Welcome to Gaia! ::

Time was one of those things that never really made sense.

A week without breaks could feel like an excruciatingly long day, especially when you work from dark to dark. Up before the sun barely has a chance to crest the horizon and off work when the long shadows have melded into one and the only lights outside were the street lamps overhead illuminating the dark damp parking lot.

But then there are those times when you have a half-hour lunch and it feels like it had only been five minutes because it definitely wasn’t enough time to decompress from the Karen-like mother fussing over her child not having at least ten feet of free space around her at all times.

Sorry lady, that’s not how public ice rinks work. If she wanted her child to have proper space to practice, either not come on the weekend or book a private lesson with one of the instructors. Then she’d have the full rink to herself at least.

People…

Fiona pinched the bridge of her nose in response to the headache that was coming on. “I need to get away.” She groaned to herself.

But where to go when most places were crowded this time of night or closed?

Alcor

Her heart thrummed at the thought of going to her homeworld. Not a feeling of dread like she’d used to have, but oddly one that felt a bit akin to excitement. Goodness, the last time she was there had been with Dia when the Blight had invaded her world and caused the collapse of the ice door. Felt like that was only a month ago but she knew it was over half a year. Mostly because she hadn’t a clue how she’d fix such a grand feature of her homeworld. Something over fifty feet tall could not be repaired so easily.

A worry for another day.

But perhaps her sister, Eleonora, would be kind of her to help expand the garden of frozen flowers now that those little anomalies had appeared once again in Destiny City.

Fiona shot her twin a quick text and gave her a location to meet up. However, it was as she was putting her phone away that the lights started blinking. At first, she thought it was an issue with the power; a blip in the system, and all would be fine.

But then it happened again and again… Sometimes the power would be out for a second, other times at least three. There didn’t appear to be a pattern to it, at least none that really repeated like S.O.S with three short blinks, three long ones, then three short ones again. So if someone was doing this intentionally and trying to get help, Fiona had no idea what they were saying.

The only other option she had to figure out what was going on was to power up and see if any auras were nearby.

Alcor glanced around to see if anyone nearby was watching before ducking into an alcove to power up. She exited from the rooftop in case anyone caught sight of her and followed the street for several blocks before jumping back down to the sidewalk below when she felt an aura akin to her own.

The Senshi of Cold remained stationary until the other White Moon aura approached and introduced themself first.

“Hello Kimi, my name is Alcor.” She reached a hand out in kind but got momentarily distracted by the fox-like tail swaying behind the other girl. A part of her wondered if it was just an accessory to her uniform but her rational side decided it would be rude to ask so she adverted her gaze back to the young woman's cerulean eyes and smiled.

“I don’t suppose you know what’s going on with the lights?”

Earth thing? Alcor’s head canted to the side in a sort of puzzled expression but brushed it off assuming that Kimi might be a transfer student in one of those study abroad programs which would explain some of the odd phrases she used.

”I agree, they do look lovely.” At least when they are working properly and not having this odd stobe effect. ”Usually they are taken down the weekend after Christmas or, at the latest, by New Years and will be back up sometime towards the end of November after Thanksgiving.” Alcor wasn’t sure if these holidays made sense to her but New Years at least should be most familiar to her.

”Do you celebrate any holidays that have lights up like this? She knew of a few places that had lanterns that would light up the sky similar to their Star Festival at the start of summer. Or places near where her extended family lived would put luminaries in front of their house to line their walk ways. Not all were super decorative, most were simple white bags to light up the path.

A thousand years? Alcor’s head canted to the side ever so slightly as her brows pulled together in minor confusion.

“I’m the Senshi of Cold,” she replied almost absently.

“I-I’m sorry. Can you please explain what you meant when you said you’ve been alone for the past thousand years? How-” She paused to check herself, not wanting to sound rude before trying her question again. “I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

Alcor was well aware that Mauvians were capable of making many magnificent gadgets. However, the only possibility that made sense and what she thought Kimi was suggesting was that a guardian cat in the past had made something of a cryostation that she had been sleeping in?

“I- had no idea.” Alcor’s eyes drifted down to the light creme-colored tail that moved ever so slightly behind her and had to wonder if it was real or just a part of Kemi’s uniform. “I thought the Vanguard were the only ones that were not originally from here.” Did that mean that she was something other than human as well?

“If the light is what brought you here, does that mean you’re unable to return to your world?” I wonder if Liryn has heard anything about there being Senshi here that were not reborn or awakened by mauvian? Something he’d surely find interest in, at least if Kemi was willing to talk to him.

“I’m sorry if my questions are making you uncomfortable.” She was just genuinely confused and trying to process the new information.

Feeling the sudden sting of Kemi’s hate towards the cold, Alcor felt herself withdraw more than just a little bit. For a moment she thought they might be able to connect on a level because of how similar her frozen world sounded to her own world but decided that might only make the other senshi feel more miserable.

“Ah, um sure. If you’d like to that’s fine.” It had been so long since someone asked to add her to their contacts that Alcor had genuinely forgotten it was a thing. The last person was perhaps Beira and that was well over a year ago.

“Although-” she hesitated a moment before continuing. “I think you might find that you have more in common with my sister Eleonora. She- she’s the Senshi of Heat and dislikes the cold probably as much as you do.” Her twin however seemed to put up with it for the sake of exploration as long as she was equipped with a warm set of clothes before visiting Alcor’s world.

“I can introduce you two at some point. She’d likely be a better ally than myself since she powers up more often than I do.”

“Oh, no, I’m not rejecting you. I- I promise.” Her gaze drifted downward in shame. “I’m sorry, that’s not at all what I meant. You are right, we aren’t defined by our spheres; I just simply haven’t mastered the art of distinguishing between them yet.” Alcor offered a weak smile.

“I have been described as being cold and unapproachable; more often since powering up for the first time.” After feeling pressured to break up with her high school sweetheart to keep him safe, Fiona kept many people, even those she cared about, at arm's length away. That is, until Breana had been awakened a few years later. “Because of this, I find it difficult to open up or trust people because in this war we simply don’t know who is involved and what side of the field they play and I don’t like feeling like I’m lying to someone I care about by keeping this a secret.”

“It’s not that I don’t want friends,” honestly it was one thing she felt was needed. “I do, I’m just slow to warm up. If you’re willing to be patient with me, I would like to learn more about you as well, Kemi.”

“I can understand wanting to stay here on Earth for a while.” It might be overwhelming for a while with everything new there is to learn, but it sounds like the Mauvian is helping her settle in. “I would be happy to accompany you when you’re ready to return to yours.” Between her world and visiting Biera’s, Alcor felt sufficiently prepared for a frigid winter welcome.

“I visit my own with some frequency,” rarely with a plan other than to explore more of the city or contemplate how to fix the massive door on the surface that had collapsed when the Blight had appeared well over a year ago. “I’d be happy to send you a message when I expect to visit again, although you might want to make sure that you have a warm coat.” They could try to find another spare one in one of the homes like what she’d done for both Eleonora and Dia, but if they arrived on the surface again then it would be quite a walk until they finally found something.

Alcor retrieved her own phone from her subspace pocket to exchange pictures and information with Kemi. “I’ll make sure my sister comes along so you can meet her too.”