Welcome to Gaia! ::

Backdated to April 4th

Solaris leaned her hip against the side of the bench that had become her typical meeting spot through all of this. The yellow light from the lamp above cast a warm glow through the night's calm quiet, and glimmered off of Realta's jewelry. Having anything remotely looking like a pattern in locations (and company) was enough to make Kyrie's wariness rise exponentially. She'd not had an encounter with the Negaverse since the fight for Earth, and currently? She wished to keep it that way.

Thus, her new pattern of waiting with Realta at the designated meeting spot. The Mauvian hid her energy signature, putting Solaris at least at ease as she waited for her guests each time. Goal was to work with the Vanguard, not pull them into any potential scuffle if a chaotic sort decided to take a swing at the frequently present Eternal.

The feline in question sat patiently on the wooden bench, draped in an appropriately sized cloak to help shield her against any lingering n** in the air. It was the least Solaris could do, given the cat's thin coat... the little star pin to help fasten it close matched her jewelry, too. Realta herself was rather delighted with the warmer option, loafing where she sat with her head somewhat tucked into the thick fizzy lining along the hem.

"Incoming steps," she said softly, her voice only slightly muffled by the edge of the cloak as Solaris looked up from her phone. Bonus to having Realta around? Better ears to pick up sounds she didn't detect yet. Especially useful since she couldn't sense anything from the Vanguard regardless of any suppression or not in the area, for obvious reasons.

"Awesome, thanks--you're gonna head back after we leave, right?" The senshi peered down at the feline who hummed in agreement. Wasn't much of a point to Realta hanging around while they worked at the hangar. Any brief blips of energy when Solaris would return them to Earth didn't really worry her as much as her Eternal butt lingering around for a bit prior.

She was still getting used to the Vanguard--or rather, the individuals who constructed its presence here on Earth. There was an immense curiosity and interest on her part on the group as a whole, their people, their goals, nevermind the individual level of just... who each person was. But that was par the course, far as she could recall, when she'd dealt with other peoples beyond those she knew on Solaris. New cultures to learn, new people to meet, and a billion questions about them.

And, sure, many had also been excuses to slip away from responsibilities when she could, or distractions to ignore aspects of trade or political delegations she was shepherd off with----

She shoved those thoughts right back into the box they crawled out of in the back of her mind, thanks.

Besides. Solaris straightened where she stood beside the bench, finally spotting the approaching figure Realta had caught before her. There were far more interesting and important things here in the present that deserved her focus. Chiefly, the young man who joined them beneath the lamp light.

The additional articles of clothing was a smart choice given the weather both on Earth and the typical average chill on her world. She was all bright grins and happy to return the wave, excitement once more thrumming in her veins. Progress. Actual progress. There was a surreality in that.

"Nice to meet you, Andreiya. I'm Solaris, and this is Realta," she grinned, performing the simple introductions and gestures. "Thank you for agreeing to this, any help at all on this project is massively appreciated."

On the bench, Realta stood and stretched, back arching upward sharply and eyes squeezing shut briefly before she resettled to sit. To the Velencian, she offered a warm smile and nod of greeting. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Andreiya. I'll not be joining you two, but should the opportunity present itself, I'd certainly enjoy the chance to speak with you again. I do hope you enjoy the trip."

Solaris gave a slight snort, if still smiling. "You two could probably get into quite the conversation about tech--Mauvian and Velencian both sound like they're way ahead of anything I've seen."

Realta's smile might have become slightly more smug at this, but she remained quiet, if inclining her head slightly in a form of agreement.

The senshi refocused on Andreiya, her smile never fading, gaze lingering curiously on the bag he carried. "Well, you're right on time, any questions might be better on my world. Are you comfortable with teleportation? I'll need to have physical contact with you for this, so please let me know if you have any discomfort in contact, or how would be most comfortable for you." She held her hand out to him, but also holding it in a way that he could put his hand on her arm if he wished, or she could grab his shoulder or... whatever worked best.

The Vanguard were going out of their way to assist her. She was going to be every bit the gracious host she should be, accordingly.

Suffice? Oh her brows rose to that. Not in any sense of offense or accusatory, but blatant curiosity and intrigue. Her smile only grew, tossing a look to Realta whose ears were perked forward in an equal level of wanting to learn more on that wording. Was it merely a wording choice, a slight variance in translation? Or---

Ugh. Solaris had to shelve all of that for later.

"Perfect. Oh! Quick heads up--my world's got a slightly lower gravity than Earth. If you feel you need a movement to adjust or anything, lemme know. I never know if people actually need the warning, but I feel rude not giving it," she added with a small smile and shrug, figuring the Vanguard probably had more experience with some of the oddities of space than most here on Earth.

Looking to Realta, she flashed a quick two-fingered salute. "Thanks again! I'll catch up with you later."

"I'm looking forward to it. Thank you again for assisting in this, Andreiya, safe travels." Mauvian spoke easily, rising from her seat as her tail swayed. Moment they were gone, she'd be away herself. It wasn't necessary for her to linger until they returned, after all.

