Welcome to Gaia! ::

While time itself was a constant thing, the perception of it, however, was not. Sometimes it seemed to move at a breakneck speed where you’re scrambling to try to get things done because of impending due dates. But then there were those weeks where it seemed to take absolutely forever while you wait anxiously for something that was coming up. The last seven days had definitely been the latter of the two for Meridiana.

This was a leap of faith she was taking, knowing that if he so choose she could become his prisoner in a place that nobody could save her. But, despite the fear Meridiana was also excited to visit a place nobody else could go without a direct invitation from Whisler himself. “I wish I had a place of my own.” The Rift was not a safe place for any corrupt and the Dark Kingdom… well, that was more so for higher-ranked officers than anything it seemed. Someday maybe that might change.

As Meridiana got closer to their meeting spot she found herself kind of hyper-aware of her surroundings. The meerest owl screech made her tense as did the lid falling off a garbage can when a trash panda jumped out with an apple core in its mouth. She was powered for goodness sake, small trivial things like this shouldn’t scare her; but they did…

Soon enough a familiar aura feathered the edge of her sense; a knight, not as strong as her General King’s but definitely more than just an Eternal Senshi. “Whisler?” she called out almost hesitantly, wanting to be sure it was him before she got any closer. Who knew how many transcended senshi or knights there were? He may have been the first one she had ever seen but that didn’t mean he was the only one and, if it could be helped, Meridiana would really rather not end up left for dead on the sidewalk again because she knew that if s**t hit the fan she wouldn’t bring Zinkenite into it for his own safety rather than her own.

“You as well,” Meridiana smiled as she closed the distance between them and accepted his offer of a hug. Just like before she knew that she should feel terrified and run away and yet here she was, embracing someone who she had been warned was an enemy.

After a moment she stepped away and reached into her pocket of subspace to pull from it two bags. “I brought turkey sandwiches and a small watermelon. I didn’t bring a knife though to cut it with.” Granted she could have just diced up the melon and put it in a Tupperware but part of the fun of mini watermelons was cutting it in half and eating it out of the rine like a bowl. “If need be I can go get one or we can save it for when we return.”

Hopefully, they would return because despite her better judgement she neglected to leave a note at home with information on who or where she was going this evening.

“I’m really excited to see your wonder. I’ve never been invited to a world or wonder outside of the Rift before.” Meridiana looked up at the sky and from there she could see the north star; bright and brilliant as ever.

Coming from a family that had their own Interior Designer that oversaw the staging and remodel for each of their houses one would assume her expectations would have been rather high. If she were her mother, or aunt, then perhaps that might hold true but unlike them she didn’t employ any cleaning services to take care of her house. The yard, however, was a different matter but that was the HOA’s responsibility.

“I think it’s coming along,” Meridiana wandered over to the two chairs by the fireplace and ran her hand over the fabric to confirm that they were indeed as soft as they looked. “Definitely has the man cave, or bachelor, kind of vibe.” She playfully teased then walked into the kitchen area to drop her bags off on the counter top.

“If there is anything you need help with, now is the time to ask.” She may not be the strongest senshi out there but at least while she was powered Meri could at least help move things around a bit or offer some suggestions.

The bubbling sounds coming from the hot springs was like a beckoning call urging her to come over and at least dip her feet into the warm waters. But she resisted, for now, despite really wanting to relax in the sunken seats and allow her worries to just melt away.

Meridiana brought a hand up to cover her amused smile. His list of options just really pushed the Man Cave vibe to a whole new level. Something quick, easy and seemingly instant with low effort. Not exactly the options but that just meant that if he invited her here again she would have to bring something nicer to eat; perhaps a pasta dish with garlic bread. But for now, what he had to offer would do just fine.

“Pizza sounds fine, we can split a sandwich while we wait for it to cook.” Opening up one of the bags she pulled out one of the two BLT sandwiches and unwrapped it on the counter. She then began rummaging around a few drawers until she found a knife to cut it in half with. “Do you want either mustard or mayonnaise?” There were packets of both in the bag just in case it was one of those people that didn’t care much for either. Some only liked one or the other but there were also the rare few that liked, as her father put it, choke sandwiches; no condiments at all.”

“I remembered to bring a coat,” Meridiana leaned her head into his gentle touch and smiled up at him.

Tucked in that little pocket of subspace was a fluffy winter jacket with a faux fur-trimmed hood, a bathing suit for the hot springs and something comfortable to wear for afterward. However, because she had brought the food as well there wasn’t much room for her to bring a full set of snow gear. The comfortable clothes were not much larger than the size of a sub sandwich once it was rolled up, nice and compact.

“Can you show me where our sun is from here?” She imagined that now their position in the universe had changed, all the constellations would have shifted and wondered if any would be recognizable from this perspective.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve only been to an observatory once in my life. My grandfather took me there because there was a comet that was supposed to be flying close enough to the earth that it could be seen with the naked eye. I remember also seeing the moon as well as Venus that day.” At the time she had thought them to be rather un-extraordinary places of only rocks and dust debris as opposed to the beautiful gas giants in the outer solar system everything else just felt… dead. Who knew that it would take almost a decade to learn just how wrong she was in that assumption.

“If Polaris is the brightest star in our sky then we could just pick the brightest one in yours and say it is our Sun.” Who was to say that his wonder even faced their universe? For all they knew, Whislers wonder could simply be on the opposite side of the star that faces away and beyond our own horizon.

“But I do think it would be kind of fun to bring a small telescope with us sometime and see what’s out there, assuming there isn’t a snow storm going on.” Which given what it looked like outside, it seemed to reason that it might be a frequent occurance.

“I don’t find it boring at all,” She walked over to him and turned around so he could either drape the blanket over her shoulders or instead wrap his arms around her and hold the blanket around them both. “I honestly find this fascinating.”

“It is so different than the Rift or the Dark Kingdom,” dismal and dreary with a starless sky and monsters that wanted to devour her and everyone else she had answered the call with. Even though that was several months in the past it was still pretty terrifying to remember how the youma wouldn’t even obey the sovereigns or ascended corrupts that lead the mission. “I don’t feel like I have to watch my back or that there youma are going to be nipping at my heels.”

It was perhaps a bit lonely up here because. As far as she was aware of given her short aura sensing range, they were the only ones in the near vicinity. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t non-magical creatures lurking beyond his wonder either. However, she did find comfort in knowing that with Wisler here Meridiana felt confident that if he did sense something amiss that he would get them out of here quickly.