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 Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:57 pm
The sun had yet to go down on the slightly-warmer-than-is-usual winter-almost-spring day, leaving Lilith to lounge about in her dorm with Raja after her homework was done till it was dark and she could head out on a patrol. Delicate fingers clicked away over her special computer, random bits of literature streaming from keyboard onto the screen. Being a scout with niffy vision really was a good muse for her, that's for sure.
Beside her on the desk sat her new phone. A cell phone. She had absolutely no idea what color it was, but it was functional and blind-kid friendly! Not that she used it beyond to get used to some of the regular features, listen to the most natural female mechanical voice she'd ever heard tell her what she should be seeing and finding it all to be insanely easy to use. Wonderful!
It remained silent for now though. She pondered for a moment checking through the list of names from the few scouts she'd scanned at the mass meeting (by accident actually, since she'd just been playing with the phone when she happened to scan a few of the girls in front of her), most she did from that was just listen to the phone say names of people she'd never met. Except Sailor Iris. Lil had tried to catch up to Rainbow as she'd left the meeting, but hadn't been able to poke her way through the crowd of girls and a few guys as fast as she would have liked. At least she'd been able to scan her to get her number. So why didn't she call?
...good question, one of which she'd been pondering all the more lately. They did have a yet planned training to schedule, and supposedly only fellow scouts could hear anything out of the phone... so what was keeping her from calling up her (buddy? teacher? fellow scout?) and set up a time to do so?
Her fingers stopped their typing, itching suddenly to pick up the phone and do just that. She hesitated just a moment more before grabbing it, poking the buttons to get to the desired number, and hit the "Dial" button. Pressing it against her ear, she waited, her stomach doing a quick little roll when it was answered, and promptly greeted, "Iris? It's Metis."
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:15 pm
Who knew what Sailor Iris had been doing? When she picked up the phone, she sounded like she was trying to keep her voice down low, and was being rather vague in what she was saying.
"...oh... hey kiddo... 'sup?"
Before Metis even had time to reply, Sailor Iris' voice chimed up again.
"Look, I'm kinda busy right now... y'wanna meet up later?"
There was a pause, but again, it wasn't anything long enough for Metis to reply to.
"Meet me at the Meadowview soccer field tonight... um... 9-ish should be good. See ya then!"
With that, the phone hung up with a faint "click." If anything was obvious, Sailor Iris was not a phone person.
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Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:00 pm
Each time she'd try to respond, she was cut off by the hush and rushed Iris, finally ending with her saying "Oh... sure..." right as the other hung up. At least she had a location and time to head to. She thought about it for a moment, placed the phone down, and turned back to her computer, this time hopping onto the internet to find a suitable site to tell her how to even get to Meadowview. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the Crystal girl had no clue how to get there, but at least she was smart enough to admit it and solve the little dilemma...
--------- 9pm that night ---------
Metis crept along the school campus, grateful for more energy waves to be bouncing around the area... but it was so open... made her uneasy. Weren't there more cops around here? Was this really the best of places to meet up? Not that the park was much better... but still.
She found the bleachers and climbed up, perching herself on the seat second to the top, glancing around to try and locate a certain figure of copper waves. Iris had seemed rather distracted lately, she hoped she hadn't interrupted something important. Or, better yet, she'd heard the location and time properly. Oh wouldn't that suck! Show up late or not to the right place at all! She thought of her phone, tucked away in her room. They could feel it ring no matter where they were, right? And they could summon it... track anyone whenever...
It was a tempting idea, but for the moment Metis decided to give both parties the benefit of the doubt for a little bit longer. It would be all the worse to be trying to track Iris then have her show up and realize it... talk about total invasion of privacy.
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Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:02 pm
If there was one place she was familiar with, it was the soccer field. Civilian Ellie Spectre no longer played soccer with any teams, but her friend did. Every so often, she'd hang out and wait for soccer practice to be over. However, just standing on the field itself, which had several patches of slush over it, was making her wish she had a soccer ball.
