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 Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 10:56 pm
Ida shrugged as she cradled her phone between her fingers.
"The map is a 2D display, so it can give you direction and distance, but no... it can't show you if its above or below you. You can sort of sense it, with practice and concentration. I've always felt its sort of like something throwing off heat... you can get a general feel for where its coming from and its stronger the closer you get, but its hard to get real accurate without practice." She shrugged gently, spreading her fingers wide with palm up. "I think its also harder to pinpoint the where of someone who has a big aura, because it spreads out a lot more. You're right though... it can be dangerous to throw off an aura like this all the time. Enemies can feel you, but at least you can feel them too, so worst case you can run away... and sometimes it'll warn away people who are weaker than you are. The only way to hide your power signature is with a Guardian Cat... they have an ability to dampen them."
Ida smiled then, a small curling of one corner of her mouth.
"You don't give off a power signature when you power down. Actually, there is a lot of strong magic to make sure that no one can link you to your powered self... As long as you don't transform right in front of her, your own mother wouldn't be able to tell you were Sandrine. Its glamor magic... tricks the mind." It felt ironic, talking about this part... she knew it far too well. Glamor had kept her safe, but it had also hidden the truth from her. "It can be good for escape... power down in hiding and disappear into a crowd of people. But, that's why you have to be careful with the whole identity thing, too... there is no way of telling if someone who looks normal is really an officer or a senshi or nothing at all."
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 4:28 am
"Fat load of good that's going to be, if its the only hope for that is some Manjer that's going to bolt off in a hot minute like there's a rocking chair chasing them. Well, I don't know any cats, and you didn't mention any, so no use making a fuss about it since there aren't any around to go asking about being dampened. There's probably not enough to go around, right? I mean...that was a lot of people falling over each other in those halls, and pretty much no cats to be seen." Sandrine juggled the older model phone, not Ida's newer and personal one, hand to hand. So its like using the Force. Do or do not, right? I'm going to focus. I am going to focus and this phone is going to go into a subspace pocket.
Does it need some sort of special focus and concentration? Like...studying for a test concentration? Or like threading a needle? Or? I don't know. I guess just keep trying until one of them works. Hand-to-hand. Right to left. Left to right. Back again. Questions dropped for some steps of their moving along. The phone hadn't disappeared in even another handful of steps, when thoughts broke through all tries at concentration. That last bit. That hesitance seems heavy, which probably means there's been problems for Ida one way or another with officers and senshi and 'glamor' "Can people force each other out of uniform? I mean...it'd been days and days that those prisoners were there, and it doesn't seem like their families are all being hunted down or anything. So they probably stayed in uniform the whole time. Or is there a time limit on this gig? " Creepo stalker violent deathsquad that does that kinda thing once is probably pretty likely to do it again. Stranger Danger can only do so much to protect us, so we gotta do it ourselves. Which means pesting this poor thing with a billion questions? Ida's answered a lot already, and its plainly bringing up some s**t. She was in on that touchytouchy with the abuse victim. "No scout therapists out there specializing in PTSD, huh." "Hey, you need hug?" It was asked in all sincerity, Sandrine's brow furrowed and lips pulled in a concerned line, blue eyes catching every piece of light available to reflect. Whimsical Blue Manjer is not an actual term that I have ever heard, Sandrine's just nouning the adjective mangy.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 12:56 pm
Shoulders rose and fell under her scarf as Ida shrugged.
"The cats are like people... some will fight and some won't. Most of them seem pretty devoted to helping senshi. You're right though, there aren't very many of them. I've only met a handful, myself. My team has one, Liryn, who's bonded to Athene. There is also Faust, who's bonded to Thraen, ********* who's with Iris, and Horatio... who I think might be with the Jovian team. Poseidon was the cat who gave me my pen. I know there are more, but I haven't been introduced yet." She could remember a couple dozen more from the time in camp... but they had each had their jobs to do and precious little time for socializing. "The dampening isn't a real good long term solution, either... they can't keep it up forever, it wears them out, so you'd need a few to do it in shifts. Most of us just work with our power showing... I don't think anyone with cat partners makes them dampen, either."
The young woman shrugged gently. Auras were simply a thing, and you learned to deal with it. Questions about staying in powered form were interesting ones, and not something people thought about right off the bat. Sandrine was sharp as a tack, for all that she didn't seem to take senshi life as seriously as Ida did. It wasn't a bad thing...
