Trapped, michaela

((Monday, September 5th, 3571. Before noon.))

She hadn't expected being home to hurt this much.

It could be attributed to her three broken ribs, she supposed, but the very idea of staying in a room that would only be hers for another few days before she had to move into a dorm room with her foster sister and a stranger made her nervous. Though she had spent the first two days back on Earth without leaving her home, finding comfort in the family that had raised her, she could only handle so much coddling.

She couldn't admit to loving them as openly as other children could, but she was sure that they knew. They'd been mentioning going to the mall when she felt up to it, and upon being helped out of bed that day by an eager Ushriya, she had mentioned going. They hadn't necessarily approved of her making the trek to the bus stop or going on her own, but with the promise that she would be fine and meet them there after lunch, her foster parents had conceded. After all, she was... almost eighteen? Maybe already eighteen?

Sometimes, not having an official birthday got confusing.

Raen walked slowly, keeping to herself as per normal amongst the busy throng of people. The last Monday before schools started was always hectic, and if it were her choice, she would have had all of her shopping done before the last week's rush. But given that every year she was dropped home on the third, there wasn't much of a choice.

Experience had taught her to bring the smallest bag possible with her. Security guards, other shoppers, people in the stores... anyone with the slightest amount of prejudice would demand a Martian to upturn a bag smaller than the size of a hand for them. Violet eyes raked across some couple who stopped to move between her and their child as she passed by, rolling said eyes in response. Because clearly, she was an intimidating figure.

'You could be.'

The brunette slowed, wincing as the voice invaded her senses again. It hadn't been entirely silent on her home planet, but for the duration of the summer, it had been... quieter. Not that she had been any less aware of its presence in her mind, only hoping that it was planning to leave. Sparing a glance upwards, she spotted the bookstore on the second floor that she wanted to visit. It was the choice between taking the lavish stairs, filled with people, or the elevator. Her ribs practically screamed in agony, and with the choice all but made for her, she entered the elevator with her head bowed.

It was a blessing that she was virtually alone, one other woman on the blasted thing with her. She moved as quickly as she could, tapping the floor number she wanted before shrinking back against her corner of the elevator. Raen allowed a slow exhale, focusing on the numbers above the door as they began to move. And then... ceased to move. As did the entire elevator, with a jerking, groaning sound.

"Uh..." Articulate as always, she took a careful step towards the control panel, staring it down. "Stuck..." Great.

It was funny, how many designers' names she recognized in her shopping trip. She smiled a bit to herself as she realized that at least two of the brands that a girl nearby was ecstatic about were personal friends of her late mother, and another was a man that while drunk, hit on all the women around him, despite being distinguishably gay when sober. Michaela had the pleasure of meeting him once after a bottle or two of vodka and he had claimed he'd make her a dress after they went into a closet so he could "get her measurements."

Still, he had excellent taste when he wasn't intoxicated, as she thumbed through his clothing. He had a solid idea of the female form and his use of color was impressive, despite the fact she once had kneed him in the groin. While she shouldn't feed his habits, she couldn't refuse how lovely one of the blouses looked and quickly found her size. On her search for more pieces, including one she chose specifically for the next time she and Haiden were set to meet, she ended up seeing a familiar name and had to look the pieces over. Amina's work was stunning, and she really enjoyed seeing a name in fashion outside of her Neptune's overwhelming influence on anything creative.

While this trip was more for pleasure than anything else, Michaela begrudgingly knew it also had to be for business. Khonsu had asked her to try and seek out some of the other scouts, (she knew he'd be lazy enough after his last few endeavors to do so), and she felt the mall this time of year would be an excellent place to get in contact with a lot of people quickly. Not to mention she could also keep to herself and shop, which was an added bonus. Michaela didn't want to play minion for Khonsu, but at the same time, they truly did need to get all of the senshi together.

Three stores later, bags in hand, she decided she'd like to head to the next floor and found her way to the elevator. She was surprised it was less busy than the stairs, but perhaps it was just a bit too out of the way for most people to bother. That, and she had heard another shopper mention how stubborn they were sometimes, and that they could stick between floors. Regardless of their quality, Michaela pressed her floor, and waited for the machine to move.