Or at least, it was making the Ellie Spectre hiding under the identity of Sailor Iris wish such things. Casually, almost as if she didn't have a care in the world, the yellow-suited Scout walked across the field, hands hitched up behind her head. It was a little chilly still, but in all honesty, she was expecting to warm up really soon.
Sailor Iris had not forgotten her promise.
The blonde only stopped in step once she was in the middle of the field. She did not bother to look around, and instead just kicked a foot boredly into a pile of nearby slush. Metis could find her.
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Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 7:55 pm
And find her, she did.
Didn't matter how dark or light it was to any normal human - or scout, for that matter - Metis had no problems with her vision and tracking people down so long as she had a good chunk of life around her. Having a copper figure for a person against a background of green waves from the plants beneath them (which were apparently still alive enough to give off energy, huh) made Iris just a little hard to miss, after all.
With this fact set and a relieved smile on her face, the brunette daintily slipped down from her perch, pace steady and confident as she started for her training companion. How interesting though, to look down to the ground and see dim little waves shoving themselves up from beneath something. A few times her boots met the stuff, squishy and slippery and cold when, finally, she stopped about ten feet from Iris and bent down to investigate. The watery snow was cold, the smell clearly winter the only clues she had to whatever the hell she was holding. "...oh." It's slush. You'd think walking in it every year would be enough to tell someone what the slippery non-ice stuff was during winter, but seeing it as the stuff that's blocking life waves was just... interesting? New? Different?
D, all of the above?
She dropped it with a slick plop back to the ground, brushing off her hand much as she could to try and start drying her now damp glove. "Interesting place to pick," she finally commented to Iris, closing the distance by another four feet before stopping, head cocked slightly to the side in both greeting and waiting.
Teach got a lesson plan?
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 2:00 pm
While waiting, Sailor Iris hummed some sort of tune she had heard earlier that day. By no means was the Senshi of Rainbows musically inclined, and her whole hummed tune was completely off key. Her eyes were blankly staring at the lights which were meant to shine over the field for night games. She really wasn't looking at anything in particular, but instead just looking for the sake of looking.
The only thing that snapped her back to reality was a rather sudden plop of slush. Golden eyes soon enough spun around to find a familiar face. There was no greeting of "hey, how are you?" or anything of the sort from Metis. Just an "Interesting place to pick."
"Ya know... I woulda picked th'park if it weren't fer the fact that it's closed off fer now." Casually, she brought her hands down from their resting place behind her head and clapped them together.
"Alright, let's get down t'business. Tell me what ya know already." It wasn't exactly an exciting way to start this whole training ordeal off, but the last thing that Sailor Iris wanted to do was to waste some other girl's time. She leaned forward, and once more, her eyes seemed to fix themselves on the girl's strangely dull green eyes.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:19 pm
Phantom tunes played in her ear, taking her a moment to realize they had invaded while she'd been lost to her investigation of the slush. Iris wasn't exactly the quality the choir at Crystal would accept, but hey, she'd heard worse? It posed an opportunity to be nice at least (something she didn't realize she already missed one of) - "Radio song?" was her smiling guess, of course having no idea what sort of avenues for music the other girl used. But everyone listens to the radio at least once, right?
This put her onto a little train of thought back to listening to Pandora earlier in the day, and upon mention of the closed park (which was the utmost tragic in her and Raja's eyes due to a lack of excellent walks) lead her to recalling the call to Iris... and her lips twitched down towards an apologetic look. "Um, earlier... I apologize if I interrupted something when I called." Rushed and hush talking being great hints to this. "Thank you though for doing this, I really appreciate it." Her grin flickered back, pausing only for a moment when yet a new, and equally important, sentence flew into play.
How much did she know? Um... well....
