just a crazy mess. So far, we've had some very kind residents join us. Negaverse captains and lituenants that are tired of the war, Senshi who need help and the Dark mirrors who have just been a blessing." She patted her heart. "You'd think such a thing wasn't possible, but me being a senshi, whose married AND pregnant with a negaverse captain, thankfully deserted them, though don't tell him that, I've tried to respect his loyalty very much and he was by far less..." Fai's eyes widened, "Anyway, rambling. And my best friend being a dark mirror princess...those things are technically taboo, they go against the whole war and yet here we are..." She gently touched the table. "Maintaining it for now. That's a good way of putting it. We are maintaining...surviving."

Her hand fluttered again up, nervously playing with her hair. She always felt odd about her strong dedication to her cause, but it was all she knew and all she wanted to know.

Her head turned away from Laney at the knock. moving automatically to the door. "Must be Sabina, Hold on hun..." And she did open the door, without much caution at all. She didn't give her address out to just anyone, so if someone was knocking and made it past the guard of Drake and his crew, then it must be her guest.

"Sabina!" Failyn smiled, "Here let me help you carry those in! Laney's here as well."

Being around two such upbeat, determinedly enthusiastic women was an unusual experience these days, for Laney. Living in the refugee camp, people tried to stay upbeat, but mostly the attitude was one of grim, gritty determination. Most of the optimism they had to offer was Herger's kind, steeped in fatalism -- or Eli's chipper attitude, manufactured for the good of children.

This was more pure, more genuine than that -- and while it was in some ways a breath of fresh air, it also made her feel miserably out of touch with what it was like to feel genuinely happy, or to be around people who did. She felt more normal in camp. Here, she felt like... well, she felt like a refugee who lived in a tent in the woods scavenging for food.

It made her miss her scavenging, refugee, tent-in-the-woods friends and their odd little society. It wasn't just her missing tongue that made Laney not fit in with people anymore.

Hi, Laney wrote, penning in a big smiley face alongside it. Thank you so much for sharing your books with us. How are things in the city? Are you safe? She held this up mainly for Sabina's inspection.

To Failyn she didn't attempt to write anything down -- but did offer a sheepish look of apology for having been so paranoid about her answering the door.

Sabina didn't hesitate to give both women a big hug, careful not to crush them. She liked to pack on more muscle than the average woman and she was so tall that majority of the time, she was reminding herself to not hurt people in her overly enthusiastic way. "Yes, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and friends."

After a quick scan of the words, she shook her head with a lopsided smile. "No need for thanks. Books were made for sharing. I'd be committing a crime by not sharing. Things in the city are...tense. I would recommend staying out of it if you aren't living in it. I'm safe. I keep up with any changes in laws and regulations, so I can adjust to seem like a normal citizen."

She had heard the rumors about Laney, all the things she had done to help as well as what had happened to her. It made her blood boil to see the results in person. There was no punishment too harsh for those that fought for Chaos. They had no mercy and were heartless creatures. The only sign of her anger was the clenching of her fists. Her face remained relaxed and smiling, like the reassuring beacon of a lighthouse. No matter how harsh the seas were, it still shined on.

"I'll have some of that tea if you're sharing. I worked up quite a thirst on the way here." She allowed herself to sit after a moment. They were safe here and Sabina let whatever tension was left in her to leave her.

"Fantastic, here you go Sabina." Fai pressed a cup gently over to the taller of the women, smiling here and there.

her hands ran over the covers and she closed her eyes. Luxuries came in many different things now, and books were hard to come by, and even harder to keep around here when she catered to so many people.

She could see the tension in Sabina almost immediately, but didn't comment or draw attention to it. Laney's scars didn't, in Fai's eyes, make her any less of the attractive woman she was. Her heart was kind and she still lived when others wouldn't, it took a strong respectable woman to keep going on.

"My family is safe in the city." Fai answered, blowing across her tea and shaking her head. "But they are...well..." To describe her parents...they had given up on her, and accepted their roles into society the Negaverse had built for them. It was her grandparents that had stood by her through it all.

"And you Laney? Are yours safe?"