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After nearly spraining her ankle just before a battle because she had misjudged the physical prowess that came with her new henshin form, Sailor Vanadis had decided that maybe she should probably spend some time in said form, getting used to said prowess. It had to be better than just guessing and going with the flow, right?

Which was why she was out, on her own, on a perfectly nice Saturday afternoon that could've been spent having fun with her best friend instead. But no, her conscience had said, if you wanna be a hero you gotta do heroic stuff! ..though Vanadis wasn't entirely sure that training to run in heels and jumping out without breaking your foot was as heroic as what the other senshi spent their time doing.

So when the first terrified scream sounded, she started rather abruptly and nearly fell over her own legs in surprise. What, what? What if it was a youma again? She'd never actually faced one alone, even the last time she'd had Imo there (as a bolster to her courage, if nothing else). What if she couldn't kill it? What if she made it worse?

But she did have that fancy rune thing that seemed to stop baddies from entering, so if there weren't a lot of them, maybe she could at least make sure the screamer could make a run for it.

That was the sort of thing Imo had said the Senshi did, right?

Finally stopping her waffling, Sailor Vanadis made a run for it just as the seconf scream sounded - and made it just in time to see the brownhaired girl with the green eyes and the camera transform in a flash.

Oh, um, wow.

Gaping, she nearly got trampled by the poor victim making a run for it, sobbing and looking horribly relieved. Not that Vanadis took much notice, because seriously! Another senshi! Another senshi! Oh, finally she could ask all those silly questions she'd been wondering about!

"H-hi! You're, um, another senshi, r-right?" Vanadis was nearly shaking with excitement, a huge smile and large eyes aimed at the other senshi. Maybe they could even be friends! Not a thought went to the encaptured youma and its danger, enthusiastically waving as she was.

"Argh!" The youma took a swing in Vanadis' direction, and though it wasn't nearly in the vicinity to hit, the force of it still sent a gust of air through her hair. Okay, running it was. She could do running.

"So, um. What n-now?" She was crouched down beside Sirius, looking a bit terrified and more than a bit expectant. Obviously the other senshi was the senior here, and so in charge which suited Vanadis just fine. Luckily for her the youma seemed to be blind (or at least have very bad eyesight) and seemed to have some trouble locating them - something it punctuated with a frustrated roar every now and then.

It was a bit amazing that no-one else had come running, though she supposed the citizens of Destiny City had learnt their lesson on that point. At least it'd give them a bit of time to strategize.

"Um, I'm S-sailor Vanadis, Senshi of Wards." Canines was like.. dogs, right? Vanadis noted the fur and the pawprint brooch on the other senshi and decided that it probably was. "I can, uh, ward. A-an area. Not for v-very long though, but it sort of keeps out the bad guys?"

She worried her lip, looking thoughtful and slightly scared, "but can we really leave it there? What if it f-finds another civilian to h-harm?"

"Um, y-yeah." Vanadis coloured - was it really that obvious that she was new? Okay, so she hadn't exactly come off particularly confidently, or even like she knew what she was doing.. okay yeah, so it really was that obvious.
Drat.

But the other girl was obviously not as new! Sailor Vanadis listened attentively and nodded at intervals; didn't sound as heroic as what she'd imagined, but it sounded reasonable and, best of all, it sounded like they might actually get away alive.
"Do you know if t-there's another senshi nearby, then?" Maybe there was some sort of way of communication that she hadn't heard about yet. That'd be awesome!

"O-or walkie-talkies!" That'd be really awesome! Still, if something of the sort really did exist, it didn't seem like Sirius knew about it either so they'd have to make do. And it was a good thing the other senshi was more experienced at this whole thing than she was, because Vanadis was pretty sure that if this scenario had been left up to her they'd have been crushed to icky little pulps by the youma by now.

Cheery thought.

"Well," drawing out the syllables of the word and hoping for a miraculous rescue by a kick-a** senshi (or civilian, she really wasn't picky) didn't seem to be working, so the tall girl reluctantly continued her sentence, "I could, um, m-maybe do that. Probably. Um."

She fiddled with the hem of her fuku, slightly embarrassed; "I m-mean, I think I could, for a little while. M-my ward s-seems to keep the bad guys out.. and it's a one-way alley, right?" She looked hopeful, "S-so if I warded like, the entrance while the, um, youma is down at the end.."

It was a risky plan - she'd have to act as bait for the ugly thing, get it down the alley and then pass it in close quarters to get back up to the alley's entrance and use her power - and one she'd never, ever have even thought of doing if she was alone. But.. "But we c-can do it, right? I mean, we're two people and that thing's only one a-and the alley's not very large, so my ward would probably cover it."

"Oh, nononono! It's, um, pretty brief. A minute? M-maybe two?" She'd never timed it, but that might be a good idea for next time. Now probably wasn't the time, though. Vanadis bit her lip and looked worried.

"You'll b-be careful, right?" The youma wasn't very near to the shop, luckily, but it was still closer than the girls were - as if having to break into someone's property wasn't bad enough. "And, um, yell if you need any h-help."

She didn't look reassured, but Vanadis managed a small smile for her comrade-in-arms before she left. And then she hogged the nearest bin lid, holding onto it like one would a treasured teddy bear.

And then she watched, winced and worried as Sirius avoided the youma, managed to break into the shop (she wasn't entirely sure whether to be impressed or horrified here) and apparently found what she was looking for. It wasn't a large shop, and Vanadis had been able to follow her fellow senshi's movements with ease.

Which was probably why she hadn't noticed it when the youma (in a surprising display of stealth for one of its size) flanked her.

Oh, um, drat.

"Sirius! Sirius! Now?!" It was a shrill and squeaky scream and not very coherent, but hopefully the other girl would get the message and tell her what she was supposed to do, now that she had a grunting youma of the really ugly kind reaching for her.