[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/z6cC6JC.png[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/4Q1QloC.png[/img][/center] Watching Keijo was an...interesting experience. Very different from being in the ring itself, as Alicia had found. It was hard to tell if there was any real strategy to it, though Dan seemed to insist that there was. But she had stuck around to watch a few matches, and get the full experience before their time on the island came to an end. That was why she was still around when Lily had her match. She was only an outside observer, but it seemed like things had gotten a little out of hand during the course of the match, and while she didn’t really know any of the combatants that well, the way Lily left was very different from how she had entered. Rising from her seat, the Seraph moved to exit the stands and link up near where the contestants exited. Partially out of concern, and partially out of curiosity. After everything that had happened in Penrose, as well as their previous meeting, she wanted to get to know Lily a bit better. This was a decent opportunity for that. Nearing the exit, she began looking around for Lily. Hopefully she had managed to get here before she could leave, or dash off with those speed powers of hers. Well, if not then she would just try to catch up to her later. It didn’t seem like they were going anywhere soon, after all. Alicia saw Lily leaning against one of the statues at the entrance, looking sad. She had someone she needed to meet with, but right now she couldn’t find the heart in her to see them. She dreaded the outcome. So she had stopped, trying to sort her feelings out. [color=fff200]“Ugh, everyone saw that...”[/color] She whined, and hit the statue. [color=fff200]“What will they think? Probably that I’m a loser. I guess I am....”[/color] Spotting Lily, it did not take an empath to figure out the thoughts inside of her head. Seemed that fight had been pretty rough for her after all. And definitely more in the mental than the physical sense. She might not be an Aurelio, but Alicia decided to take the plunge anyway. It wasn’t like she could make the situation much worse than it was already. Waiting until she was closer, Alicia waved as she called out to the other girl. [color=aba000]”Hey Lily. Do you have a moment or two?”[/color] Lily was startled, and turned towards Alicia; there were still remnants of her crying in the arena on her face. [color=fff200]“Alicia? Y-Yeah, I guess...I’d like to talk.”[/color] She looked around. [color=fff200]“Maybe we could go to the beach and collect shells?”[/color] She then bit her lip. [color=fff200]“Or wait, maybe not. I guess you wouldn’t like that.”[/color] There was an inward sigh of relief as Lily agreed to chat rather than fleeing the conversation, as that had been a doubt clouding her mind. [color=aba000]”It’d be more likely than you think,”[/color] she assured Lily, mind flashing back to when she had been doing just that before her own match. [color=aba000]”But actually I was thinking we could relax a bit, cool off and lose some of the steam from our matches. Maybe ice cream? I hear there’s even a restaurant on a cliff that rotates to give you a continually changing view somewhere around here.”[/color] She wasn’t sure on that part, it was just what she had heard. But it couldn’t hurt to look either, right? [color=fff200]“It is?”[/color] Lil happened to passingly ask, and smiled a bit; Alicia really did come at just the right time. [color=fff200]“A restaurant? You mean that place, right?”[/color] She pointed up, and sure enough, there was a strange structure floating over the cliff face; it resembled a UFO, with a circular design and high windows. [color=fff200]“Let’s go check it out.”[/color] She began walking, looking a bit happier than before. [color=fff200]“By the way, I only saw the end of your match, but it was super cool. You’re really talented,”[/color] she complimented her while they were on their way up towards the restaurant. Glancing up, Alicia resisted the urge to facepalm as she caught sight of the UFO styled restaurant above their heads. [color=aba000]”Yeah, actually,”[/color] she confirmed. How fortuitous for it to be there at the moment they needed it. More of the islands magic, one would assume. So they began walking, the Seraph keeping pace with Lily as they took the winding path up to the cliff. The praise earned a warm smile, though she did not let it simply pass by. [color=aba000]”Ah, I see you missed the part where I nearly got crushed by a shapeshifter then,”[/color] she observed, before shrugging. [color=aba000]”But thank you. Just an unintentional benefit of the training we do.”[/color] Lily put a hand to her mouth in surprise. [color=fff200]“Oh wow, sounds intense. Shapeshifters are really broken in Keijo now that I think about it: they could make spikes on their butt and stuff. I guess Dan would rule that as attacking, but armor butts would still be bad...”[/color] She gradually began opening up to Alicia as they went on, her talkative nature coming apparent. They reached the cliff just under the restaurant, but realized there were no stairs or even a ladder up to the floating building. [color=fff200]“Does Dan expect us to fly up there?”