Welcome to Gaia! ::

After the last meeting, just the night before, Desiree had gathered a few more things for Portia and brought along some of the baked goods Aloysius had made. With the stack of books, papers, and new writing supplies accompanying the small portable charger and lantern, she felt like it might help the condemned home feel more livable and win her some more points towards the favor of the alien senshi.

She had mentioned to Portia that she sometimes had a male guide her so that her being out and about in the weather wasn’t terrible on her. She did also agree that after bringing some more things to the woman, she would stay out of the weather so she wouldn’t get sick or get hurt by slipping or falling in the mud.

As usual, she kept her timer ready on her watch as she kept her civilian glamor up. Walking with her umbrella, she thought she heard someone nearby as she walked down the street, so she paused and took a moment to look around. It wouldn’t do much, she knew that, but if anyone was following her, they wouldn’t know her vision was poor from a distance.

Pursing her lips into a frown at how loud they were being, she turned and gave the familiar and small blonde a disappointed look before sighing softly. “You know it’s rather rude to be so loud this late in the evening.” If she wasn’t carrying her bag and umbrella she would have crossed her arms as well to get her point across.

They didn’t look much better than Aloysius did at this point, something she knew all to well about. But this evening wasn’t a good evening for any stragglers on, not unless they were careful and quiet. Something she wasn’t sure would work well considering this blonde was one of the risk takers and she knew a lot about how things went with them and order.

But as she saw a candle flicker further off, in the window of the house she was meandering nearer to, she felt punctuality was more important and she would need to improvise to keep in the woman’s good graces.

“I’m going to meet a new prospect of mine, one that is very… hesitant to be bothered.” Not that her presence seemed to bother the alien much at this point. “You may come along, but don’t test her and don’t get any foolish ideas.” Giving the blonde another harsh little look, she turned and started back on her path towards the run-down Victorian.

“Of course, Alexandre, tonight you are my helper. This poor half blind woman needs someone to help when the night is darker.” Giving him his role in this, she nodded in confirmation before knocking on the door gently in the rhythm she used every time. It was something she was used to now, waiting at the door while she knew the alien was powering up to keep at the ready and hidden in case trouble followed.

It made sense, and she could see that this senshi was intelligent, even if the language of this world was different than their own. As she heard them moving towards the door, Desiree perked up for a moment. “I have one of my two male friends with me, the one who helps me when the weather is poor. His name is Alex, please don’t worry, he’s a kind young man who helps me often with gardening.”

Hinting more at the role they were supposed to play, she smiled softly as the door crept open and she saw those odd eyes and familiar pale skin.

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The creaking on the front porch sounded like there was more than one person out there, something that had her hesitating at first, but then she heard Desiree speak up. She didn’t quite lower her guard, but the fact that they provided a warning made her appreciate the woman’s agreement to her terms.

Opening the door only slightly, she saw Desiree with an umbrella and bag first, then saw a much smaller male with lightly colored hair. It took her a moment as she wondered if Desiree’s poor vision led them to mistake a woman for a man, but she wasn’t going to say anything just yet. She’d only seen one or two humans in person, so perhaps they were just as varied as the people who she read about in the books she’d been provided.

“Alright, I’m glad you took my advice, the weather is quite dangerous out and I worry that your umbrella might get pulled away and you would get wet alongside the books.” Opening the door wider, she moved slightly to let the pair in.

Shaking her umbrella off, she left it out on the porch propped up against the house so it could drip dry off while they were inside. “I may not have the best vision, but given how long it’s been like this, I make due with a little help here and there.” Smiling at Portia as she stepped inside with her bag, she noticed that the chairs and table had been reorganized a little bit more since she had last been here. That and there were some books she didn’t recognize open on them, with what looked like a language she couldn’t understand written on the pages she could see.

Taking a seat, she shuffled around and pulled her bag up onto her lap as the senshi took their own seat across the table. “I brought a few things that might help you and a few other books I enjoyed reading when I could see a bit better.” Pulling the things out, starting with the small camping lantern and portable power source, she set them lightly on the table before getting out the books, pens, and paper.

“I saw a few nice pens that I thought you might like as well, and some paper if you wanted to practice your writing. As someone from another country, I am glad that you’re picking up on things quicker than I did. My handwriting leaves much to be desired…” Laughing softly as she waved her hand near her face, she took a moment to look over the book nonchalantly as she set more things down near it.

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Watching as the pair came in, she did frown slightly at the mention of how long this kind woman had been living with poor vision. It was at least nice to hear that there were people who did try and help, something that hadn’t been a thing on her planet.

