Welcome to Gaia! ::

It took a bit of time to finally make it to the ice skating rink, perhaps she should have picked someplace else, like a Sarbucks or Dunkin’. Anywhere that would have something warm to hold in her hands to thaw from running around in the snow. Granted, she wasn’t as cold as she otherwise would have been if she wasn’t in constant motion. But when you have an owl-beast that has no signature chasing after you, it’s probably unwise to look back to make sure it was no longer there.

Either way, Alcor had been the first to arrive and for the sake of not wanting to draw any more attention to herself, she powered down. Back in her ice skating warmup gear she waited a few minutes before pulling out her work keys and went inside to wait. By no means was it warmer in there than it was outside, if anything the temperature was relatively the same but at least in here she did have some hand warmers and a thicker coat back in her locker space in the employee lounge.

Probably not the wisest thing to do, but while she was searching for an added layer, Fiona left the front door unlocked for when the other senshi arrived. Hopefully, if he was followed, he’d be wise enough to not bring it inside. Cleaning up after that kind of mess would be an all-night endeavor if there were feathers and whatnot all over the place.

Although she had been expecting company, Fiona wasn’t quite anticipating his arrival to be so soon. She had been in the midst of rummaging through her locker looking for some spare change so she could get something from the vending machine when the sound of someone calling out drew her attention.

The blunette skirted around the employee lounge table and stuck her head out from around the door. “Hi,” she approached the ice skate rental counter, leaning her elbows on the carpet-covered surface. “Either the owl didn’t know which of us to follow, or you were able to shake it off quickly. Regardless, I’m glad you were able to find this place.” Especially since many places were closed or had the front lights turned off.

“Are you ok,” She asked, genuinely concerned since they both took quite a tumble.

Ok… Clearly, he was a bit shaken from the ordeal, and rightfully so, but Fiona got the feeling that his mind was still panicked.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Fiona tried to sound reassuring but felt like she was failing miserably. “I’m doing okay. A bit bruised but nothing outside the norm.” Not like anyone would notice any other discoloration on her legs or arms after how many times she had fallen while skating recently. The whole ambush had her so shaken that it was impossible for her to stick a landing for several days.

“Let me go grab you a bottle of water.” If anything it would give him something to hold on to. “It’ll be just a minute if you want to call someone to come pick you up.”

For a brief moment she hesitated, warring between still getting the water bottle or just letting it go for now. Eventually she settled on not leaving him hanging and accepted his offered hand.

“Fiona.” Not Fi, so few called her that anyway that it was reserved mostly for her sister these days, or Liryn. Close friends or family mainly and just because they knew each other's secret, that they were both senshi, didn’t make them anything more than acquaintances. “I’m glad you have happy memories of this place. Most people tend to complain because they got hurt or they didn’t care for the cold.” Silly thing to be upset about since you can’t ice skate without well… ice.

Ilya seemed somewhat distracted, his gaze set somewhere behind her and after a moment she too turned to see what he was staring at. “Ah, I’ve been meaning to change those but work ran late yesterday so I didn’t have time.” Tomorrow she’d make a note to get new bulbs if there weren’t any already in storage.

“It wouldn’t be strange, you can bring him back here any time.” So long as the rink was open they’d always welcome new and returning patrons unless there was an event or competition. “I just ask that you please don’t tell him I’m a senshi.”

As it was she was still testing the waters with becoming a more active participant in this war especially with the arrival of aliens, which she only trusted as far as she could throw one of them. Not that she’d allow them within ten feet of her.

A small group of them fought alongside Order, the few that had been pulled to the Moon Kingdom after the last generator exploded. But the majority, from what she saw and heard, fought to protect the generators, the things that were force corrupting senshi and knights, as per their Commodore’s orders. In her mind, they were as much of a danger and threat as the Negaverse.

"If you plan on waiting out the owl, do you want maybe go out on the rink for a bit?" Then again he might be tired from running and want to just rest for a while. Running was one thing, running through the snow took a whole other level of stamina that was on par with sprinting in the sand.

Fiona hesitated, suddenly questioning herself and wondering if she had done the right thing suggesting he meet her here. Technically she had a team but rarely did she rely upon them outside of bigger events that affected Destiny City on a large scale. Even so, they still met while both in and out of uniform for more casual get-togethers.

That aside, her biggest concern was that she wasn’t sure that she was ready to commit to this lifestyle. For years she had discouraged Breanna from powering up simply because it was dangerous and magic shouldn’t be taken lightly. This war wasn’t of their making and shouldn’t be their responsibility to do anything about it.

But now… it felt like that way of thinking might have been wrong and because she had been so adamant about staying out of it all, it put them at a severe disadvantage the night of the ambush.

Eventually, Fiona nodded her head. “There is something to be said that there is safety in numbers. If you would like a partner I wouldn’t mind joining you. Just…” she hesitated, bit down on her lower lip nervously. “I’m not much of a fighter.” Truth be told she’d much rather avoid physical altercations altogether if at all possible. But when the enemy has lethal weapons, sometimes those moments are unavoidable.

“As for your brother, I can’t really offer much in the way of advice. But I hid it from my sister for almost two years until one day she was attacked by a youma and a Mauvian found her before I did and awakened her too. I think if you have someone you can talk to or confide in then it’s ok to keep it to yourself for a while longer. But if you’re shouldering the burden alone and it starts to affect your relationships with others, find someone you can trust or you might run the risk of losing things most important to you as I did.”

It’s those other facets of being a Senshi that Alcor was most interested in learning. Homeworld and Wonders were only one side she had seen. But there had to be more, it just didn’t feel like she had been asking the right questions to learn what other options there were to explore.

“Practicing wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I’m curious what you mean when you say you can’t control your magic.” She had assumed that whatever wind he had summoned against the owl had worked as intended. Perhaps what he meant was that he was still learning the effects?

As it was, when powered, Alcor had thought that her magic was only useful for hand-to-hand combat but recently she had learned that the Touch of Cold worked with inanimate objects as well and even aided her with forming more icy snow-balls that she could then throw. Wouldn’t do much good in the warmer seasons but for now, it helped.

Despite her best efforts, Fiona laughed. Far from a hearty mocking sound, but more like one of realized irony. “If it makes you feel any better, I can’t really confirm nor deny if your magic hit me instead of the owl. I was feeling those things before you two showed up so I’m not sure I would have noticed a difference.”

A rueful smile tugged her lips as she scratched the back of her head almost nervously. “Sorry, I-uh. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.” Her downcast slate-blue eyes focused on a piece of gum that was stuck to the floor after realizing that her comment was a mix of too much information and kind of rude.

“Did the Mauvian that awoke you have any explanation or offer any advice?” If not, she could possibly bring it up to Liryn and get his thoughts on it.