[/color] Lily mused, and yelped as a strange sound could be heard from the UFO-shape; a round, futuristic hatch opened up on the bottom, and an orange beam of light shot down over Lily; she began to float upwards, with her flailing around. [color=fff200]“Ahh! I was right! I’m being abducted!”[/color] “That’s right!” A strange, modulated voice came from above, and Alicia was also beamed upwards. “I am Nad the Neptunian, and I will abduct you on a journey of tastes!” By the time they reached the restaurant, the two realized who the speaker was; it was Dan, except he was wearing a spacesuit and a goofy rubber mask resembling an alien. “Now, what experimental dish shall I test out with my new guinea pigs?” He asked, and guided them to a table by one of the tall windows. “Perhaps ‘Martian Brains’, or ‘Venusian Guts with Eyes’, hahaa!” Of course, the dishes he referred to were a bowl of strawberry icecream with cream on top, and spaghetti served with meatballs. The restaurant slowly turned in an axis, giving out a scenic view of the entire island. It was good to see Lily opening up, now that she had something to distract her from what had happened during her own Keijo match. There were worse things to talk about. [color=aba000]“Also tails,”[/color] she added with a nod as they just about reached their destination. With no immediately apparent way up, the Seraph was prepared to act in a manner that was utmost in its practicality. [color=aba000]“I could probably fly us up there,”[/color] she noted whilst looking at the UFO.Not that it was necessary, for in the end they were pulled up like they were being abducted by a beam of orange light. The culprit was soon revealed as well, and with it came the urge to facepalm again as she realized that it was just Dan spelling his name backwards. Arriving in the slightly futuristic looking restaurant itself, Alicia let herself be guided to one of the tables by a window, giving them a gorgeous view of the island. At least that part was worth the trip. [color=aba000]”Ice cream would be good, if you have some kind of menu for that,”[/color] she confirmed. Best not to let the continued weirdness of their host distract from the reason for their visit. “Coming right up!” Nad replied, and floated upstairs. Lily was flabbergasted. [color=fff200]“Whoah...He abandoned the bit fast.”[/color] But now that they could enjoy some peace and quiet, Lily looked outside the window, her eyes wide at the sight. [color=fff200]“I can see the entire island from here!”[/color] She exclaimed, and smiled at Alicia. [color=fff200]“Thanks for bringing me here. I already feel so much better now after the fiasco at the arena, ha.”[/color] She averted her eyes. [color=fff200]“Anyway, what’s up? I heard you Beacon girls were making some kind of new coin. Is that true?”[/color] With Nad quickly departing to carry out her request, Alicia shifted to look out the window as well. [color=aba000]“That’s one of the nice things about being able to fly now. I can see a view like this back home whenever I want.”[/color] Though Lily might have averted her gaze, the Seraph did no such thing as she relaxed in her seat. [color=aba000]“Not much. I just wanted to get to know you a bit better, without Mister Grumpy around to spoil things.”[/color] Perhaps it was unfair to Alexander, but he really did himself no favors from what she had seen. [color=aba000]“And yes, we are. It removes corruption, makes us much more resistant to mental control, and it’s a lot more practical than the old process.”[/color] It had been in the news, but with how the media was these days she couldn’t blame Lily for wanting to have it confirmed in person. Lily pouted as Alicia badmouthed her boyfriend, gripping her knees with her hands. [color=fff200]“That’s mean, Alicia. Alex has gone through a lot, that’s why he’s grumpy. I’m sure if you got to know him better-I mean, uhh, forget it.”[/color] She sighed, and turned to see Nad arrive with the bowls of ice cream. [color=fff200]“Oh, thanks Dan!”[/color] Lily immediately scooped up a chunk, and devoured it, nodding at the Beacon girl’s words. [color=fff200]“Thht’ths ahmznhg!”[/color] She spoke with her mouth full, only to swallow and return back to speaking normally. [color=fff200]“All that with just one coin? You must have a lot of smart people in Beacon to come up with miracle inventions like that.”[/color] The arrival of ice cream was enough to swing the conversation on to a different topic, which Alicia was grateful for. A hum escaped as she joined in sampling what they had been given, a light sigh escaping as it cooled her down from her recent exercise. She did her best to maintain their chat even as she ate. [color=aba000]”We got a couple lucky breaks, but yeah. It’s pretty impressive. Though after the stuff that happened with Justine and the Bates, simply holding peace wasn’t going to work anymore. So something like this would have happened sooner or later.”[/color] [color=fff200]“Really? That’s interesting.”[/color] Lily took another spoonful, savoring the frosty treat. [color=fff200]“But I wonder; what would have happened if there were White Coins before Justine began causing trouble in Penrose?”[/color] She curled her lips. [color=fff200]“I wouldn't have met you, gotten to know Alex...Or anyone really. Wouldn’t that have been super weird?”