Solaris gently placed her hand on Andreiya's offered arm, bringing up her other hand with the phone and tap the Home button. Instantly, magic flared, enveloping the senshi and accompanied guest, pulling them instantly through space, cross light years in a harmless moment. The bright, intense light of the energy had her close her eyes, sure, but it was very easy to tell when the transportation process was nearing its end, even for as rapid as it was.

Already, the senshi could feel the pull of Earth's gravity give way on her body to the lighter pressure of Solaris. The sensation of winds came next, constant and swirling her hair and loose fabrics of her uniform, but nothing like the gales or worse that frequently ripped through. She opened her eyes as the energy faded, glancing up to see small scraps of the peachy-toned sky through the dense cloud layers above.

On large, the look of Solaris was a more peachy tone compared to Earth, really, due to the quality of sunlight they received from their star. In part from this, what few occasional scraggly, thorny plants that did peek through the otherwise barren grey and rusty-toned soil were… dark. One small clump by their feet swayed in the wind, its branches scratching and clattering against each other like dry bones. In the sunlight, the tiny scale-like structures along its skin were visible, the features that allowed the branches and stalks of individual plants to all chaotically tangle together in their clump to help cement each other into the ground and not be swept away in strong winds.

All around them, though, the roughly mile-long plateau was bare, a mostly flat thing that stood high above green-blue waters. Large, slow waves moved across its surface, the spray cresting over the edge of the plateau in floating, shimmering misshapen orbs before collecting enough mass to fall. Waves sometimes swelled up enough to loom over and cover the small land bridge that stretched out to the mainland in the west. Whatever had been the gradual slopes that had once helped to form the sides of this island had been long stripped away when the waters receded.

High, high in the sky, beyond the plateau over the waters, the craggy peaks of a floating island lazily cut through the highest level of clouds here and there, cutting out the sunlight in a long, dark shadow across the waters as it went. She paid it little mind--this was common here.

Sending away her phone, Solaris quickly scanned the Velencian up and down, looking for any sign of distress or discomfort or anything. Again, probably unnecessary, but she was still getting used to dealing with the members of the Vanguard. She didn't want to misstep and risk causing offense or anything. Especially with how much she massively needed their help... "All good?" She withdrew her hand, instead using it to gesture to the only two buildings on the plateau.

Blue-silver metal and white stone constructed the wide, relatively squat building--at least in terms of its width, versus its height. Large panels of aged, weather and sand pocketed metal took up about two-thirds of the height of the walls, with the last third up top being about a story tall. Up there, small broken window frames held remnants of glass--some translucent, catching in the daylight; others dark, almost one-sided from where they stood. Tarps and other smaller bits of metal were plastered all over the inside of the broken windows, her long-standing attempts to work on fixing up the place.

Pavement stretched out far beyond the hangar itself--a taxiing zone, an extensive runway… the aetherport (airport) was as basic as the construction needed to be.

Right beside the hangar stood a second, far smaller building. A single-story house, simply built ages past, all plain, weathered stone and somewhat dug into the ground with multi-colored glass in its windows. Stained glass showing simple patterns, flora in purples and dark blues.

A small door sat on the side of the hangar next to the house, dense chains coiling through the thick bars on both the door itself, and the frame, to help ensure it wouldn't blow open at any point. Thick as the building material was for these installations on the average, she didn't like taking chances. Not when there was even remotely a chance at the weather getting in and messing up any of her work...

Solaris followed his gaze vaguely, wanting to give him whatever space he needed to acclimate or process whatever he needed to, but she couldn't help her... well. Anxiety. Curiosity. It was a jumbled mess for her, and a constant when she brought people here because... because it was supposed to be more than this. Was more than this. She was... working on that.

Guilt was a nasty shadow to try and crawl out from under. It had claws and razor wire.

Her wings flexed, tickled by the swirl of fabrics around her in the wind. She looked down at the small remnants of plants he'd indicated, and she hummed, considering a moment. "Have for... couple centuries I think? Small, no leaves. Just the stocks and branches. Plants here have always been reds, blues, blacks--no real green, not like Earth, unless it's extremely dark green. You might find some of that up on the upper lands," she explained, motioning to the floating landmass out over the water. "These were common shrubs, popped up everywhere. Could grow pretty big if enough of them clustered together to keep the mass anchored. Used to have dark blue leaves, and little white flowers would pop up in spring. The berries were red, not edible for Solarians, but a lot of other creatures liked them."

Her voice shifted into a wistful tone as she spoke, gaze unfocused as she thought back to eons ago, when these bushes were all over the landscape amidst grasses, when leafmice would skitter along their branches and nibble on the berries before gliding away.

Even in the small spots she'd found over the years where small oasis formed and she could find plants to eat, she never saw these things in bloom or covered in their old leafy coats.

"Think the English for them would be like... spark shrubs? The flowers were highly reflective so they'd glow kinda at night if any moonlight or something was around, or lamplights in towns, so on. Made them look like little glowing sparks."