"Absolutely nothing." Her blunt tongue was edged with laughter. A strobe of boldness flew through her, hands on her hips as she turned her empty, unfocused eyes to stare right back at the other's gold. "No one's willing to teach a blind girl how to fight, apparently." Ironic, considering her dad was an ex-pro-wrestler. "But since while I'm a senshi I can see through a... well, magical sight in my head - you know, second sight, the third eye? I've been using it experiment with at least dodging and kicks, don't have a visual reference I can use for them though." She was honest to her teacher, all "well, there it is" smiles as she waited, wondering if Iris' acceptance of her strange eyes would extend this far. Metis found herself not too worried though.
"I can explain my sight to you if you're interested or if you think it might affect anything." Would it? She could see the youma, see the Negaverse agents, see the civilians and other scouts... though the fewer waves of energy, the harder it made things....
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:58 pm
"Eh... my friend was listenin' t'it earlier..."
She still seemed to hover in a bit close, looking the girl in the eyes.
"It ain't a big deal. I jus' try t'keep this senshi sh*t on the down-low. Havin' a magical rainbow phone... would ruin my image." Tomboys did not keep sparkly gay phones with them. This was a fact.
And then the hard facts hit Sailor Iris. It hit her, but her expression hadn't changed one bit. Still neutral, nonjudgmental, yet somehow chipper. It almost seemed to be no issue at all, the way the blonde senshi presented the information back to the girl.
"Alright, so yer workin' on dodges and kicks. Well, that's not too bad I guess... doesn't yer attack... y'know... blind the target?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:32 pm
"Oh, okay." Well, that explained it all quite nicely. Had anyone other than Raja been present during the time of her call... well, there probably wouldn't have been a call at all until much later. Reasonable, really. If someone knew a senshi's civilian identity... she would hope only those with the ability to protect themselves in turn would be aware of it. Too dangerous for all parties involved otherwise, sad a truth as it was. Further explanation about the color of Iris' phone (she should have guessed, really), and conflicts with a reputation... Metis was trying really hard to not do more than grin, biting the inside of her cheek lightly. Tough girls don't usually walk around in such bright colors, books alone gave her that stereotype. But hey. Rainbows with the power to lasso you and slice through you? You'd think that'd be an acceptable exception.
Was in her book.
And more points were automatically added into said book in Iris' favor when nothing seemed to change after she was keyed into the secret mystery behind the weird eyes. A relief, and yet... not too surprising. Still though, a nice weight to get off her chest and put behind her. Her head began to nod lightly. "Blinds, disorientates, and gives me a nice little strobe light to help track them if they try to run." The more info you share, the more it might just come in handy someday, right? "I still need to know how to dodge them when they're swinging around randomly, never mind before and after they're blind."
Her lips pursed, twitching to the side, staring back at the copper consumed Iris. "Unless they're stupid enough though to get themselves impaled on a fence like the first youma I fought... or some other random means of injuring themselves, there isn't much else I know to do in a fight if I'm caught alone." Like with Moonstone. Which was really a big key for how the two ended up here in the first place and got Metis really into practicing what little form of combat she could think of using. At least there was a bright side to that whole ordeal.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 7:50 pm
Finally, Sailor Iris straightened herself back up to her usual height. "Alright, as I see it... when their blind, y'should go in and attack. Sure, they might be flailin' and crap, but it's better than bein' completely defenseless."
Next thing she did probably would come across as a bit strange, but the blonde gestured to her stomach. Was she inviting Metis to hit her? Yes, yes she was.
"I wanna see what I've got t'work with, so kick me in th'stomach." Someone couldn't really attack with a dodge, and where as dodging was pretty important, the Ellie in the back of Sailor Iris' mind seemed to have a point with this particular exercise. Once more, her hands signaled for Metis to hit her with her best shot.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:35 pm
"Can't argue with that," she agreed as she crossed her arms before her, pondering this. She really hadn't tried to use that time for anything but running. Fell back to the fact she didn't know a thing about fighting... but still. Power's only as useful as you make it, right?