[/color] [color=aba000]”I suppose,”[/color] Alicia admitted in between small bites of ice cream. [color=aba000]”Though I’m not really sure how the two of you met so I can’t say one way or another. But considering all the trouble she caused and the people she hurt in her plot, I’m not sure that would have necessarily been entirely a bad thing.”[/color] Holding back a sigh, she instead settled for a shrug. [color=aba000]”Then again, I missed the entirety of that confrontation so I guess I’m not the best to say one way or another either.”[/color] Lily nodded, and looked down towards the resort. [color=fff200]“Yeah...It was a confusing time for me too, since I woke up to the entire room we were in shifting back to our world. Alex was there, and Sue, Samantha...Oh, Eliza too.”[/color] She reminisced about the encounter. [color=fff200]“And of course, Justine had Janet under control.”[/color] She paused for a bit, and took a small bite of her ice cream. [color=fff200]“As for Justine herself, she was...Complicated. She talked a bunch about making the world pure while I was captured, but at the time...I could tell she was hesitating. She tried to, but she couldn’t fully commit to rejecting her love for her sister.”[/color] She sighed. [color=fff200]“She was crazy, I don’t deny that. But in the end, she was just another victim of a Horror.”[/color] [color=aba000]”You hate to see it happen,”[/color] Alicia agreed, nodding as Lily reached the end of her deduction. Just another result of the twisted machinations of some Horror? It was too commonplace to not be a very reasonable answer to what had inspired everything that had taken place at her hands. Another bite of her ice cream followed, the magical girl using the opportunity to muse and think about what had happened back then. [color=aba000]”But you should have seen it. Practically the moment after the Penrose fight ends, Alexander starts whipping together a coalition to go and rescue you. I think it’s not unreasonable to say that if you hadn’t been here that whole Justine business would have turned out a lot differently.”[/color] [color=fff200]“Alex did?”[/color] Lily sounded surprised. She put a hand to her mouth. [color=fff200]“I knew he was part of the rescue team, but he actually got everyone together to save me? That’s...”[/color] She out towards the clouds in the sky. [color=fff200]“He’s grumpy, but underneath, he’s a sweetheart.”[/color] She took Alicia’s hand. [color=fff200]“Thank you for helping. I bet it was difficult to get through all of Justine’s forces.”[/color] Making no effort to stop Lily from taking her hand, the Seraph could only shrug. [color=aba000]“We’re Beacon. That’s kind of what we do,”[/color] she noted aloud. Fighting villains, saving the world, that sort of thing. Despite what their detractors may say. At least she was able to hold back the sigh that would have followed. [color=aba000]“Truth be told we were planning on going after her anyway, but it would have been a lot more difficult if it had just been us. People weren’t exactly lining up to lend a hand after she blew up our branch in Penrose. So a lot more people were probably saved this way.”[/color] [color=fff200]“I’m glad nonetheless,”[/color] Lily replied, a bit taken aback by hearing about a bomb attack. [color=fff200]“Ever since I’ve moved in to Penrose, it’s been nutty; like a Sailor Moon manga.”[/color] She then bit on her spoon, once again letting her nerdiness slip. [color=fff200]“Anyway, I’m really glad we could talk like this, Alicia. If you ever want to hang out, just give me a call, and I-oh right.”[/color] She looked in her pocket, and sighed. [color=fff200]“I usually keep spare notes where I’ve written my number, but it looks like those didn’t transfer over.”[/color] She finished eating her ice cream, and dropped a coin to Nad as payment. Alicia nodded at Lily’s comparison. Yeah, she could kind of see it. [color=aba000]”I am too. At the very least, someone who managed to bring the city together even for a little bit is probably worth knowing.”[/color] That just left the issue of getting in contact again, with Lily explaining her dilemma. The Seraph nodded, rubbing her chin in thought. [color=aba000]”Well, either we find someone who can take a note for us, or we just choose somewhere to meet once we’re back in Penrose so we can exchange numbers. If the city is still standing when we get back, anyway.”[/color] [color=fff200]“Well, I usually patrol the fire station’s rooftop at 7 on Thursdays. You can find me there then.”[/color] Lily smiled, taking one more look out of the restaurant. [color=fff200]“Yeah, I hope so too.”[/color] She replied before the two left the restaurant; the two returned back to the surface, after Nad conveniently switched the tractor beam to slow-descent mode. As they reached the resort, Lily hugged Alicia. [color=fff200]“This was a lot of fun, Alicia. Until next time!”[/color] She then waved, and walked away, glad to have found a new friend on the island. Rising to her feet, Alicia nodded as Lily provided a possible option. [color=aba000]”That sounds good to me.”[/color] The descent back to the surface was slow, and would have been a tad more unsettling than it was were she not used to flying. At the very least they landed gracefully, just in time for her to be hugged. [color=aba000]”Yeah, it was,”[/color] she agreed, returning the embrace and waving goodbye as Lily departed. She then turned and walked off as well. There were still plenty to see and do on the island, so why sit and dawdle here by her lonesome?