Rick was thankful for the shade of the trees overhead as he directed his steps home after an early afternoon spent shooting hoops with some basketball buddies at the park with the sun bearing down on them from where it was still shining in a cloudless sky today. He planned on a shower when he reaches his apartment, but at the sudden audible growl of his stomach, he decided to stop for a bit and eat the snack he had packed along.

There was a dancing fountain in the vicinity he was presently in and he chose to seat himself on the cemented edge lining a row of bushes facing the silently musical streams of water rising and falling at intervals and in an alternating manner as well. For the most part he was still beneath the shade, but since he seated himself at the periphery of the shadows of one of the trees' leafy branches, some light shone through gaps so the warm and cool temperatures were more at odds there and ended up mixed at a temperature that suited him just fine.

It only took him a few bites to finish up, said snack being the triangular other half of a sandwich he had quickly put together at the start of his day. It would tide him over for now.

Then, he paused again after standing back up from the minutes he had taken in the middle of his walk for some sustenance. Unexpectedly, he received a late lunch invite and after texting his reply in the affirmative, he added a visit to the Cruz apartment to his day's agenda after stopping at his apartment for that shower.

[[time-skip]]

Now that their lunch together was behind them, the four friends settled around the Cruz apartment's living room table, comfortably positioning themselves in the available seating there so they can discuss magical topics.

There were a few beats of silence at first that had all four of them gradually smiling in amusement before Caely spoke up first and started their talk.

"I know at one point Elysha and I had ended up on the moon with a bunch of fellow magical beings who fought with us, but I'm wondering, have the both of you been to other places in space yet?" Caely asked Rick and Elysha since though Lys knew of their powered identities she was without powers herself, yet according to the optimistic Lys who was looking forward to the possibility that she was in for a discovery of her own magical abilities as well in the near future.

Rick shook his head in the negative and Elysha had the same reaction he did.

Caely went on to share her own experiences of, from what he understood, having been to just one other specific place in space more than once so far. He found her really brave for even venturing there, too. And then, a part of Rick's thoughts contemplated a number or questions as he listened on to their group's talk. Was there a place or places in space he would eventually visit in the future days? What sort of ties would he have to any of them? He couldn't decipher how he was feeling about such prospects exactly right now.

Elysha had spoken next, voicing how she felt hesitant about exploring space. She also added that she wondered if some of her feelings eclipsed those of her past self. Yet, she did admit to a part of her being more than open to eventually setting out on space explorations.

This talk hadn't gone over his head completely, but still Rick felt a lack of grasp of it all as of yet; it was all really new and foreign to him at this point. However, he felt he could see himself making the same considerations his friends were going through.