Welcome to Gaia! ::

He felt terrible guilt for being out and powered, against Delilah and Roddy's wishes. Something just nagged at him, something shining somewhere in the night. This feeling bothered him enough to sneak out of the house, alone, and power up to go find its source. The feeling tugged on his peripherals, dreamlike and wistful, Gravina finding himself squinting to peer into the distance. He found nothing here, but the stars twinkled above and spurred him on.

Was it Mom?

Not the terrestrial mother, the one named Ginger who was actually younger than he was - or so she said. Gravina still struggled with the passing of time, and could not recall how old his was, chronologically. Ginger insisted he was twenty-three and Gravina accepted that as fact without much argument. No, he thought the signature dancing in his mind's eye was that of his celestial Mother - the one named Cosmos, who helped the Court to rid his starseed of Chaos and grant him a human body.

If she was calling him, Gravina was not one to ignore it.

With a huff, the Knight of Cosmos wrung his hands and looked skyward. The breeze was cold under the dark blanket of stars, and soon he found himself on the edge of the park. This was where he'd met that Captain with the fluffy coat. Part of him wished he'd thought to bring one along for himself. But it was here that the crystalline, pure and sparkling aura was strongest. Surely it was Mother! Gravina's heart filled with reverence and joy as he trotted as quickly as his ankles would allow towards its source.

At the edge of the treeline, he spotted someone on a park bench, and she positively glowed. Without much further thought, Gravina called ahead of him, excited to see her again. He had so much to say to Princess Cosmos that he was entirely incapable of on his birthday. "Mom! Mom, it's me, it's--"

Stumbling to a stop, the Knight of Cosmos realized, upon closer inspection, that this woman was not his celestial Mother, but someone else entirely. A crimson stain crept across his cheek and he stuttered out of embarrassment. "...o-oh! Um... I'm so s-sorry. I thought... I thought you were... s-someone else..."

Oh, this was so embarrassing.

Gravina fidgeted and wrung his hands. He hadn't expected to embarrass himself so thoroughly tonight, and was so utterly convinced that it was Cosmos sitting there that he hadn't thought to actually look at her rather than relying on his supernatural senses. She seemed nice enough, anyway, and was very lovely. Maybe she wouldn't think too little of him for making such a mistake.

Slowly he wandered over to his fellow Cosmos Knight, trying to come up with an explanation for earlier. When none came (and he couldn't bring himself to lie), Gravina decided to simply tell her the truth. "...n-no, not exactly," started the young man, now standing carefully within a few feet of Hvergelmir. "...um, you see... I just thought... I felt the aura, and I just thought... maybe it was her, but... you're not her. You're just as beautiful, though. O-oh! I don't mean to be, um.. creepy! I'm very sorry."

Gravina turned to look up to the clear night sky, the stars twinkling happily above them. "I don't think she... visits very often. I'm sure she's very busy. Do you know her? I mean, I'm sure you do. Do all Knights of Cosmos know Mom?"

Gravina’s demeanor lit up like the twinkling stars. Not only had this lovely woman Hvergelmir dismissed his earlier intrusion, she knew exactly who he was talking about. “So, you have met Mom. She’s really lovely, isn’t she? I mean,” The Knight fidgeted for a moment, pulling at the lilac gloves he wore. “Not that you’re not radiant, because you are. Um… if it’s okay to say so, anyway. I worry that you might be a little cold. Did you bring a sweater or something? I’m sure I could find a blanket for you…”

With that long dress, Gravina was more than impressed that Hvergelmir could move at all. In a way, she was like an ethereal mermaid, legs wrapped in diaphanous, opalescent fabrics.

He listened intently to Hver’s recollections of his previous meetings with Sailor Cosmos. If they’d met a few times before, Hver might be something akin to a friend of Cosmos, if such a thing were possible. How lovely that position must be! “...I believe it.” said he, shuffling a few steps to take a nervous seat beside his senior. Simply sitting beside her, Gravina felt critically inexperienced. The way Hver carried herself was familiar - similar to Cosmos. Lofty, wise.

Her name gave him utter pause as Gravina stared at her like a deer in headlights. “Hve...ver… oh. Oh dear, I’m so sorry.” The stuttering returned, Gravina swallowing thickly and tripping over each foreign syllable. “I um… I’ll need to practice more, if you don’t mind. Hver… gl… oof. I’ll get better, I promise. Um,” In his embarrassment over hellishly butchering her name, a crimson blush crept to his cheeks. Now he was forgetting his manners! “I’m Gravina! Um… but I didn’t used to be.”

That was what led into the story of how he came to be, which would answer Hvergelmir’s previous question. “I mean, you’re a Knight, so that means you’ve been doing this for a long time. And you know Mom, and if Mom trusts you, then I trust you too. Um… just… please believe me, okay?” With a few nervous sighs, Gravina attempted to recall the proper timeline. It had only been a few months, really, but each moment was filled to the brim with new experiences, both positive and negative. Sometimes he found it to be overwhelming to attempt to look at the big picture. Time in and of itself was still a somewhat squirrely thing, when one was used to being out of its gaze.

Looking to the sky, Gravina clasped his hands in his lap. “Well… I call her Mom... because I love her, very much, but… She helped save me. She and the Court, with Phact and Kastra and Trix and Sabine, they gave me a new life. And… legs. Real legs and feet and skin, and it’s really lovely.” The young man chuckled, looking down at his hands. Pale hands, with one new digit on each. “...it’s even greater, I think, when… when you have something to compare it to. Now, I can eat real food and not get sick, and sleep in a bed instead of in a hole. I can feel things like warmth and the breeze and people touching me. I can feel that now, because the carapace is gone.”

He realized then that he sounded an utter loon, not giving Hvergelmir any context to his odd reply. Gravina cleared his throat and bowed his head to her in apology. “Um… s-sorry about that. You see, um… inside… inside every youma… there’s a person in there. Stuck in there, sleeping. They may not even know they’re stuck, and they may not even know they’re sleeping. I was… one of the lucky ones.”