Welcome to Gaia! ::

Despite evidence to the contrary, Rowan liked to think of herself as the sort of person who learned from her mistakes, so instead of cutting through the nearest alley on her way to her car, she opted for the empty parking lot behind some fast food place. She was pleased with herself for remembering to take sensible, though decidedly less fun, shoes to wear after this gig. Cute or not, she would rather not break a leg on the ice.

The young violinist couldn’t help but scan her surroundings more intently as she walked. Ever since she had encountered a youma for the first time, she’d been resolved that if one of those things intended to eat her, it wasn’t going to be for lack of vigilance on her part. She took a deep breath, exhaling sharply at a flicker of motion at the edges of her vision. The clumps of snow that lined the edges of the lot were shifting. On their own.

Of course it was this again.

Rowan could only stare as the snow shifted and shuddered into a humanoid shape. “Humanoid,” of course, being a polite interpretation of the form lurching toward her. When its frigid fist connected with her shoulder she tried to suppress a gasp. She didn’t register any serious pain, but the unexpected chill that pierced through her clothing before seeping into her skin, that was an entirely different story. With a slight grunt, Rowan hefted her backpack from her shoulders. She wasn’t about to risk her violin, but the contents of her bag were fair game as far as she was concerned. Through the dropping temperature and rising panic, she barely registered the other voice as she swung it hard at the snow monster’s head.

If nothing else it had to be better than going at one of these things with her shoe again.

Rowan managed to dodge a second blow from the snow-thing, watching as it drew its arm back for a third. An odd, strangled yelp escaped her as unfamiliar arms encircled her waist. Something between a startled chicken and a particularly disgruntled horse. It definitely wasn’t another snow monster, but with the way things had been going who the hell knew what it was? She prepared to swing an elbow back into its gut, but before she could slam it home it set her down.

To her surprise, it was another young woman. Another young women who happened to be spewing fire at the snow-thing. She wished that she could find this development surprising, but it had been a strange couple of months.
She stared as it melted under the salvo of flame and ash, steam rising from its… corpse? Puddle? Both? Were there biologists for this sort of thing? Shouldn’t there be? But those were questions for later.

She raised her eyes warily to the…other miniskirted superpowered type. It was impossible not to notice the strange mark on the woman’s chest, a…hole…in her chest, cracks radiating across her skin. She remembered Halia’s warning about corrupted senshi, though her limited description was at least somewhat at odds with this woman’s actions. “Er…thanks for the assist.” She tried hard to hide her rising anxiety.

The concern in the other woman’s voice caught Rowan off guard, however she’d expected a corrupted senshi to behave, it was definitely not like this. She couldn’t keep her eyes from wandering toward the hole, how did that work, exactly? She knew the answer had to defy the laws of science as she understood them, at least as far as her limited knowledge went. She was fairly certain that if someone had a hole in their chest they were not likely to be walking around. But then, they wouldn’t likely to be spewing fire either.


“I’m fine. I have to admit that I’m confused on several levels, but I’m fine.” Rowan wasn’t sure how exactly to address this situation. Theoretically she should be afraid of this woman, though she was foggy on the details of why. “I’m Rowan, and I feel like I should be asking you that.” She struggled for a way to word the question delicately, though words were still difficult to come by when it came to these things, “Are you alright? I…don’t know how,” she gestured at her chest, “Does that hurt?” Anxiety inducing or not, Rowan couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her and the painful looking…wound? Void?

Rowan silently weighed her options. Halia had warned her about the dangers these corrupted senshi posed, but this one had helped protect her from another monster. Granted, it could be a manipulative tactic to put her off-guard, but there was no world in which she had anything these people wanted. Certainly not badly enough that they would send someone to get information. Unless they were particularly interested in her secret tea blends. Somehow she suspected that they weren’t. Either way, it couldn’t hurt to ask her questions.

“Well, that’s good at least.” That was a small relief, that somehow walking around with a hole in her chest, wasn’t as unpleasant as it looked. She knew that it would probably be rude to ask a stranger exactly where the mysterious hole in their chest went, no matter how curious she was.

“Do…do you know what that thing was, exactly?”
She’d been under the impression that corrupted senshi and youma were on friendlier terms, or at least on the same side. Whatever that meant for in this context

Rowan grimaced slightly. Magical hub. Right. That sounded about as insane as it did correct. While part of her wished that she could consider the idea entirely implausible, she was glad that she was at least aware of the situation. Well, parts of the situation. The absurd, impossible situation through which she’d been prancing obliviously for over two decades. As for the rest, it just reinforced her desire to see if hitting one of them with her car would be effective.

“It’s not like I want to fight these things, but if they’re already trying to eat me I don’t want to seem appetizing. Besides, I have no idea if I could outrun one.” To her mind and its sometimes questionable judgment, the logic felt sound. She knew that these weren’t run of the mill wildlife, but she reasoned that if she made herself too difficult of a meal they might lose interest and go away. She didn’t want to say aloud that she found the idea of turning her back on one of them terrifying. If she said it aloud that made it true, and she didn’t want to walk around jumping at every shadow. “Do you think a stun gun would work? It might give me a few extra seconds to run.” She hoped for a positive answer, however unlikely, something tangible she might be able to use to protect herself.

Rowan nodded, it made sense that there wouldn’t be a silver bullet that could solve this problem. After all, if there was she couldn’t imagine that there would be any youma left at this point. She was surprised to find herself feeling slightly guilty at the thought. It’s not like they could help what they were (as far as she was aware, anyway). Still, she would prefer not to get eaten, and they really didn’t seem like the conversational type. She wondered if there was a way to communicate with youma but suspected that even if there was, they would probably consider her more of an appealing appetizer than a friend. “Thanks, I suppose it’s only logical that they would each be unique.” Even if the thought was more than a little bit intimidating. “Well, whatever the circumstances, I do appreciate your help, thank you Ako.”