Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Hey! Rentals are slow, I can watch the counter if you want to head out on t’ the ice for a bit. There’s a fella out there clingin’ to the wall. Might appreciate yer help.” Hailey propped her elbows on the cloth-covered counter, hazel-green eyes looking up with amusement.

Fiona rolled her eyes, “You just want to flirt with Kai.”

“Who me?” The sheer audacity of being called out left Hailey with her mouth hanging in mock shock. “I’d never…”

“Uh huh-” Leaning over, Fiona removed the blade guards and stuck them in a vacant cubby with her shoes. “Just don’t neglect the customers, please.”

“I won’t-” Hailey waived her co-worker off.

By the time Fiona reached the ring, the patron in question was on the other side with their back towards her. Toes pointed inward, knees bent, one arm over the rail holding on for dear life. She glanced around, expecting to see someone to offer assistance or something but most of the other people who skated near the center were familiar faces and none of the ones she knew would abandon a friend in such a way.

Sheee- Sheee- Sheee-

Fiona stepped onto the ice and skated over towards him. “Hey, are you doi-” she came to a stop ahead of him and paused. “Arian? What are you doing?” her tone was obviously confused since she couldn’t recall a time where he’d visited her work before. “Are you ok?”

“Ahh,” Fiona knew who he meant and added, “I’m fairly sure that a certain someone who shares my face put him up to it.” She offered a rueful smile. “I’m sorry they roped you into this-” Honestly, she wasn’t sure what to call it since they weren’t really having a fight since there hadn’t been an argument between them.

Well-

The argument had happened a month before the ambush when the Aliens arrived. The attack was what drove the wedge between them and why Fiona felt the need to put some space between her and her sister. “I’m not my sister's keeper, I need to stop playing the role of our mother and let her make her own mistakes instead of telling her what to do.” Perhaps ghosting her wasn’t the best way to offer Brianna freedom but it was the only solution she had.

“Here, why don’t you try doing the scissor move” she skated ahead of him so she could show how she moved her skates out wide, about shoulder length apart, then pointed the toepicks towards each other to bring them close together. Not once did she lift either skate as she repeated this a few times. “Keep your knees bent.” Fiona held a hand out to him to offer some stability if he felt comfortable enough to let go of the wall. “This will keep your balance centered between both feet instead of shifting from one foot to the other.”

From time to time Fiona has been told that she had a, for lack of a better phrase, resting b***h face. So much so that one of her co-workers would often approach her and ask ‘Why so serious?’ when it appeared that something had upset her. Rarely was that the case, however. Usually, it was just that she was in deep thought or concentrating on some task.

Still, she was known to crack a smile on occasion and today seemed to be one of those moments. Talking in code, as they were, was rather comical.

“He’s sweet,” Fiona held a hand out to Arian in case he needed someone to grab hold of suddenly. Usually not advised since she’d been taken down by someone half his size but it was an occupational hazard she was willing to deal with for a friend. “He cares a lot about each of us.” For such a small Mauvian, Liryn had an exceptionally big heart.

“I can understand why he’d think that way; but I’m not sure how to convince him otherwise.” Aside from talking with him to set aside any worries, she really didn’t know how to help him let go of the self-blame.

Fiona’s expression softened, “He is welcome to come over at any time.” It had been quite a while since Liryn last stayed with them; Arian left on a trip at the time and they kept Liryn preoccupied for the time he was gone. All things considered, it was a pleasant change of pace as it gave Bri someone else to talk to and share stories with.

“You know, you’re welcome to come over too.” Granted she couldn’t recall having ever openly invited him but the door was always open. Four years they've known each other but it felt like her reluctance to really get involved meant that she had inadvertently kept them all at arm's length to at least some degree. It only took until now for her to realize how wrong it was for her to have done that.

None of them had done anything wrong and did not deserve to be met with an ice wall between them. But having already lost one person she cared about; it was hard to accept that getting any more involved with this war would mean that she might lose more. Even now, a huge part of her regretted getting tangled up with the Vanguard or their generators; when they arrived she should have turned away.

But… doing so wouldn’t have changed the fight she had with Eleonora. No doubt her sister would have still been there when the ambush occurred instead of trying to run away which meant that this inevitable conversation would have quite a different tone; especially if her twin was corrupted, or worse… killed.

That thought alone made Fiona’s heart wrench and she had to look away to hide the pain it caused her. “Ever since we were kids, I had felt like I had to be the responsible one. While Breanna got to mess around and find out, I had to be the voice of reason or the practical one. We’re both adults and can make our own choices but…” she drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I can’t help but feel like if I don’t play the role of mom then she’ll, I don’t know…”

Fiona rolled her eyes and shrugged, a full-body motion that both said everything and nothing at the same time. “It’s not that I don’t trust her… I just trust her to do something questionably dumb.” As mean as it was to admit she didn’t feel guilty for it.

Fiona couldn’t help but smile at the comparison, Breanna and Liryn were quite the pair. Troublemaking adventurers with a get-it-done attitude, it made sense why they got along so well.

“Talking is easier said than done. But you coming here has shown me that it’s not impossible.” There were other things to be more fearful of. “I just don’t want things to spiral into an argument with her again. Maybe if I approach her with the idea of having you two come over, then conversations might not go horribly.”

Brianna liked hosting even if she wasn’t one to help prepare meals, she was good at entertaining, and having them over might be a needed reprieve and a good distraction. The air between them had become quite stale as the elephant in the room grew larger by the day. Perhaps having friendly faces in their home again would thin out the tension and bring them a sense of normalcy.

“I can text you what days and times we’ll be available. Likely not this weekend but the following there shouldn’t be anything going on.” Give everyone time to shift schedules around if needed.

For the first time in what felt like a long while, Fiona felt the tension in her shoulders ease as a soft smile settled on her more relaxed expression. “I’m happy to hear that.”

“I wish I could stay out here and skate with you longer but I’m on the clock.” Had she’d known Arian was coming Fiona would have scheduled her 15-minute break around the time he’d arrived. “I could probably get away with going around a couple of laps but I’ll need to head back over to rentals since we’re expecting a group of 12-year-old kids to show up for a birthday party here soon.”