It took her a moment to realize what Iris was doing, or saying, as she ran around this concept in her head. Her gaze flickered between her face and her stomach, brain catching her up to speed with a rather disbelieving expression upon her face. "...for real?" Her arms unfolded, brow raised in skepticism as she slowly moved into a good distance for the would-be strike. Did this make sense to her? It had some logic behind it, she guessed, but honestly... couldn't they find a better target to judge by? Didn't help that she had this sinking suspicion it was going to come around and bite her in the butt.
"You're the boss," was probably the only time Metis was ever going to use this phrase, balling her hands into fists, and bringing them close to her body in a sloppy, albeit obviously reminiscent classic fighting pose. It was slaughtered by her use of it, formed only by the knowledge that flailing limbs wouldn't help her balance (she discovered this by experience) but without any idea where to hold them instead. Giving Iris one last "I don't like this but fine, have it your way" look, she angled herself, curled her leg, lashed out. She'd pulled a few muscles before trying to figure out just how flexible she was, and was at least pleased to see her foot was going towards the other girl's stomach instead of, say, her hip or thigh. God knows she didn't have the ability to hit any higher, far as she was concerned.
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Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:10 pm
Sailor Iris did not dodge. Sailor Iris did not block. Instead, she took the hit, tightening her muscles along her stomach merely on pure instinct. It was a formidable kick, but only formidable in the sense for a beginner. The only hint that it had hit its mark was the little "Oof!" of a grunt that the Senshi of Rainbows let out.
"...not bad..." she said in a plain tone. For a moment, she let the foot remain at its mark, seeming unaffected by the hit. However, she straightened up and eventually used her hand to push the foot off of her.
"Dodging and fighting is important, but it's also important t'know how t'take a hit as well. Blocking can be helpful, but at times, ya can't always protect yerself. Ya gotta know what ya can do t'make the best of it." She apparently had used this exercise as a demonstration to her point. Rather suddenly, Sailor Iris just thrust a single finger towards Metis' stomach, aiming to poke, and more than likely, just gauge her reaction.
"It doesn't do ya any good t'get knocked out in one hit."
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:15 pm
Was it pathetic Metis was just happy she actually hit her target and got a sound out of Iris? Because she was. It was a feat in her eyes, had to be a sign of an at least somewhat good start, right?
Of which she got a sort of 'yes' to, moments later. Foot back on the ground, she gave a quick look of 'why thank you' akin to a proud cat beaming after catching a pesky rodent. She settled back down after the brief moment, listening in to this new piece of the lesson. Taking a hit? Instantly her shoulder gave a throb of recollection. Usually she preferred to keep her distance, going along with that whole 'I can't fight' theme, meaning she rarely had to worry about showing up in class with an unexplained bruise on her somewhere. Things were most certainly going to change though, huh?
"How would you just 'take it'? Build up a pain tolerance?" She wasn't joking when she asked this, though in the back of her mind that lady-like nature wanted to smack her. She noticed the flash of copper flying towards her stomach, gasping as she half-jumped back a step. For a second she just stared at the offending finger closer to her stomach than was acceptable by preference, before looking back to Iris with a faint mix of confusion and cross. "Best to not get smacked in the head or get the wind knocked out of you, then. Those'll get you to the ground quick enough." Her frown deepened a bit as she kept peering at the other, thinking back to the first fight when they'd met. "What lets you just fight through the pain? It doesn't seem to really slow you down at all."
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Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:10 pm
Apparently Sailor Iris' words were going in one ear and out the other, based off the girl's reaction. "That would'a been one of those moments where ya woulda been better off t'take the hit... if ya ask me." Experience really did help when it came to fighting, because Ellie Spectre in the back of her mind was already devising a strategy to fight back. Take the hit, grab their arm, and either throw them or pull them into a hold. Then again, Sailor Iris did have a height advantage, which made this much easier.
