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The night was young and the Eternal Senshi of Tigers was once again making her rounds. Her focus was always on her duty as a Senshi before her duties as a potential high school dropout, and Eternal Sailor Tsui was more eager to face down an entire squad of youma than to deal with the school work and homework that she'd need to honker down on to get back into St. Mags' good graces.

However, when her keen Senshi senses picked up a familiar aura, all the thoughts of fighting the Negaverse or the Dark Mirror Court were stripped from her mind. Instead, she was eager to meet the page that gave off the energy signature she felt, and without thought or hesitation, the Tiger senshi moved in that direction.

Even before her blossoming romance with Sutai, she had a thing for knights, whether it be protecting them or simply meeting them, and now was no different. If anything, her desire to protect them and fight alongside them had only increased thanks to recent endeavors, and she was wondering what was in store for her this evening, though what she received as a greeting took her completely off guard.

In a good way, of course, and Tsui couldn't help but give a rather sheepish grin and look behind her, as though he were perhaps addressing someone else. No one was there, so of course, he WAS addressing her in such a manner, and Tsui knew that the moment she opened her mouth that her fuzzy boot would go right in it, but... what else could she say or do but be herself?

"Eternal Sailor Tsui, Senshi of Tigers and general a**-kicker of the bad guys..." She extended her hand in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Vesuvius... am I pronouncing that right?"

When he referred to her get up, she glanced down at herself, still having to remind herself that she had achieved Eternal status just a short while ago, and while others might have been a little hesitant to show off their tattered wear and scars, Tsui was a little too enthusiastic to reveal them. Perhaps she saw it as a warrior's pride and joy to reveal them, not once thinking of the negative connotations or thoughts that might have came from being so open. "Tumbled by kitties? Nope, just the Negaverse. A lot of them mean serious business. I guess the Cosmic Tailor felt this was more fitting, to show off my 'stripes' instead of hide them."

She pointed to said 'stripes', three scars running along her side, her attention to them temporary at best as she brought her gaze back to Vesuvius. She had a thing for pages, as she was interested in meeting (and protecting) as many as she possibly could, but she hadn't met a page like him before. She was more interested in what planet he served under than of talking about herself, but she figured she'd get an answer eventually. Might as well humor him before requesting information for herself, as well as a spar. She wanted to test him, make sure he was capable of defending himself.

"Well, I'm at Eternal rank, so says these buttwings, and I enjoy my duty as a Senshi. I'm out on patrols, looking around for any youma, Negaverse officers or Dark Mirror Senshi that might be causing trouble, and send them packing." She could have gone on forever about herself, how she got her scars, how she was more frustrated with her own Court than she had liked, but none of that seemed proactive for what she suspected was a new page. No, best keep the illusion up for a little while longer, at least until he could stand on his own two feet. "What about you?"

For the most part, Tsui was completely clueless about his prying eyes, as short as they may have been, and when she was showing off her buttwings, she had little reason to think that anyone would have looked at her butt as well. Why look at something as boring as a butt when there were freaking WINGS there to stare at? No, Tsui was clueless, and if she was aware, she'd likely not have cared much. She was always a warrior before she was a woman, and besides, she was taken and she'd be glad to let anyone know that. But later...

For now, she wanted to make sure that this page was able to handle his own in combat, as it would no doubt arise now and as the Eternal Senshi of Tigers, she wanted to keep her allies safe. All of them. And one way that she could do that was to train them, and what better way than a friendly spar?

"Well, glad to hear you're enjoying your time as a page. Which means you've either done well in keeping out of trouble, or you can defend yourself well." Tsui said, cocking an eyebrow and unable to hide some excitement from her voice, as she broached the subject. "Would you mind if we had a friendly spar? I'm eager to see how skilled you are and I want to make sure you can hold your own against the likes of the Negaverse and the Dark Mirror Court."

She would have been find with him declining- after all, Tsui was never known for self-restraint, but this time, she was willing to make an exception. "I won't even use my magic. It's pretty powerful and I wouldn't want to risk seriously hurting you."

When Vesuvius claimed he didn't break easily, Tsui could not hide the rather devilish grin from appearing on her face, though she did do her best to keep her thoughts to herself. 'Confident in his abilities... yeah, it's like looking in a mirror... from the past, or something.'

Tsui was confident, smug even, and it wasn't really that long ago that she thought she had overcome that prideful nature of hers (keyword being 'thought'), but there were always others out there that existed just to prove how wrong one was. Sometimes it would be an enemy officers or Dark Mirror Senshi... though it seemed this night, it would be coming from an ally, and Tsui gave a nod and went straight into attack mode.

"Alright, then... try to dodge!"