Another young woman entered the elevator, and pressed her floor as well. That really wouldn't have interested her in the slightest if it weren't for the sharp, almost painful throb that the other's presence. It was muffled, like she was just a short while back, and as soon as she closed her eyes, she knew very well what she was dealing with. A fellow senshi, right here in the elevator with her. This sort of thing felt almost comical in the set up, and Michaela felt the tiniest surge of panic. She wasn't really adept at social situations, let along those in which she would have to possess nuance and subtlety in order to get information.

Then, in a twist of fate that seemed almost planned, the elevator stalled. While Michaela wasn't surprised, she know felt she had to at least figure something out about the other female.

"Surely they will notice it soon with how busy the mall is," she sat down her bags, stretching her fingers a bit, "I wonder if there is an emergency call button. Some elevators have them."

It was more the rustle of bags that caught her attention than the other woman's voice. She'd realised long ago, when standing in crowded areas with her foster family as a little girl, that her hearing had to be above par for a Terrestrial. It wasn't particularly difficult to imagine why Martians had a better sense of hearing. They had to have adapted somehow.

Hearing your only companion in move in such a small enclosure was no great feat. Hearing their every little shuffle was almost agonizing, however, as you tried to plot a way to escape. The younger woman felt her jaw set as she momentarily ignored the sound, still carefully looking at the buttons on the panel before her as she considered.

As much as she might have hated to admit it, the woman behind her had a point. She grunted her acknowledgement, violet eyes seeking anything bright red with the word 'emergency'. There was a door open button that she hesitantly pressed, unsurprised when nothing came of it. The lights on the metal before her had flickered out with the elevator's sudden stopping, and it was difficult to imagine that meant anything good.

There was a button in black that read 'help', and for a moment, her finger hovered before Raen simply shrugged in place of a sigh and pressed it, waiting. There were no alarms or bells, no whistles, and certainly nothing that indicated anyone was coming for them here. She took a step back, frowning as she took a moment to glance at the woman she was trapped with.

Why did she look familiar? The Martian hesitantly returned to her original standing place in the elevator, moving as slowly as she had before to avoid upsetting her ribs any further. She placed one hand on the front of the wrappings, gently holding it there on top of her shirt as she chewed on her lip. "I don't think it... did anything." It was a lame remark about that blasted button, avoiding meeting the other woman's eyes as she stood in their momentary cage.

She hated being trapped. This was going to be awful. And what was she expected to do, make idle chit-chat in the meantime? The very idea made the skinny young woman draw a none-too-eager breath, closing her eyes for a moment before shooting her a sideways glance. "How... how long do you think?" It seemed like a legitimate question.

After all, her foster family was going to get there sometime after lunch and go looking for her at the shop she'd agreed to meet them in...

Really, she felt like a rather poor scout, as she was more concerned with being socially awkward than actually addressing the woman properly as a senshi. Michaela had a feeling though that the other woman was much the same. The tension in the small elevator was already feeling thick with awkward and near silence. After she caught the woman's eyes, she knew that she was Martian, but that was the extent of her knowledge she was willing to take in. Being a strong psychic didn't mean she was going to abuse such an ability to get into people's heads.

Addressing their current situation, she watched as the other woman pressed all of the necessary buttons...and noted how they did nothing. She had expected as much, seeing as this elevator didn't look to be rickety by any stretch, but it did seem a bit under-managed. Still, someone would notice this, of that she was certain. They were only lucky it was just the two of them stuck in this elevator, rather than a large mass of sweaty, uncomfortable people.

"It doesn't look like it did. Well, hopefully someone notices soon, she leaned against the wall of the elevator, trying to assess what their next course of action could be, "It could be any amount of time...although I think anything over an hour would be far too long. By then we'd be surely discovered."

She supposed she could at least introduce herself, that way they wouldn't be passing the time as complete strangers, "I'm Michaela. I'm sorry that this is rather awkward. I'm not...the best with people."

Being honest, she hoped, would at least let the other woman know she meant no ill will. The last thing Michaela wanted to do was make anyone else a scout, particularly if they had as much going for them as she had before making her choice. And she would never consider it a must. It was always choice.

The heat of the summer hadn't entirely faded, and though the mall was air conditioned, the elevator's dead stop had seemingly brought an end to that as well. Raen didn't particularly enjoy heat - Mars was cool on the best of days, and the sixteen hour nights could be downright freezing. Coming here in jeans and long-sleeved shirts, now with the added bonus of heavy bandages being wrapped around her entire top half? It was almost stifling.

