Welcome to Gaia! ::

Soooooooo Coooooold. Cybele’s skin prickled with goosebumps under her ridiculously impractical dress. Her breath was a frigid mist. She was supposed to be hunting the darkness and all that, but at the moment she couldn’t do anything but sit on a park bench with her arms wrapped around her. Well, she was listening. That sixth sense said that someone was nearby, which was the only reason she didn’t power down into her nice warm clothes. She couldn’t hear anyone, though. Maybe that sound was footsteps, but maybe it was just the wind. Despite being the Senshi of the Hunt, Cybele’s tracking skills were pretty much nonexistent.

And her other skills? Like fighting? Yeah, those needed some work too. Maybe I should practice, Cybele thought. At least it’s better than freezing to death, right? She didn’t really know where to start, though. She peeled her still-shivering self from the bench and kicked the nearest tree. Nothing happened. She kicked it again. Was this supposed to make her stronger? Was it an even a real way to practice? At the moment she just felt dumb, and it made her foot hurt. Maybe over time, though, it would help make her stronger, somehow. Maybe. Anyway, she had to do something to fulfill her Senshi Duty for today. She started kicking the tree again.

Cybele whirled, flushing a little, as soon as she heard the voice. She said the first thing that came to mind. "Um, a l-ittle bit. But I h-have to do s-something or I'll fr-freeze." It sounded so stupid afterwards, especially broken up by the shivers that wracked her body. She had to grasp her hands behind her back to keep from hugging herself. Of course she would get caught like this, pointlessly kicking a tree, freezing to death, and not even noticing the person sneaking up on her.

At least the person was a White Moon Senshi. Cybele wasn't even sure what that meant at the moment, other than at least she wouldn't be attacked.That meant at least she could try to make a good impression. "I'm trying to p-practice. I d-don't know anything about f-fighting though." The other senshi looked so dignified and so strong. Her outfit also had boots and a jacket. Cybele was more than a little jealous.

She forced a shivery smile. "Anyway, hi. I-I'm Sailor C-Cybele, Senshi of the H-Hunt." She rubbed her hands together as subtly as she could with them still behind her back. "Who are you?"

Even though she was still trying to smile pleasantly, Cybele’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “You can r-really wear jackets and th-things when you’re a senshi? Well, it makes s-sense, I guess.” She grinned for real, though it didn’t help her much at the moment. “Y-you’re a lifesaver! Th-that will r-really help me stay w-warm. Anyway, n-nice to meet you, t-too , Maia,” said Cybele, automatically taking the offered hand with a formal nod.

She glanced at the tree and then at her numb toes, feeling very embarrassed again. “Oh. W-well, sorry. There w-weren’t any youma around o-or I w-would have practiced on th-them.” She looked back up at the other senshi still blushing just a bit, and clasped her hands behind her back again. Maia did seem fairly understanding, but still… “If y-you want to help m-me practice, that w-would be great. I d-don’t know h-how to dance, th-though.” Sometimes, it seemed like she hadn’t done anything right. Maybe she could take a dance elective at school… not that it would help her at the moment. She tried to think of anything that would help her fight. “I-I’m an actress. I c-can stage fight, b-but the whole point of th-that is to not hurt people…”

Cybele nodded at the advice.. “Ok. At least my d-dress will be nice in th-the summer, right?” By then, maybe she’d have a better grip on everything else, too.

Like fighting.

“Y-you want to f-fight? For practice? I-is it r-really that obvious I n-need training?” She looked away for a moment as she considered the offer, then looked back to Maia and nodded. “W-well, I am new t-to this. It’s a g-good idea.” Practice made perfect, she knew that, she also knew that even with her nice shiny powers, she was no match for most of the dark things prowling the streets. Becoming stronger was always a good thing.

“I-I’m trying to pr-protect everyone from the youma. I d-don’t like it w-when I can’t f-find any… It’s s-smart for th-them, though.” She smiled a little sadly, but she was glad she could do something now instead. She walked a few steps away from Maia and the tree and took what she thought was a standard fighting pose, fists in front of her chest. “L-like this?” she asked her teacher. “I-I don’t r-really want to h-hit you, th-though…”

Cybele nodded along to the other senshi’s words. “Your b-bow is really pretty,” she said, admiring the pretty wing shape. She wasn’t sure what it had to do with song, though. If she concentrated hard, she could talk a bit more normally. Luckily, she was starting to figure out some of the senshi stuff and didn’t have to ask quite as many stupid questions. Just one, really. “What’s an Eternal Senshi?” She asked.

She didn’t flinch when Maia adjusted her position, though she wasn’t really expecting it. And afterwards she felt a little more stable. She just hoped she’d remember it for when she really had to fight. “Ok. I g-guess… I hit you now?” It wasn’t really a question, she knew what she was supposed to do.

Cybele hesitated for several long seconds, and then threw a punch with her full strength at Maia’s face. Or tried to, at least. She automatically stopped her hand almost a full foot away from her target. She stepped back and sighed. “S-sorry. I’ll do it right this time.” She crouched into the fighting pose again and this time threw a much weaker punch at Maia’s shoulder.

Cybele found herself falling quickly. A surprised gasp escaped her lips as she hit the ground, hard. Helpless. That was what she'd be in a real fight. She looked up at the other girl with a frown. "Um... does that happen a lot? What you just did?" She stood up, her expression changing to only a slight grimace and brushed off her skirt. She was genuinely curious, though.

She carefully took her stance again. A fight wasn't supposed to be this way, she was pretty sure of that. It would be full of thrill and fists and feet and maybe some other stuff flying. And though it was becoming more and more clear to Cybele that that kind of fight would be disastrous, at least it wouldn't be awkward. Of course, a big part of why she was doing so badly was because she was awkward. "Well, I'm trying..."

"I really don't want to hurt you, but since you're so strong..." She put a forced smile on her face, and sent another punch with her full strength at Maia's face.

Well, not ending up on the ground was an improvement at least, even if her attack hadn't hit. It wasn't really that she had done better, though, and more that her opponent wasn't actively trying to bring her down. Still, Cybele stepped back into the basic stance with a smile, feeling more confident. Still, according to Maia she wasn't good enough yet. That was fine. She was trying.

"Not good enough?" This was good. Proper banter was something expected, at least. She knew exactly what to say. "Well, if you insist I suppose I can do a little better."

It wasn't as if she was sure how to live up to her talk though. She looked at Maia
in a way she hoped looked confident but was actually a bit confused, then charged her, attempting to punch with both hands. "Um..." Of course it ended up being very awkward and clumsy and Cybele managed to lose almost fall all by herself. She turned to Maia, sighing. "I'm assuming I have to do better than that, too?"

Cybele stood up slowly and brushed off her skirt, feeling very embarrassed. The move had seemed like a fun and interesting idea at the time, but it had failed. That was why, it seemed, she was being extremely politely scolded. She appreciated what the other girl was doing for her, but it was also making her remember just how incompetent at the whole fighting thing she really was.

She nodded solemnly while internally scolding herself on a much harsher level. Falling was very bad. Crazy moves were also probably bad. The battlefield was really no place for dramatics. It was good Maia was here to remind her of those things before she'd done something equally stupid in a real battle. She returned the other senshi's smile.

"Yes, that would be helpful." She nodded slowly. "I know I had too much momentum. That was the big thing, right? But how am I supposed to get close to somebody without running?" That was what she thought, at least. Not that she was at all sure what she was talking about, but Maia didn't need to know that.