When it came to fighting on the offensive, she found it hard, near impossible to hold back, but she was hoping that either Vesuvius could either block or dodge her incoming fist, aiming at his side and no where near any vital organs (that she was aware of.) If he dodged, great! If he blocked and countered, even better! But if she connected, she could only hope that she didn't break a rib or bruise an organ or something. But, he seemed pretty confident in his abilities, and he did mention he wasn't fragile... she was merely testing that.

Tsui was expecting him to dodge- that was the point of the lesson, right? But what she wasn't expecting him to do was to try to reverse the role of teacher and student, especially in the manner of which he decided to do it. It was damaging to her ego, one that she had tried to keep tamed but obviously was failing at miserably, and when he tried to guide her into the motions, from behind her, she considered driving an elbow into his gut and throwing him back.

But ultimately she refrained, though she wasn't sure why, or how she was able to not do it. Instead, she finished up with the motion and then jumped out of his reach, and the way she held herself spoke volumes that she was trying to play the whole thing cool, but unable to hide the dent to her ego.

"As impressive as that little dance was, please refrain from being that close behind me ever again," Tsui said, and when she spoke professionally and tight, it was a clear sign that she wasn't comfortable with the situation. She brushed her pelt though they weren't dirty, and when she felt she had a good control of her emotions again, she addressed the page once more. "I'm not much for subtly. It's a waste of time and I'd rather my intentions be completely clear. None of this..."

She tried to think of a good word to use, and eventually she went with, "Graceful stuff. I'm a tiger, not a dainty little housecat. Now, do you want to try and come at me now?"

She couldn't believe she was hearing him right, and never the type to wear a good poker face or hide anything from anyone, it was more than obvious by the look of 'what is even the hell' on her face. She looked at him with such intensity that it looked as if she was trying to convince herself that he existed and not that he was a figment of his imagination. What kind of man talked like this nowadays, and who was he to think that he could school her, the Senshi of Tigers, on tigers?

As he moved in front of her, she crossed her arms, any thought of sparring long since gone from her mind as she listened to him ramble on about grace and appearance, and the insult to her attire made her outright scowl. Had he not gotten under her skin, she might have been flattered by the compliment he just graced her with, but all the senshi could think was how disgustingly idealistic he was and how absolutely wrong he was about her.

Finally, she spat, stomping a foot on the ground and letting him know just how angered she was, and how poorly she hid it. "I have no idea what world you come from, but not all women are the same. I don't have time to care about appearance, not when there are others that need my help. Who cares about how you look if it gets the job done anyway? Seems like a waste of time to me!"

She never considered herself to be beautiful- even before obtaining her scars, she had a small and rather stocky frame, meant more for gymnastics than dancing, and while she knew gymnasts to be quite graceful, she was not. Simple as that. And to have someone trying to flatter her with blatant lies? That really got on her nerves.

"I carry myself like I should in this war, as a warrior for the White Moon Court, not a dainty flower," Tsui barked back, and she half wondered if she could just leave him to fend for himself. If she was half as spiteful and cruel, she'd love to see him try these tactics against one such as Painite, but no, Tsui could not be that cruel. "So, we going to keep practicing or should I go play warrior elsewhere tonight?"

She never had anyone call her pretty or beautiful before- Sutai loved her because she was her STRONG tiger, not because of her beauty. And she just wasn't sure how to feel about it...

Now Tsui felt a little guilty that she had unknowingly chased the page away, but she was too prideful to let it show. She wanted to help her allies, and perhaps she had simply grown too accustomed to her role as mentor and fighter to allow the thought of anyone getting the better of her, in all walks of life. She wondered now if she was upset because he was trying to flatter her with the whole beauty and strength business, or because he had countered her punch so easily.

Either way, it wasn't something that the Senshi of Tigers was willing at admit to, neither publicly or privately, and the way she held herself made it clear that she was willing to allow him to walk away this time. She crossed her arms and held herself like an indignant twit, and while she knew it, she wasn't going to change her stance. She didn't like unnecessary flatter, especially when she half expected this guy to shower every woman he met with such dribble, thus making his compliments to her shallow.

"Okay, well, if you want to go, you can. You already seem to have a firm grasp on fighting, so I don't think I can teach you anything you don't already know," Tsui said, trying to keep some of her bitterness out of her voice, but suspecting that she lacked the subtly and 'grace' to do so. "I think you'll be alright in the long run. Just stay on your toes and all that jazz."

She turned to leave, but stopped before she could get too far to address the page. "And yeah, I know that some people can be graceful and strong, but I'm not one of them. I'm not here to impress anyone- I'm taken, and she likes me just the way I am."

And that was something that Tsui was absolutely positive about. She may not have equaled Sutai's beauty and grace, nor had such a strong faith in the cause as her, but Tsui was her warrior and tiger. And for Tsui, that was enough.