Knowing that it could be about an hour before she was freed? Meant a lot more heat yet. With two of them in there, it'd warm up beyond her comfort level faster than if there was only one. The Martian rubbed one shoulder with the opposite hand carefully, keeping the movement in her stiff upper half to a minimum otherwise as she pondered just how uncomfortable things could possibly be.

And then there were introductions from someone claiming to be socially awkward. Apparently, they could get even more uncomfortable.

Her mouth forming a thin line, she eyed the other woman a moment before opting to be polite. There didn't seem to be any shock regarding her heritage here, and there was certainly no reason to go making people who hadn't picked up some small prejudice against her home planet hate one of its people out the gate. "I'm Raen," she offered in turn, nodding her acknowledgement. It went without saying that she wasn't the most adept at social situations either, didn't it?

It would probably be best if she was able to admit it regardless of that fact. "I... I'm not the best either." Her eyes flickered to the doors, pondering what would be on the other side if she were capable of prying them apart. Would they be at a floor? Were they hanging in between? Was it worth trying? Too many questions.

The smaller brunette's eyes flickered yet again to the shopping bags on the elevator floor, then up towards the ceiling, eyeing the grate there thoughtfully. Her head pounded once, a fierce reminder of the voice who had spoken only the once since before her summer on her home planet. Something here wasn't right. The Martian regarded her company with slightly narrowed eyes now, trying to place what seemed off as her stomach gave a sharp twist, as if to warn her.

"Do you have a way to call for help?" Palaver. Right. Good thinking. Did they work inside of elevators? Raen supposed they were going to find out.

Michaela could share the discomfort the other woman was feeling with the stifling lack of air circulation, but by the look of the other woman's ribs, she was in much better physical condition to be handling this. While she briefly wondered why the Martian might be injured, it only took a moment of thought before the rather obvious answer presented itself in her mind. Physical discomfort aside, she could sense that this unawakened senshi was resisting her presence, harder than even she resisted her own. Her stomach dropped at bit a realizing she was going to play a part in bringing this woman to full awareness.

But she realized, she didn't really have to. She didn't owe Khonsu anything...but for the Princess, for their planets she did. And for Uranus. The other woman was in this with her, and whatever she contributed to this cause would very much help those she did care for within their ranks and the freedom that any artist craved for everyone. Khonsu needed to consider himself lucky for those who were on his side, for it meant she was there as well.

Finally, a name, something she wasn't quite capable of finding out, her abilities still rather muffled, particularly while she was in civilian form. It didn't help that the other woman herself had a rather sufficient amount of protection from such infiltration. Michaela really was only getting anything from the other woman based on her own skill, rather than any sort of give from the Martian herself.

So there, they both were completely socially dysfunctional, trapped in an elevator, and trying desperately to not accept parts of themselves (even if Michaela in fact, already had accepted the pen). This was possibly one of the most awkward situations she had the pleasure of being present in.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any means of communicating with anyone outside of the elevator. You probably don't either?"

She followed Raen's eyes to the grate, and immediately figured her line of thought, at the same time, she worried that the Martian would injure herself further if she tried such a feat. She supposed to she could try and climb through the grate, but she doubted that it would do any good. Something told her that it really wasn't the best of ideas. But at the same time, she couldn't allow the other woman to do so...she couldn't imagine climbing with busted ribs.

"Maybe we should try the buttons one more time? If not...maybe I climb out of the grate and try and find us some help?"

Not that she really wanted it to come to that.

It didn't take long for the smaller of the pair to realise that there were only a few things you could look at in an elevator. There was the panel of buttons, dead to the world as it sat with no light behind it, the doors in front of them, the grate up above... and her present company. Or, for the extremely shy, one's own shoes.

Her head throbbed uncomfortably with the proximity to the other woman, and though she wasn't able to prove in any way, shape or form that she knew about the voice in her mind, she wouldn't have doubted it. There was something about the way she moved that made her suspicious, let alone the fact that someone who was supposedly antisocial was trying to make conversation.

'So are you,' came the loud, amused noise in her mind. She choked it back with a blink, unsure how to take that. Perhaps she was being paranoid. The Martian's eyes cut upwards, forcing the headache back to wherever it had come from originally. What basis did she have to go assuming that this woman knew things she couldn't possibly have known? She hadn't ever told Ushriya about the help in her head telling her cryptic things about the even darker dreams.

Raen did her best to conceal her surprise when Michaela confessed she had no Palaver. Though it did nothing to quell the suspicions that this woman was part of something involving the dreams, it was possible. Everything was possible. There was nothing out of the ordinary here, beyond the broken elevator... she needed to calm down.