"Well, since ya have that blind issue goin' on, I take it ya never took any martial arts classes." In all honesty, civilian Ellie Spectre had never taken any of those karate classes as a kid either. She just heard those stupid boys in her classes that talked all about it as they took it in 3rd or 4th grade when it was "cool" to be the "Karate Kid."
"You let out a small grunt, cry, or shout when ya get hit in the stomach, because it tenses th'muscles there, making it harder t'knock the wind outta ya. Jus' 'takin' th'hit' ... stuff like that..."
The mention of getting hit in the head caused the senshi in yellow to utter out "There are some places ya block no matter what. Head is a definite. Some say the chest is also pretty standard, t'protect th'heart... I ain't such a stickler for protectin' there." In a very unlady-like fashion, the tomboy poked at her left breast. "Stupid fatty bags an' all are a pretty good defense."
She was about to try a second go with the poking finger attack, but instead, she paused mid stance. Casually, her gold eyes glanced up and she blew a puff of air at her bangs, as if to move them from her sight for a moment. However, it was a pointless gesture, since the bangs came falling back into her line of sight. Shrugging it off, the blonde mentioned "Think of it this way. Ya keep fightin', or yer gonna get the snot beat outta ya ten times worse than if ya sit and sulk over th'pain for even a moment. Ya stay on the ground too long, and yer definitely gonna be a prime target fer attack. That's pretty good incentive t'get up and keep fightin' if ya ask me!" Once more, Sailor Iris' finger poked out to attempt to jab Metis in the stomach again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:09 pm
So much for being a good student. Metis winced, rubbing the back of her head in a very much 'oi' moment. A part of her wanted to say "I dodge as a human, I dodge as a senshi, it's a reflex!" but kept her mouth shut. Iris was taking the time out of her day to help her, the least she could do is keep excuses and complaints to a minimum. Instead she skipped that commentary for the next statement. "No one saw the use of even telling me the right way to punch." Because according to her father, there was apparently a wrong way? At least she balled her fists with her thumb on the outside and didn't kick with her toes.
"Where did you learn to fight, anyways?" It was a random question, albeit a fitting train of thought. "Did you take lessons, or did you just pick it up somewhere?" Mentally, she was trying to decide which she could see more - the tomboy learning in a traditional setting, or just watching a bunch of violent movies... if not just learning through practice alone. It was difficult to decide between the latter two.
Her head kept nodding slightly, making little notes in her head. So crying out, at least somewhat, helped if you get caught in the gut? Potentially very useful to know. Doubled when she narrowed her eyes a bit at the renewed poking stance, though she remained still despite the feeling she should be backing up or something.
...only to give the girl a very dumbfounded stare... and promptly caved to a bubble of laughter. Did she really just poke her own chest? Honestly, this was a first. Hilarious, but a first and heavily lacking medical support. Could have gone into the fact breasts weren't enough of a barrier to defend against blunt force trauma or knives, and that they didn't cover the entire needed area to protect the heart and lungs... but opted for an equally blunt route instead. "Boobs don't count as air bags. Although this could be debatable with those upgraded models." Metis herself was clearly female, but was quite far from being cream of the crop in that regard. "I personally need to rely on other things to protect my vital organs." Any further with that topic and she was going to be crossing personal lines, never mind potentially risking crossing them with Iris for all she knew.
The serious note didn't do much to kill her lighter mood, though she did give a somber shrug of surrender. All were good points, points she was going to have to force through age old responses to move out of other people's ways. If you're blind, people don't automatically make way for you. Nope, you've got to learn to dodge, learn to keep all your remaining senses about you to not get killed by traffic or random obstacles. This was going to be a big switch in her mindset, that's for sure.
This now screaming in her head, she locked her legs to keep from moving as once more copper shot towards her, giving a tiny little "Eep!" when the finger did hit. It tickled! It was a weird invasion of personal space! Not that she was expecting any pain, but still. Years of sticking to certain habits were going to have to start crumbling.
In the back of her mind, she wondered briefly just how this was going to affect her when she was back to being hundred percent blind.
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