"I think... its sort of a subconscious thing, to hold onto powered form when enemies are around. If you pass out or use up too much energy, your henshin will break and you'll power down... but it takes an awful lot. Even passed out, your henshin will hold for a while, though its hard to say for how long. The prisoners either didn't sleep deeply or just... held on really tightly to their power, to not lose it while they were captive. I think the only time limit is how long before you get too tired to hold it. It... breaks if you die, too." She'd certainly seen that enough times.
Ida's smooth steps faltered a beat and she flashed Sandrine a startled look, dropping her eyes down and away as quickly. That question... hurt, and she pulled away mentally, trying to cover the suddenly ache with a small smile. Too perceptive, this one... or just not afraid to say something about it. I'm telegraphing too much, maybe. I didn't mean to do that... I didn't want to call attention to it.
"Oh, I'm fine! Its really means a lot to me, for you to offer, but you really... you don't have to do that for me. You barely know me. There has just been a lot lately... I'm trying to be Okay. I didn't mean to come off like... I don't know." She eyed the tips of her boots as she fidgeted, her fingers fiddling with her bracelets as she tucked them behind her back.
"You're... kind of beautiful, you know?" Ida said after a moment. Her voice was shy, but her smile eased into something more genuine. "You're so... squeaky new and vivacious, and even though I can tell you're taking all of this seriously, you're not... letting it touch you. I think you really would beat the crap out of whomever picked out our fukus, if you had a chance..."
She couldn't help a soft chuckle as she lifted her face, her head tilted a little. "You remind me of being normal. Its really nice."
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:06 pm
Studying body language was a major part of acting. If you couldn't project with your body as well as your words, you couldn't ever hope to get the more complicated parts that had both inner and outer lives, or project struggles that couldn't be relayed with soliloquies or voice overs. Not just break eye-contact, but dropping her eyes, and then following it with an 'I'm fine' said everything exactly the opposite and more. For all Ida had been throwing commands in the funhouse, she wasn't a leader. At least not yet, with what the girl probably thought about herself and the struggle going on around them. Sandrine clapped hands boldly onto the smaller senshi's shoulders, craned down, and bumped forehead to forehead. So close, it wasn't hard to veritably command that the more powerful senshi look eye-to-eye or be completely deliberate and admit total submission. The hold was that it wouldn't be the latter. "Suit yourself, then, no hugs. But I think you could use one. And it isn't weak to want or need one. It isn't weak to need others and admit that. And you aren't weak. " "I'm not usually one to be called normal, but whether I am or not it's alright. Whichever I am to you, I'm okay with that. And whether you're 'normal' or not, you know, you're a-okay to me. I don't need to know you well to see you're a person, ya know? You have a heart, and you've been through a lot. I can admire and respect that. " "And I can do my best to support and protect you for as long as you need. Even when you're feeling strong again, I'll be here. For you and anyone that needs it, okay? Obviously I don't know s**t from Shinola, but I can pick it up. Showing up is the most of anything, the rest is sweat and inspiration." Sandrine held whatever eye contact was given for the whole delivery, then squinted both eyes affectionately before straightening to stand again. Then gave Ida a wink. "You're beautiful, too."
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:44 pm
Hands fell heavy on her shoulders and Ida startled, feeling their foreheads collide. Wide-eyed, brown met electric blue and she stared for a moment, trying not to go cross eyed with proximity. It made her shy, being so close, and she colored... but at least the unexpected gesture had surprised her out of her funk, which had been moving uncomfortably close to her break-down limit. Crying in front of Sandrine was the last thing she wanted to do.
Her eyes crinkled up as she let out a huffing laugh, letting go of built up emotion with it. She was smiling as she reached up to lightly wrap her fingers around gloved wrists. The contact felt good... felt steadying. That, more than the hug, was what she needed, she thought.
"Hugs help a little bit, but... I don't want to cry any more, that's all. I've been doing a lot of that. I'm trying to figure out how to pick myself up and stand again." She gently squeezed the wrists she held as her smile softened. "Self-care is harder than you'd think. I don't know how to do it... but I can't depend on other people to do it for me. Everyone has their own troubles to deal with, so I'm trying to learn."