Instead of continuing to stare dumbly ahead when she'd been asked a question, the smaller brunette shook her head, feeling one of her hands instinctively flex into a fist, then release. "No... I thought I was the only one without." Ironic, she supposed. A coincidence.

The buttons sounded like a great plan.

The smaller brunette slowly approached the panel once more, holding an arm about her ribs as she leaned just slightly forwards and used her free hand to hit that black button from before. As was to be expected... there was nothing. Then what? She glanced upwards towards the grate again, then to Michaela. "I should be the one who does it... I'm smaller," she pointed out, looking at the size of that grate compared to the pair of them. As an afterthought, she added, "No offence."

Already, she could tell that there were a lot of factors between Raen and herself that were similar. Along with both feeling as though, for decency's sake, they needed to speak in order to get out of the elevator, Raen too seemed so hesitant to accept her past, but Michaela could feel how close it was the surface of the Martian's psyche. The only thing holding it back seemed to be Raen herself. And Michaela knew that feeling all too well. Even now, she could feel her own limits of what she could and couldn't feel being snuffed out by her own will to keep them in check.

But that was not what she could address now. She wasn't going to be doing Khonsu's dirty work. He barely did his job as an "adviser" as it was, and so she was hardly going to make it easy for him. Besides, Raen in particular seemed like she had more than enough good reasons to keep pushing away her memories. Khonsu could keep playing the role of candle snuffer. She'd be his messenger bird for the princess and Haiden, but not him.

"It is true, you're smaller...but you're also injured," Michaela met the other woman's eyes, noting how she wrapped her arm around her wound protectively, "color=teal]I can do it.[/color]"

She looked from the grate and then to the hand rails that lined the elevator. If she used one of the rails to hoist herself up, she should be able to unhook or push the grate as needed to get onto the top of the elevator.

As Michaela began to put her hair up to keep it out of her way as she climbed, she mentally noted this as one of many reasons she never, ever wore heels out shopping. Today in the mall, she'd seen many a girl in fashionable, trendy heels compared to her simple flats. However, tonight she'd rest easy while the other girls were moaning and complaining to everyone around them about their feet. Why anyone would wear heels when they had something to accomplish was beyond her, but she supposed it was their choice.

Just like she had chosen to climb out of an elevator shaft.

The grate was slightly to the left, which made it much easier as she steadied herself, hands along the side of the elevator. Surprising to most, including herself, she actually had a decent amount of balance. The grate was hinged on the inside, so she pulled it and watched it open rather easily, swinging slightly as it revealed the way to the outside...or at least the elevator shaft.

Michaela pushed herself up a bit, and then took a brave leap up and grabbed the side of the opening, noting that she'd actually grabbed onto railings that were made for maintenance, or so she assumed. Using them, she pulled herself up slowly and finally stood on top of the elevator itself. The shaft itself was eerie, covered in wires and cables, but then stopped as she noticed something near the top of the elevator itself. It looked like some debris was caught and was keeping the elevator solidly in place, like some twisted metal from some older part of the floors above.

Peering back down into the elevator, she looked to Raen, "I think I found out what is stopping the elevator...should I try and remove it or try and climb up for help?"

She did want the other woman's input, after all. They were in this together.

No matter how unreasonable the thought, she simply could not shake the notion that this Michaela knew. What exactly she was supposed to know about was lost in part on the Martian, standing awkwardly before the other woman as the pair of them struggled to make conversation. It was all too easy to dismiss her paranoia, especially with the look she thought she had caught earlier.

But on the off chance that the older brunette knew, what could be done about it? The voice was nothing if not troublesome... it would possibly even help, if the other knew how to get rid of the migraines that accompanied its unrest. It was certainly nothing she could ask, of course. Raen knew better than anyone that her kind didn't need to be perceived as anything worse than they were already, and adding 'insane' to the list of things people cared to shout at them was not high on her agenda.

She instinctively removed her arm from her midsection upon having her injury pointed out, never enjoying having been perceived as weak. Though her eyes narrowed, she avoided creating any kind of fuss, watching as the woman thus began her ascent to the grate.

The Martian noted mentally that, injured or not, she would have been up there by that point in time... but that was neither here nor there. She also probably could have done it with her hair down, in her face, or any combination thereof. Mars didn't tend to afford people time to be comfortable in moments where anything like this would have been happening.

