Welcome to Gaia! ::

Pale eyes watching the passing scenery sliding by outside the cab window, Lydia let her mind wander. Mostly she was musing over possible gifts for Grant, but that wasn't the only thought bouncing around in her head. They'd invited Raven along, a fellow member of the Dark Mirror Court, and aside from the brief gathering in mirror space after the battle, Lydia couldn't recall having ever talked to the other girl. She hadn't been avoiding her, not on purpose anyways, but they weren't on the same team, and somehow they'd just never connected.

Except for now. Lydia had decided she'd had enough of not seeing the rest of her court, so she'd called the other girl and invited her along.

They were meeting her at the Mall, Lydia hoped she was nice. She couldn't recall much about her from their brief and informal meeting. She couldn't recall much of anyone from the other team really, and it was about time that changed.

Sitting back, she turned to glance at Quinn as the cab pulled up to the front doors of the mall to drop them off. "So I was wondering if you would be willing to co-host a Christmas party with me at the apartment for our little family." They didn't have to iron out any details just then, but it'd be good to know if the other girl was at least on board with the idea.

She dug in her purse for money and handed it up to the cabby, thanking him as she slid out of the car and into the cold. It was snowing, and Lydia pulled her coat a little tighter around her, shoulders hunching so her ears lowered beneath her collar.

Of all of the calls and invitations that Raven had been expecting to receive, this really wasn’t one of them. She didn’t really remember what Lydia looked like, though she figured the girl had been at Quinn’s apartment that day that Raven had gone over there, and this did seem like a very good way to bridge the ever growing gap between the members of the dark mirror court…the only one Raven really knew semi well was Remarque, and that was only because she was dating him.

She made her way to the mall and glanced around before getting out of her car. Gosh it was so cold outside! Winter was nice some of the time…but excessive cold had never been her favorite..so she was very glad for the heavy winter coat she was wearing and the heavy boots that covered her feet. Not as attractive as the ones she wore as Lesath, but they were very warm, at least.

The blonde hurried inside the mall and let out a sigh of relief as the warmth of the heaters reached her. Yeah. She preferred to be inside over outside any day in the winter.

She glanced around and began walking, looking for Quinn and Lydia. She blinked, seeing the two girls and hesitating. Well, the brunette looked familiar, though looked a lot better now that she wasn’t all bruised from the Senshi attack, and the redhead…looked at least vaguely familiar. It was worth a shot, right?

“Quinn? Lydia? Hey! It’s Raven.”

Well, contact had been made.

A bright smile took it's usual place on Quinn's face when Raven approached. "Hey Raven! Good to see you again," she chimed in after Lydia, her voice perky with her English accent. Sometimes she wondered if her accent was fading away the longer she lived in Destiny City.

To say that she was in better shape now than she was the last time she hung out with Raven was the understatement of the century. The bandages on her nose had long since been removed, and her knee brace was only worn on the days when it was particularly painful- sometimes she could be caught walking with the slight hint of a limp and there was a faint scar on her face across her nose, but beyond that she was back to normal. Well, besides the fading colors of bruises on her face from her recent run-in with Chaonis... But that was neither here nor there.

She brushed a few stray wind-blown strands of hair away from her face, her long brown hair now fading to blonde at it's ends.

"I'm pretty sure I know who Lydia is shopping for today", she flashed the red-head a knowing grin then turned back to the blonde. "Who do you still need to buy gifts for?" She may not know Raven very well, but Quinn would make a point of changing that and she would start by prying into her personal life.

If Quinn had been hoping to get a blush out of her room mate, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Lydia merely grinned smugly, slipping her hands back into the pockets of her coat. The other teen had walked in on her roommate and Grant cuddled up on the couch asleep, Netflix glowing on the tv. "Mmhmm."

She still wasn't sure what she'd be getting him, but somehow she got the feeling he'd appreciate whatever she bought. Still, she wanted it to be good.

"We only just got here, so we weren't waiting at all, you're right no time," she assured Raven with a smile, listening as the blonde went on to list off the few people she had left to buy presents for. Jett, the name sounded familiar, and she made a little 'o' of comprehension as she explained who they were. "Ah, Other hot blonde, gotcha." Her grin had a definite note of approval.

She didn't comment at all on Raven's parents. Neither she, nor Quinn, would have to buy presents for their 'rents ever again, and Lydia for one was a little jealous, she still missed her family.

"So where do we want to start?" She glanced around them at all the storefronts, waiting for some brilliant gift ideas to jump out at her. Grant was the only person she had to buy for, having already gotten Quinn something ages ago. She'd even bought something small for Veer, and there was a little box in her closet for a certain cocky senshi, though she was a little torn on weather or not to give it to him.

Raven nodded then just shrugged. “Well, why don’t we pick a direction and start walking. If we see a store that looks good…we can pop in, yeah?” She glanced around as well, and finally pointed down one of the sides of the mall. “It seems a lot less crowded down there…so that either means the stores are just awful, or they’re all sold out of the good things.”

The blonde ran a hand through her hair then gave a little laugh. “Let’s head down there first since there’s less people. Then we can brave the real madness.”

She was thinking about getting Jett a scarf, or something useful like that. Maybe. Maybe she’s just get him a bag and tell him it was an ego boost. He would be sure to get a kick out of that.

Maybe she’d pick something up for these two as well…they were nice enough to include her in their plans for the day…that was really cool. It was nice to be friends with the group, well, friends with more people in the group. Allies were always a good thing to have, and if your allies were your friends, that made it all a million times better. “You guys ready? I think I want to find a store that sells scarves.”

Quinn shuddered at the idea of 'real madness'. She could handle this sort of s**t on the battle field when she paraded around in over-the-knee boots and a miniskirt. She most definitely couldn't handle this. This made Quinn nervous and panicky.

"Less crowded is good," she said with a smile.

Scarves. Would Veer or Josh want a scarf? Maybe Josh, definitely not Veer. She was still set on dog food for him anyway.

She walked with her two shopping partners through the mall as they searched for the perfect gifts for their significant others. Her hands were shoved deep into her pockets and she hummed quietly while they walked.

"Is there an electronics store in this mall?" Maybe she'd get Veer a World of Warcraft time card, or some sort of gadget. Not that he deserved nice things since he was a big stupid jerkface and all.

While the other two chatted about their boyfriends, Quinn was mostly silent and she had mentally resolved that she would end up being the only single girl in the DMC group.