Issue 1 Downtime

The Phoenix was relaxing in the sauna. Hey, where else is she going to be?

((open))

Winn steps into the sauna, nodding at Mira.

"'sup?"

Mira looked at her, head cocked. "Why, hello there."

The redhead with the spooky voice made her vaguely uncomfortable for some reason, but Winn wasn't about to admit that.

"Who are you?" Winn asks.

Yeah, because that didn't come off as unnecessarily confrontational at all.

Winn snorts, crossing her arms, "No. I don't think so. Then again, I don't spend a whole lot of time getting chatted up in saunas. So....."

"You caught me. I'm your long lost twin-sister," Winn says.

Something had her really on edge. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

"It's possible," Winn says flatly, weirded out. "My mother is a notorious slut."

"Who the hell are you anyway?"

"...you're the bird in Harry Potter?"

"I figured. You don't look like much of a bird," Winn says. She tries to look relaxed. Like she doesn't give a crap. Totally not terrified.

"So, you're saying I'm...what exactly? Second cousin to fire and life incarnate?"

"Right," Winn says. "Are you sure that you shouldn't be in a cell somewhere?"

Speaking of the need to be in a padded cell, the music was starting up again, with Altamira right at the center. It was like experiencing an exceptional solo during a concert.

"Yeah. I'm sure you did," Winn mumbles, her fear giving way to a sense of wonder as the music seemed to swell and pulse around Altamira.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Winn lies. It wasn't of much use though. Mira would be able to read Winn like a book. Winn's subconscious was tapped into a cosmic awareness. She was hearing the song of the universe in her head and, just like the power she was generating, it was too much for such a small slip of a girl.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up, you creepy little bitch?" Winn says, sounding agitated.

"I'm not the one that's crazy here," Winn says, wincing as the music begins to become painful. Her head is pounding and she feels like it might explode. She starts to get up from the bench she''s sitting on, but stumbles to the ground.

The glow around her body begins to intensify.

Mira was almost instantly at her side.

"There, there. Deep breaths, little one."

Winn looks up at Mira, panting heavily, and her eyes are glowing bright yellow. She reaches out and grabs hold of Mira, and the redhead girl can feel Winn the cosmic energies practically surging out from around the girl.Around them,

And then entropy reverses itself.

It's like watching someone hitting "REWIND" on time itself. The cracks in the tile and scratches in the wood disappear. Steam reforms into water and the quickly dissipating heat energy is pulled back into its source. For a brief moment, their small slice of the universe repairs itself.

And then the light goes out in her eyes and Winn topples onto the floor of the sauna.

Mira frowned at this, the timeless force of nature and the orphan girl battling to think of an appropriate response.

And then, with a wave of her hand, they were both gone.