As Michaela disappeared into the ceiling above, she stood below staring up after her. It would be all too easy to advise her poorly on what to do once she was up there, given that she didn't exactly know what should be done. "How far is the climb?" Raen asked, unwilling to get the pair of them killed via moving anything blocking the way, or having the larger woman come hurtling from the sky, knocking the elevator down in the process.

Anxiously, she pushed her bangs from her eyes, moving a bit closer to the grate until she was standing underneath of it. Would it be helpful if she climbed up as well? Experimentally, she raised an arm, wincing when it was about halfway extended. As much as she might have hated to admit it (even to herself), Michaela had been right to be the one to climb.

It was not something she'd ever confess to anyone else.

Being so aware of the other woman, even as she was tasked at helping them escape their entrapment, she realized helplessly that her presence was scaring the other woman off. Whatever attempts she had at being friendly and polite were sending mixed signals to the woman who could also see her knowledge of who she was. There was nothing she could do besides keep trying to be a good person, show that her intentions were not dark, were not to push the woman out from her shell. With what she could see in Raen's injuries, in her eyes, in the emotions she was able to feel, she couldn't blame the woman for wanting to run.

Or at least be in control of their escape. For all she knew, Michaela could escape and leave her there without saying a word about the trapped Martian. After all, most Martians were considered as vermin by the general population. While she was unbiased and held them no ill will, Raen couldn't sure of that. Even while she tried to project that image, it was up for Raen to decide if she trusted it.

"It isn't bad," Michaela commented, finally addressing her companion after the brief hesitation by her own thoughts, "There's a utility ladder at the side, a little rusty, but should do the trick."

Slowly, as she wasn't sure the overall condition of the roof of the elevator, she walked across until she reached the edge, examining the ladder briefly. It seemed secure enough and she stretched, grasping one of the rungs and tugged it. There was no give. In one swift motion she moved herself onto it and began to climb up towards what appeared to be the nearest floor. As she made steady progress, she finally looked down at the elevator, now able to peer through the opening and see Raen staring up at her.

"I'll get help," she said simply, and continued to climb. She wondered if Raen believed her.

The climb was a little unnerving, even for her, as she occasionally heard the metallic groans of the elevator as it tried to move. If it jumped into motion, Michaela knew she'd have an instant to try and survive before she would find herself crushed into a Neptunian pulp somewhere in the elevator shaft. While the obstruction had seemed quite jammed in, she didn't want to take the risk of the being elevator jelly.

Closing her eyes, she pushed such thoughts aside and finally made her way all the way to the top of the shaft, pulling a stubborn, rusty switch which allowed the protective doors to open. Out of breath and arms aching, as the most she'd usually done physically was swim, hold a violin, or have some fun with Haiden, Michaela took a moment to catch her breath as she stepped out onto the mall floor, knowing all too well that she probably looked quite dirty from her climb, hands covered in black.

They could stare all they liked, as soon as she could speak again, someone would know there was someone else in that elevator shaft that needed help.

Did it make any sense or help either one of them that both of them somehow knew? It became a loop - she knew that this other woman knew that she knew that the other knew that she knew... it didn't end. It did nothing to soothe her impending headache, which furthered her agitation.

She glared upwards, hardly making out the shuffling form of Michaela as she moved higher up the chute. The Martian found no reason available to her about why she might actually be worried for the other's well-being. She frowned, continuing to peer up the hole on the off-chance that the other woman decided she wanted to drop down and rain death on her. She couldn't start caring for strangers. Particularly not ones who threatened her way of life.

Something calmer entered her mind without her bidding, and though Raen was cognizant enough to realise it was not her own thought, she allowed it. Not a threat. Though it wasn't by any means traditional, she would take it as a sign of submission. This time, at the very least. She hoped that the uneasy truce would hold if and when the older brunette found her way out of the shaft as she lost sight of her. Shifting awkwardly in the elevator, the violet-eyed girl did what anyone else might do upon finding themselves trapped on their own.

She waited.

A surge of pain erupted under her skull like a blast imploding a building. It started just below her cranium and shot to her eyeballs, burning everything in its wake. It went through, not around, enough to make her wince and recoil, finding the corner she had previously claimed as her own and growling softly. 'You could have given her a chance.' The idea seemed ludicrous. Why give some uneasy stranger a 'chance'?