When she sat down, she leaned forward over the table slightly to watch the objects coming from the bag. It was always a delight to see what gifts she was being brought, even if it all boiled down to a misunderstanding where they thought she was just from another place on this planet instead of somewhere much further away and very different. “Oh, that’s interesting, it looks like one of the devices I was looking at in a magazine. Someone is supposed to come work on things to get the lights on, but with the weather, I know very few people are out.”

Peering over at the blonde, she knew he could see, so she mentally flipped through the words and habits she read about to make sure they fit with the narrative she was going along with. It was helping her settle into this world without having anyone bother her. Something she was growing tired of when it came to a certain vulpine male.

“I used to write often where I worked, the library had many books that I was in charge of translating and transcribing.” Not wholly a lie, but the way things were on Portia couldn’t really be described in a rational way to anyone outside of the planet’s inner circle. “I was looking over a book of stories from back home, though they are a bit spooky.” That madman’s logbook had bothered her more and more now that it was turning out to be true but if she could spin it as a horror story then perhaps it might spook the woman and their assistant into staying inside because of the weather.

Desiree felt herself smiling at how quickly this alien was getting the idea of how to try fitting in, it was more than she had expected from what she had heard from Aloysius and Sakura’s interactions with senshi aliens.

“I doubt they’ll make it out here in this weather, but I do hope they get it fixed soon.” Setting down once her bag was empty and the others were talking, she was glad it was going smoothly with the unexpected addition of Alexandre.

Pulling a hand to her cheek as they mentioned being a librarian, she nodded at the mention of a story with much enthusiasm. “I adore stories that can send a chill down one’s spine. Those and dramas or historical books, there are so many I used to read when I could see better. If you want to share it, I’m very excited to hear a tale from your home.” The curiosity sparkled in her eyes as she thought of how this had to be something more than a tale, something that would give her more hints on how best to get this woman to come meet Chalcanthite and join the right side of things where it was safer and more reliable as had been proven in the last battle.

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“Yes, I do enjoy them, there’s much more variety here than back home.” Even before she’d been stuck in that library, everything had been bare bones in design to keep distractions low for those studying or transcribing the other mundane books that were stored all over the planet.

“I see well… How to begin… since my language is structured a little differently, don’t mind if I borrow things for phrasing from your novels.” Flipping through the logbook, she scanned over the most important parts of the report for a moment as she hummed slightly.

“It was a dark and stormy night, one that had led a tired merchant far from his home. Once a month, he brought his goods far through the galaxy for trade, and the path never changed. But one night, when the merchant was most tired, his weary eyes fell not upon the planet he traded at but an empty star field. Or so he thought. As he drew closer, debris floated by, metal and parts of things that were no longer.”

Flipping the pages more, she looked at the scribbled illustration and showed it to them both, pointing with her long nails at the sharp and dark charcoal drawing.

“The planet had been destroyed, a static field arching between each of the metal parts of broken ships. Something moved far ahead, pulling the lightning with it, so the merchant followed. But when he got there, it struck his ship and he had to turn back. Nobody ever found out what happened to that planet or all the people on it. Some say it was eaten up by something, but there’s nobody left alive to tell the tale.”

Closing the book and setting it on her lap, she looked between the pair for a moment, then smiled.

“Sort of short, but I believe it was to have people think that sometimes things change and nobody knows the whys or hows of it.”

“Oh my, that sounds horrible for them.” Nodding as they went along, she could pick out a few similarities to what was going on that she’d follow up on when she could. But for now she was content listening to things and watching how Alexandre was playing this new role of theirs. It was going better than she expected which meant things might go well if she brought Aloysius along for a meeting one day.

“Yes yes, I can bring some other things along as well and if you still have trouble with the power and things here maybe I can talk to the other friend of mine. I think he knows a bit about electrical things.” Fiddling with her bag slightly, she settled into her seat more.

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“Oh on plants? That sounds interesting, though it wasn’t something I looked into much.” Given the fact things were maintained by each department, she hadn’t really dealt with plants outside of food products.

“I can’t remember if there was a follow up story, since this was one of the older ones.” Putting the book down, she looked over her new gifts with a quiet appreciation of the workmanship of the pens. Some of them were heavier and all of them were fountain pens, which she’d learned more about since reading over things and learning more about the items that were being left for her.

“I’d like that, perhaps when the weather is better though. I’d be up for any historical texts or things like that since I’m not from around here. It might help me learn a bit more about things here.” Smiling lightly, she then leaned back and looked at the little lantern that sat on the table. It would make things easier to read during the evening without having to have so many candles lit.

Either way, it was almost nice to have the company, even if she wasn’t too sure of this new person.