Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sitting in the backroom of one of the music shops he owned, Aloysius was finishing up adding the last layer of varnish to the violin he was working on before setting it to dry in the cabinet he had ready for it. It would keep dust and anything or anyone from touching it while the varnish dried and then he would be able to set the instrument up and work on the fine-tuning of things.

Liam had come along today and now that he was done, he stretched and moved over to sit next to them. It was something he was still getting used to but he found he liked the company, just having them nearby helped him worry less and the work seemed to go much smoother than it had in the past years. Not that he’d let anything with mistakes leave the workshop but he’d only been able to make one or two a year if that with how he’d been. Now he might be able to make up to six or seven if he was able to organize his time better.

It was a lot of work but he enjoyed it and enjoyed that the other was here with him, especially when he got to the point where he would play the instruments and finish the final tuning. That wouldn’t happen again for another few weeks with this one and the other he had pulled out from the drying area. It would get worked on the next time he was in, probably another week or so if things continued to go well.

“What would you like to do now darling? I should patrol, or at least power up to check my tablet but it is up to you since you sat here with me all day today.”

Running his fingers through their hair, Aloysius wrapped his other arm around them and held them close. “It was pleasant with you here, it always is. At least this time I was just varnishing things so answering questions was all right. Not like when you tried asking me things when I was forming the ribs that one time.”

It had been just a bit frustrating because it was one of the hardest parts for him and needed the most focus. He never snapped though, not at Liam, but it did wear him out more when he had to split his focus.

“Oh, I would love that darling.” Smiling at the thought of going on a hunt for crystals, ones that were all new and unfamiliar to him, Aloysius pressed a soft kiss to their lips.

The second idea sounded even better since he’d never seen anything about it and maybe if things stayed stable within that little realm of theirs it might be a nice peaceful place to get away to that was private to them. “It would be nice, to see what you make of it and to see how it grows. Of course, it is whatever you want to do there and not what I want.” Even if he knew they would probably mold it in a way that made him happy. It was nice, that they always did that for him even if sometimes it was in a roundabout way.

Patting their head, to let them know it was okay, Aloysius couldn’t help but agree with their statement. It was easier now, even if he still missed the man who had taught him how to make instruments because he had Liam and they weren’t going anywhere, not if either of them had anything to say about it. They stayed safe and kept him updated which helped him worry less, especially after they started working from home. “I am doing better, very much so now that you are home more.”

Even if he still worked a lot, there was someone to come home to and sometimes dinner was waiting for him as well. Even though he had Desiree as well, Liam had been doing so much to help and everything was evening out finally. Gears had been turning in his mind since the dinner though, and he’d started looking into things himself to try and see about doing something a bit more forward. But the mention of all the various crystals gave him even more ideas for what he wanted to make. If they were going to give him the first one, then he wanted to memorialize it somehow and with the mineral he’d found in the RIft, the one that shared his powered name, he had an idea of making the rings for them both with each crystal inlay in it if he could. It was another type of craft, he didn’t have much experience in but he wanted to try and would do so until it came out just right. If the crystals were large enough, it would give him enough material for multiple attempts until they were perfect because he knew he could work at it until it was and Liam deserved something perfect.

“I want to see the all darling, you know I do. It sounds like a good long-term project for us? You have no idea how excited I am to see them, can we head out now?” Getting up, he gathered his jacket and put his wallet, phone, and keys back into the pockets of it. Out of habit, he looked for his glasses before remembering that he was wearing contacts today, laughing slightly as he brushed some of the loose strands of hair out of his face.

Laughing as they did he waved a hand to dismiss the last part. “Just magical ones when it comes to chaos unless you think they have those floating around on amazon.” It would be a good draining scheme, with how people seemed to think mundane crystals held any power. He did like minerals though and the meaning some seemed to have behind them. How that mauvian had said his mineral name related to copper flowers. It wasn’t something he’d heard before but out of curiosity, he’d started looking into it afterwards.

Pulling the other along, he went about shutting all the lights off and then locking up. Part of him had wished they’d brought Desiree along but it wouldn’t be difficult to walk a few blocks toward one of those denser patches of trees near one of the walking trails. It provided enough coverage to keep any nosy onlookers from seeing him power up.

With no fanfare, his civilian clothes were covered up by his uniform as he stood by his partner. Holding a hand on their shoulder to let them know to wait a moment, he felt around for any Order signatures just in case before nodding to let them know they could power up. Looking at his phone, he checked the little map he had set up with pins for where all the mirrors were that Liam had said they knew of. When he patrolled he did his best to stick near them so if he needed them they could find him easily, just as they kept that earring on during patrols so he could teleport to them. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it was better than nothing.