A second pain, less intense than the first, shot through her left temple this time as the voice seemed to soften only slightly. 'This isn't all bad, you know. Don't fear fate.' It was like having a pair of parents instructing her, and all she could do was bid both of them a single warning in the form of bared teeth as she tightened her hold around her aching ribs.

There was something inside that alerted the Martian to her previous companion's temporary exhaustion. She wondered vaguely if it worked both ways, or if it was permanent. Would she always know when that woman was tired now? Or any other, for that matter? The idea nearly made her ill on the spot, though the blast of pain in her head had subsided for the time being.

With a jerk, her world changed again, leaving Raen to hastily scoot under the open grate at the top of the elevator, squinting upwards. There was no sight of her previous company - that didn't meant that she had made it out, though, and she felt herself actually caring again.

The elevator stopped, doors opening with the usual whoosh as she reached the floor above, coming face-to-face with an apparently breathless Michaela. She quirked a brow, taking a quick step out of her former holding chamber with a quick glare back to it before glancing at the other brunette awkwardly. "That was fast." What else could she have said? This was generally the part where people went their separate ways, correct?

So why hadn't she left her yet?

Michaela had almost fully caught her breath, and straightened her appearance to that of decent before starting to take a step further from the elevator shaft when she heard the family sound of elevator doors opening. It took her only a moment to realize that indeed the elevator was perfectly operational again, and that she just wasted time and energy for nothing. Were she a bit less mentally hinged, she would have screamed or thrown something, but instead she let out a small, exasperated sigh and turned to face her companion completely.

At first she didn't address the other woman's question. The connection between them was changing a bit now. She could sense the other woman's fear, the tension building pain in her head. Michaela wished she could find the words to console the other woman and convince her of the genuineness of her intentions. But words were never her gift and she was fairly sure that Raen would hardly feel up to listening to a violin concert about how she "shouldn't fear her voices."

Gaining her bearings back, she stepped into the elevator (quickly, as she wasn't going to allow herself to get stuck again) and grabbed her things before moving back beside her almost companion. It was that awkward moment now, where they needed to progress past their previous situation and part ways. Despite knowing that this was the natural progression of how normal interactions worked, Michaela knew with how strongly connected they were to another part of themselves, even if Raen was struggling with that fact.

"[teal]It would be just my luck that the elevator would start like that,[/color]" she was now reaching for the proper junction to something else, to what was the right course of action between them now, "If you're interested, I'm going to go get something to eat, as that whole ordeal was both frustrating and exhausting. If you have other things to attend to...know that you were pleasant company under such...frustrating circumstances, but if you have the time I could buy us both a bit of lunch"

Now it was up to Raen.

It wasn't as though she wasn't used to ungodly awkward circumstances. Though Raen had never really spent the time thinking about why such things happened to her, she was self-aware enough to recognise most times, it was likely her fault. She was hardly ever social, and her brief interactions with others were... lacking. The elevator debacle hadn't been the first of its squirming, uncomfortable sort. Well, certainly the first time she'd ever been trapped in a tin can, but the conversation had run similarly to so many others.

She'd have been glad to get away from it, particularly given the pounding waves the other woman seemed to be capable of creating within her mind. The Martian frowned just slightly at the idea of it, mentally daring the voice to comment. And yet, as it always was when she actually called upon it, the thing was silent.

It figured.

She clung to her distrust like a blanket, however, tiptoeing cautiously out of the elevator and sparing it a single, scathing glare before turning back to the matter at hand. Right. Michaela. She stared at her for a moment, as though trying to decide how best to part ways. Was this the sort of situation where you just up and left? Did she owe some manner of thanks, or a nod of the head? These questions were why social situations haunted her. She was sure of it.

The mention of food, however, brought something else entirely with it. Her stomach leapt into action before her mouth or mind could catch up, growling its consent. It was as though it had a mind of its own, the initial, furious growl subsiding to little gurgles in her. Anyone else might have blushed. For what it was worth, Raen managed to only look a little surprised, glancing downwards at her body briefly before switching her gaze to the clock on a nearby viewscreen.

Still not time for her family. It was a shame - it would've made the decision here easy. But turning down free food wasn't something she had ever really managed to do, and now that the Neptunian woman was tired, she wagered that any move the other tried to make against her would be easily thwarted. Broken ribs or no broken ribs.