She watched as Sandrine pulled away and she let her wrists go, catching a wink from her at the end that made her blush. Her fingers fluttered as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
"Thanks, Sandrine." She said with a smile. "Things like that... what's what I was talking about. I came here to help you, but I suppose its okay if it goes both ways. If you have more questions, don't be heisitate to ask me. I want to be useful if I can be. If you're not up for more flood of information, you can find a lot of stuff in the Senshi Primer that some of the other senshi and cats have put together whenever you're ready. Its on your phone, you can pull it up with one of the buttons."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 2:40 pm
"Hugs aren't just for crying you know. Sometimes they can be to share coats. Or make space on a cramped elevator, or to get your dry friend wet after they pushed you in the pool." 'Senshi Primer' on my phone. Like...an e-reader? Everyone's so busy and can't be arsed to mentor people that the answer is we all get TextWall McGee to learn us some HowTo? " Alright. I'll give it a go." Best not risk losing that smile cause I asked about something depressing. Eggshells, man. Depressed peoples be like eggshells. "You staying out for a bit, or moving on? I live on campus, so I'm just gonna futz here and there on campus figuring out this faster-than-a-speeding-bullet thing some more."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:18 pm
Ida's lips quirked. Sometimes a hug can put a friend to sleep, too. She thought fondly, gently rolling her shoulders in a shrug. Hugs were nice, but sometimes they were stronger than her control on herself.
"Its nice to be able to reference it when you don't have someone with the knowledge to hand. Its how I got my basics when I started out. Its not everything, but its something. My team and I try to make up some of the lack, but we're only three. We do our best."
The eternal titled her head as she considered Sandrine's question, glancing up at the sky to get a gauge of the time. It was hard to tell, really, but it didn't feel that late yet. She still felt fresh.
"There is still time yet... My homework is done and I don't have anywhere to be." She shrugged again, feeling a little awkward admitting it. "I spend most of my free time out patrolling... I live just off campus, in one of the apartment buildings that gets a lot of student renters. If I hadn't stopped, I'd probably be half way around my normal route."
An idea sparked and Ida gave Sandrine a little smile, taking a step backwards to give them some space between them.
"Race you to the Student Union?" She asked, a touch of playfulness in her tone as she rocked onto the balls of her feet.
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 4:06 am
Sounds a little like if not on a team, then its just s**t-luck. That didn't sound like invitations are an open thing either. I guess I'll have to find some other sailors that are like me, without the fancy bows and fluff, if I want any guidance or help that aren't just a howdy and an e-book. Well, that's not all right, she's pointed out the phones and answered some questions. She's helped. No need to get all entitled and jerkish about it, Jack. She would just rather be 'patrolling', whatever part of the shindig is that that is, than babysitting you and holding your hand. Who determines patrols? Maybe the primer will say. How one goes about getting assigned patrols, how long they are, how to get on teams, all that structure stuff.
'Everyone has their own troubles to deal with' and 'If you have more questions, don't be hesitate to ask me.' are kinda their own dismissals. Then the whole primer....and she's been pretty plain about not thinking much about what I can do in a fight, so why the offer for a race? Weird. I can't tell if she really wants to help, doesn't want to, or is just as crazy as she mentions and hasn't figured out how to gauge the personal expectations and external needs of others or some sorta hero complex stuff. Don't know. Don't know at all. And whatever I say or do is as like to cause just as much damage as anything else, probably. Man, looking for help got really crapped up. There's not much for it but choosing a yes or no and going with it. Try to be polite. "Nah, that's alright. Not much 'race' between us, right- You and those others are all light years ahead of me. Thanks for the offer. Better off that I not be taking up your time or keeping you from important stuff. Saving lives or killing monsters or whatever. Sorry to take so long as it is. The primer's a start...thanks for that. And the rest of the canny answers. It really helps. " Sandrine lifted a hand and started off backwards for a few steps with a smile before turning, "Trial by fire and not getting aced as you said. I'll do what I can, Ida. Take care!"
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Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:34 pm
"Ah, right, sorry." Ida said, feel abruptly stupid for making the offer. That had not been an invitation, it had been a polite brush off she had failed to read properly. I go my way, you go yours, I have stuff to get back to you interrupted.
Embarrassed, she put on a smile as she clasped her hands behind her back, her shoulders drawn in. She had thought things were going well, but maybe not. Maybe she was reading her wrong, just like she had failed to hear the dismissal. At least it was a start, right? She'd given her something... a resource and an open line of communication. If she wanted help... she could call. Reach out. Ida had to remind herself that not everyone wanted mothering, especially from her, and she didn't have to hover all the time. It was just... hard. Not feeling useful. Lacking direction.
"I'm always open, if you need something." She said as Sandrine turned to leave, taking a slow step back and already mentally retreating. "More questions, the name of someone to patrol with, whatever... I'm happy to help. Stay safe, Sandrine. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."
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