“We are pretty close to one of the mirrors I have marked if it is still there.” It was always a risk, that they would be damaged or moved and become momentarily useless to the mirror senshi. It didn’t seem to work as well when they were in mirror space since it was a place he couldn’t get to without them.

“Just be careful if you do go there more often, for whenever it has a hissy fit as you have told me about.” When the mirrors pull the senshi in with little to no warning. It hadn’t happened yet but it was something he worried over because it was something he couldn’t prevent or protect the other from.

Giving them a look, it was one that tried to say there would be no arguing in the matter. “That may be true but I would rather you not get targeted for being near me as well. That fellow, Kiuchi, spoke of a balance between things and I would want to avoid you getting pulled into it just because of my rank and station in things.” Ten years was a long time and he’d gone through it with as little notice from the other side as he could manage after his time as a lieutenant and captain.

Nodding back he went along toward the marked spot and found the mirror hidden behind a thicker patch of trees, the hanging foliage of a weeping willow hiding it from most people’s view. “Still here, no cracks from what I can tell. Ready when you are darling, I hope luck is on our side today.” It would be nice if they found things but either way, he was happy to explore the monochrome walls and hallways of mirror space with them. Unlike the Rift, he didn’t have to think about things popping up or out to gnash at a senshi. Even in the dark kingdom, he couldn’t bring the other. Metallia would know, she always did and like an infection in the body, Liam would get cast out with more than a little force if not lethal levels depending on who found him first. He’d never risk them like that though, even if the blonde did want to help his team with training.

It wasn’t that he didn’t expect it, it’s just he didn’t want the added risk to them and he was confident enough in his own skills to make due on his own. The secondary weapon he had now proved useful for close range, something he’d been weak in since the beginning being an archer. “Hopefully we can avoid that all then.” Pressing a kiss to their cheek, he let the blond pull him through the mirror’s surface. That watery feeling always surprised him, even if he’d experienced it over and over again with them. Maybe because he wasn’t a senshi but an intruder in a way to the mirror scape, much as Liam would be in the kingdom.

“Curiouser and curiouser as always here. So very quiet compared to the Rift at times.” When youma were going about their paths and lives down in the depths of that barren looking domain. It had its own peace but it was never completely quiet like it was here. Stepping forward, while keeping ahold of their hand, he looked around the unchanging white walls and looked for anything that seemed odd or out of place.

“You have said what color they are but what do they look like, do they form in a vein or just appear like items dropped by a passerby?” There wasn’t any terrain that could really hold rocks, not in these halls at least.

Watching for a moment, he felt himself frowning at the thought they would kill someone. It wasn’t something he wanted them to have to do, to have to live with. But he didn’t want to argue, not here where someone might happen upon them.

“It does, but it is odd, not unpleasant, if that makes sense? Sort of like I am walking through water while not getting wet?” It didn’t hurt, didn’t feel uncomfortable, but it was odd and he wasn’t sure if it was something he’d get used to but he wouldn’t say no to visiting here more often. Especially with his partner building up a little bit of their own world here. It was something he was excited to see.

“I see, that is interesting at least. I guess even though the Rift is, in itself, not normal it still does function similar to how crystals form and grow topside from what I can tell.” Little bits and pieces of geology and gemology he had picked up over the years out of necessity or through osmosis via speaking with various agents as well as that mauvian who had a hobby of gemology.

“We can wander first for a bit then head there? I am curious how you claim a bit of that space for yourself. I was simply assigned my office, though I furnished it myself because I disliked what came standard.” All the glass cases he had set up and shelves he had ordered from the supply office. Mundane and done via forms, very much like the things he had to fill to get anything for his classroom at the university except he was listened to in the Negaverse. His tenure meant something there, at least more than the underfunded music department he was trying to salvage and become the head of.

The mention of broken worlds reminded him of the conversation last time with that other eternal, Kiuchi. Absentmindedly squeezing their hand a bit, he reminded himself that this was a safer option of chaos, that in the end, they wouldn’t become a fractured and cracked shell of themself like he’d seen of one of those ascended senshi. They were as safe as possible considering the things that happened in this city.

Looking over the mirrors, one after another, he paused to touch the surface of one carefully without letting go of his partner. It was solid to him, as he expected, but a bit disappointingly so. “They are pretty, aside from the fact they are portals. I always thought it was an elegant approach to traveling but I will also say one of my first meetings with one of your court had me pulling down all the mirrors in my home. That is why the only ones I had when you started coming over were the small ones in the two bathrooms. Though I guess they were still large enough for us to get through considering how you got me home after that nasty encounter with the ice.”

For a moment, maybe a bit more than a moment, he thought he saw the corner of something colorful out of the corner of his eye, partially hidden by where the hallway had a four-way split. It could have been a trick of the light, his brain trying to see something that wasn’t there because the whole area was devoid of most details. “I think I saw something but it could have been nothing.”