"Food would be nice," she offered, cautiously moving forwards again. She would have nobody but herself to blame for anything this meal made her suffer through (be it further awkwardness, or the taller woman actually acknowledging that they both knew something). Nobody but herself, and that noisy belly of hers.

Her march forward, however, was promptly stopped three paces in, sparing a glance to the left and right. The mall was an unfamiliar beast at the best of times, given how little she cared to go... and the whole area smelled like food thanks to the number of people toting it around with them. "Where am I... are we going?"

She hadn't expected the woman to agree, and she was sure her expression revealed her surprise. By the growl the other woman's stomach made, she was fairly sure of exactly why the Martian had been so eager to agree. Something she hadn't revealed to Khonsu, although she had mentioned it in passing to Haiden, was that she'd been doing a bit of research on the other planets. As much as she could, at least, without seeming suspicious. In her reading, she did find a passage suggesting something of a Martian's appetite, and if Raen was a pure example, that may have stemmed from truth.

In all honesty though, her suggestion of food had just been reaching to see if the woman would bolt of it she could spend a bit more time with her. Something that Raen possessed, her strong psychic potential, was something only Michaela herself had experience with so far. While she was sure some of the other senshi would also share her gift, Raen was the first she'd met. And while the Martian woman was far from jumping into destiny (of which Michaela couldn't blame her) something in her seemed to want her to. Michaela knew that feeling well.

Straightening herself up a bit, taking a moment to smooth her hair, brush any debris still remaining from her clothing, Michaela wondered for a moment where they should go to get food. While she had no idea her companions preferences, she did assume they were broad, more so than her own. There was a food court, which more than likely would offer any fare they could desire, but then there was no privacy. And while sitting silently eating would more than likely suit them both, Michaela did want to at least make an attempt to express a pleasant, friendly persona...even if that was far more challenging than it seemed.

"Well, there's the food court here, or whatever you'd prefer. I'm really not very particular about food," she said calmly, although such a statement was a lie. She was like most Neptunians, preferring quality, artistic dishes that inspired the palette, but she was certain many of the stuffy restaurants around the city that offered that type of food might frown upon her Martian company...as much as the idea infuriated her, "I'm open to your suggestion."

Food was food - and also the equivalent of Martian kryptonite. Raen was fairly certain if it weren't for the promise of a meal, she would have been long gone at that point in time. Her original thought had been to escape the feeling that accompanied the other woman as quickly as was possible. Clearly, that had failed. She tried to put a positive spin on it, and failed miserably. Was food really worth whatever this Neptunian represented?

It was almost tragic, really. She felt like, under different circumstances, maybe they would have gotten along. Well, as well as the smaller brunette ever did get along with others. Barring their mutual social awkwardness, she felt like they shared something in common. Of course... that could have been the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was currently less than she should have been.

She was about to protest the idea of leaving the mall, thinking the food court should suffice, when the idea that the woman before her wasn't picky made her raise a sceptical eyebrow instead. Everything about Michaela screamed grace and fine taste. Just because those weren't qualities she exuded herself, it didn't mean she wouldn't recognize them in someone else. It seemed more like a concentrated effort to allow the Martian some manner of control in the situation.

But why? She took another one of those halting steps away, creating a bit more distance between them as she tried to convey mentally that she didn't appreciate lying - even if it wasn't meant to harm her. It was more a burst of feeling, like the waves of calm the other had tried to create within her before. What was this? The concept of psychic prowess was enough to make her scoff, though she refrained from doing so. It was a myth, even amongst the Martian people. Though they heralded some of the elders as soothsayers, there was no merit to those tales. Hw could one Neptunian woman really understand a thought she was trying to shove at her?

She must have been going absolutely out of her mind.

"I'll eat anything," she muttered, truthfully so. If she could choke down the occasional concoction that Ushriya made, that should have been proof enough. "But my... my family is meeting me here, in a bit..." She left it to Michaela to determine that she meant so I can't leave the mall, and decided it wouldn't be a loss if the other decided it meant that they'd best part ways instead.

Though she'd kick herself later for talking herself out of free food if that was the case. Particularly since she could smell burgers, and they smelled absolutely divine. "Do you... eat meat?" she started, eyeing a particularly small boy walking off with a large bun in hand, stuffed to the brim with meat patty. Raen, personally, thought it was a ridiculous question... but apparently, some people didn't know the joys that were steak and bacon and ham and...

Her stomach gurgled again, begging her mind to stop. Right. Waiting on Michaela for her afternoon snack.