Welcome to Gaia! ::

She had been waiting for this text like a kid eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Clause.

Olga thought it was great and amazing and utterly the best thing in the world that her best friend got to go pursue her dreams, in Russia of all places, but it had been a really long time since she had seen her. Skype was amazing and all, but it just didn't compare to the real thing.



It only took her the time to put on something that wasn't her PJs, and the trek from her apartment to Sergei's. She cleared the apartment gate, since she had finally wormed the code from Sergei after so many months, and rolled up to his door wearing a green cable knit sweater and dark pair of jeans. Somewhat nice for her friend, right!? She also had her messenger bag, which contained her presents she had gotten for both Nadia and Sergei. Rocking excitedly on the balls of her booted feet, she knocked on the door.

"That's my name!" She told her grumpy friend, smiling at him as she moved by him. She briefly thought about taking off her boots, but, well, any common courtesy thoughts went out window once she actually laid eyes on Nadia. "Nads!" She exclaimed, and moved quicker to sweep up the woman and return the hug, squeezing her tightly. "I've missed you so much, too! I mean, Skype is great and all but---you know---it doesn't beat the real thing." She grinned at her. "No, thank you for keeping me up to date, and showing me what you can of where you are in Russia! It's so beautiful! I'd love to come visit one day---"

She paused as Sergei talked about hot chocolate, and grinned at him, too. "Sergei." She mock gasped. "Your sister is a guest! I can't believe you're not making her hot chocolate!" Olga was all too happy to let herself get pulled into the kitchen though, but on the way by, passing Sergei, she dropped a small Christmas paper wrapped parcel onto his lap, and didn't say another word.

"Oh, you know---same ol', to be honest, Nads!" She replied, once they made it into the kitchen. "Literally just finished finals the other day, and I can't believe I'm halfway through my third year!" She grimaced. "It's moving faster than I thought it would, and well---" Her expression fell briefly, her lips pulling down, before she shook her head. "Nah---don't worry about it---how about you? How does it feel to be back after so long? It'll go by in a blink I bet, huh?"

"Ahh! Don't say that! I'll blink and it'll be ten years from now and then it really will be like forever since we were just pen pals!" Olga grimaced. "I think you mean look at you. I'm just in school, you're actually doing something awesome!" Olga fixed herself her own mug of hot chocolate, and took to blowing on it. She peered at her friend over the rim of the mug, and frowned.

"I can only imagine...sorry, Nads! Once again, Skype's great and all, but it's nothing on the real thing. They obviously should just pick up their lives and move to Russia with you!" She nodded her head, and then took a sip of her hot chocolate. "Are you having a good time there though? I would hope so!" She then scooted closer to Nadia, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Scoping out any other potential husbands for me there?" She glanced at the living room.

"You know, just in case I can't woo mister grumpy pants in the recliner, Dimitri, Misha, Isaac, Nikolai, or Alec. I need back ups for my back ups." She winked at Nadia, and then grinned like a goof ball.

Olga stared off for a moment. "Has it been? Oh my gosh...It has been forever!" The thought gave her a warm feeling though...that she had a cherished friend for that long. Joining the pen pal program at school had been one of the best decisions of her life!

She nodded her head, and then gasped and stared at Nadia with what could only be described as starry eyes. "That's so cute!" She squealed, definitely having the ship feels for Lorne and Nadia hardcore. "I mean---I mean it's sad too, but it's also really cute and it hurts my heart---WHAT!?"

Olga choked, and then coughed, trying to cover up that loud outburst she just had. Her cheeks burned red as she stared at Nadia. "They do?" She whispered, horrified. She may have joked about Russian husbands and stuff, but the fact apparently some of them were talking about her? She couldn't comprehend it. The young woman circled back around to the question Nadia had asked her though, keeping her voice low.

"Okay I think?" She smiled. "I mean, he's my friend, but it's kind of hard to tell if that's a shared sentiment! We were patrolling a lot together until he become a policeman and...well...I'm uh...not doing so hot by myself." Olga reached to lift up her sweater and shirt underneath, revealing her pale side where it was a mass of black and yellow bruising. "I'm really...well, a hopeless mess by myself." She couldn't help but laugh, because what else could she do. She let her clothes drop, and cupped her mug with both hands.

"...Sorry! I didn't mean to bring that stuff up, but it's kinda hard not to...but we don't have to talk about it! You're only here for so long---it's your time, Nads!"

Olga froze, because she didn't have just one icy Vetrov stare on her, but two.

"Woah, woah." Her eyes went a bit wide, and she held out both of her hands, one to each sibling, like she was trying to placate them just like Chris Pratt did to the raptors in Jurassic World. "Woah." She just came here to have a good time and she was feeling really attacked right now.

Olga couldn't help but feel her cheeks burn a bit though, regardless. "H-hey! I've gotten better!" A pause. "A little bit!" It counted. "I was able to hold off the snake guy for a bit by myself! I didn't get trapped in his gas attack like last time!" But she had almost...well. Died. She had almost died, and would have, if Altais hadn't come along.

Now Olga was waving her hands trying to will this subject away. "A-anyways---it's fine, Nads! People got lives and stuff---and what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right?"

She had already gotten the third degree freezer burn from Sergei when she had told him about it, but getting it somewhat again, in front of Nadia, was worse. Olga turned away too, cheeks burning crimson, and unhappily stared at the wall. Well, Sergei definitely thought she was incompetent, but now Nadia probably did so, too. She was trying though---

Olga started a bit as she felt Nadia's fingers on her cheek, and she glanced at her, embarrassed, before she looked away again. "O-oh, I know, Nadia---it's not that I feel like I can't go to you---it's just, yanno, you've been in Russia, and you're going back, that's all. I---" Her voice grew soft. "I just need to get better, that's all, too."

After that, she seemed at a loss for words, for once, and stood there awkwardly in the silence before she remembered something. It'd make for a good shift of topics, too. Olga reached to fish into her messenger bag, and then pulled out a wrapped present. She then held it out to Nadia. "For you...!"

At Nadia's words, Olga felt her heart leap up into her throat. She missed the woman terribly, and, well, since she was an Eternal transcendent, she'd be an amazing mentor and---

Wait. Did those words just come out of Sergei's mouth? Olga slowly turned away from the wall to stare at him, her mouth hanging open in utter disbelief.



She had been about to say something, she thought, because even she knew that was utter bullcrap, but Nadia beat her to it. She felt herself swell with a bit of happiness that someone had her back. "Yeah." Was Olga's helpful contribution, and it finally knocked her out of her stupor to reply to Nadia.

"I don't know, honestly, Nads. I mean, of course I want you back, and here, so that I can be with you and have you at my side, but...I can't ask you to come back for purely my sake." She smiled ruefully at Nadia. "You're out there living life and chasing your dreams! I'd...I'd feel awful if I asked you to give that up so...you need to do you, my friend."

Olga then nodded. "Yeah, of course!" She paused. "Are you gonna open it now? You can!" Inside the wrapped present was a scarf, because how could Olga resist when Nadia's power was the Aurora Boreas, and inside the scarf was a thick manila envelope, stuffed with smaller envelopes that were filled with letters.