Welcome to Gaia! ::

She watched him from the shade, a grin clear on her face. He was just looking at everything like a kid in a candy store. Not with eyes of greed but in pure wonderment. Eyes wide and a mouth agape he took in the surroundings; the stone pillars, the carvings, the color, the design. Everything. She chuckled when he ran from one end of the courtyard to the other, kicking up dust and sand as he went. This was the first time she had brought him to Antares. They had talked about it before but seeing is believing. Even if this wasn’t his first space trip. It was still special. Something she rarely shared with others. She could count on one hand the number of times she had brought others to her planet.

But then again he was special to her and he deserved it after the ordeal he had lived through and what he was still putting up with. For this she was willing to indulge him. He needed a break from training, world jumping was a good way to take a break. Besides, she wanted to show him her homeplanet. He got to see Ida… it's only fair that he got to see Antares as well. The senshi could acknowledge that she was still a bit salty over that but knew that in the grand scheme of things it was something that had been good for him.

Learning from several people and multiple different angles was always best in this insane thing they called a war. Knowledge was power after all.

Sig found the whole thing just fascinating. As if he had been transported back to Ancient Egypt. When Anne, it was the nickname he came up with when it became clear that ‘Antares’ just wasn’t the name that rolled off his tongue without some thought, suggested they take a break from that evening’s training session he had figured they would be going on a date. Dinner and a movie, something like that. Traveling the stars wasn’t exactly what he figured a typical date was, then again he never figured he would be a magical being called a knight either.

He was still glad that she chose to share this with him. It felt special, and rather intimate. A place that was hers, and hers alone. She got to choose who came here and she chose him. That alone made him feel all warm inside. She really wasn’t as indifferent to him as she liked to act, a facade that cracked pretty seriously when he ended up in the hospital. Not that he wanted to repeat that particular experience again. Ever.

The purple clad man drifted around the courtyard, admiring the carvings and designs. Some seemed familiar, others were completely new, there were hints of color in the very edges but Sig suspected that the ever pervasive dust and sand had scoured most of the vibrancy away from the open walls. It did make him wonder about the more secluded and protected rooms though. What wonders did this building hold? He had finally made his way to one of the doorways leading out of the courtyard and decided it was time to explore further afield. This particular place was fascinating enough as it was but he wanted to know what else was here. There was a lot to see and he knew their time was relatively limited, all things considered.

After all, they had a child to go back to.

“Sig?” Antares’ voice echoed in the space as she spotted him ducking out of one of the doorways. “Wait a moment! You might get lost!” She called after him, rolling her eyes at his muffled response that he would be fine. That man was more bull headed then a damn elephant sometimes. The blonde rushed across the courtyard, squinting at the rapid change from shade to blinding light and back to shade, as she hurried after her lover.

The senshi had just turned the corner and was heading through the doorway when something out of the corner of her eye made her pause a moment. It had been like a shadow had drifted through the brightly lit courtyard. Pale blue eyes took in the empty space, and the cloudless sky above, and frowned. Something had caught her eye…

But what?

“Anne, you coming?”

The teasing call from Sig had Antares turn away from the courtyard and rush after the Ida knight, shouting as she went, “Don’t touch anything!” Soon forgetting what she might, or might not have, seen in the courtyard moments before.

Sigiriya laughed as they inevitably ended up playing a slow, teasing game of chase through the complex of buildings. He would go from room to room, exploring while she followed after him, answering the questions he tossed out. Sig absently noted the fading paint in the interior rooms where the flow of time didn’t wear away as it did on other walls. He gaped at the items that were strewn here or there. Wondered about a few broken or shattered statues. The place was by no means pristine but it also wasn’t a ruin like so many ancient structures back on earth.

“What do you think happened here?” He asked absently as he drifted through the empty building. As fascinating as it all was, the size and everything, it was rather eerie how they were the only two living beings there.

‘What happened?’ Now that was a question she wished she knew the answers to. She had her suspicions, flashes of memories, but nothing concrete. Nothing that flat out told her what had destroyed the capital city… what had caused her world to become empty of people. Antares shrugged, “I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine. What do you think happened?” She was curious to see what Sig thought. Maybe he really did have an insight into the disaster that befell the place.

“Hmmmm…” Sig paused in his building perusal and contemplated the room he was in, eyeing up the little destruction he could see. “Not sure really. Something sudden at least.” He went on to explain that the broken statues that he saw were worn away evenly across the whole surface, including the breaks, so either they broke shortly, in the grand scheme of things, after everyone left or they broke during the same period. There were also a few other things that made him think it was a more sudden exodus rather than a gradual one. At least here in these buildings.

The little details were a pretty big deal for him, since so much of his work hinged on those details. After working jobs with tools that ‘dont like that color green’, even though that's the same shade that they picked out, one got pretty good at eyeballing things for visual references. Also fairly proficient at reading a room so you didn’t get chewed out when dealing with a rather diverse family. “At least that's what I think. Granted this is space so maybe things work differently here.” He honestly hoped he was wrong. He really didn’t want anything to hurt Antares, even the past.

That pretty much fit with what Antares figured. Something sudden… something violent. Something that made her heart ache even though she didn’t know what it was.

Not wishing to dwell on the darkness that she felt was the history of the place the blonde directed the knight to follow her. “There is a place I think you will really like.” With that she led him towards the place she liked the most in this whole palace complex…. Granted it wasn’t like she had ever really explored any further since her life took a much wider turn then she ever expected.

Like many years ago when she dragged Chaldene this way, Antares paused in front of the carved wooden doors before throwing them open to reveal a temple, the temple, flooded with a rainbow of colors. Stained glass windows let bright light flood the sandstone building with a myriad of colors, bathing the few remaining carved wooden benches in so many shades it was hard to figure out what was carved and what was shadow. The sound of trickling water could be heard from the deeper shadows against the walls. The whole place radiated calmness. A true place for thought and introspection.

It was rather dusty since she hadn’t been back in so long but it was still so much better then the first time she had found this place. The fountains were still flowing, unlike the first time she had found this place.

Sig entered the space, unconsciously quieting his steps as he took in the awe inspiring building. It was gorgeous!

The knight instantly started to explore, reverently keeping his hands to himself even as he found and studied the various alcoves and their mosaics.

Fascinating…. Just fascinating.