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"Alright," said Sailor Gunn to no one in particular as she sat on a park bench not far from Meadowview. In one hand was her Blackberry, in the other her stylus, and the file in view was a simple T-chart. On one side, Youma Defeated. On the other, Fires Started. "Let's put this in simple terms."

Two tickmarks under the fires started heading, three under the youma defeated heading. So she wasn't doing too terribly.

Which didn't mean she was actually benefiting anyone. She hadn't included a column for what exactly she'd set on fire, which at this point was: A kitten, and then a convenience store. One was massive property damage, and the other was a kitten. Okay, it was a really weird talking kitten, and she'd managed to put the fire out, and no one was really hurt, but it was still a goddamn kitten. You really had to wonder what exactly she was doing out right now. A smart, sensible person would just not go outside, but she felt guilty every night she sat inside painting. Who knew who was out in the dark, dying, because she was too scared of being caught again by a cop or causing collateral damage?

...Well, the last fear was completely valid.

Seriously, though, did all senshi have powers like this? She tucked the Blackberry into her bolero, pulled the heavy wool hood over her head. It didn't really help, she still had the egregious yellow bow right over her a**, but it made her feel a little more secure.

She had to look up, though, at a strange and sucking noise. In the light of a street lamp, she could see a puzzle, rainbow reflecting inside it. Oil?...

The puddle of oil had a mouth.

She looked at the other senshi, at the white boots with the blue trim, and then the weirdly swimsuit-like outfit, and the bow with the weird lighter, glowing ruffles. For a moment, she was puzzled. This sure wrecked any idea of uniform solidarity she'd had. Their outfits weren't anything alike, except for the brooch and the bow! Well, all right, that was fine. You really couldn't mistake a senshi for anything else. "Er, hello, Sailor... glowing brooch." She shifted, pulling a leg up underneath her. It didn't really look like she was going to move.

"I'd really like to attack it," she said, "except physical attacks really don't work on amorphous oil blobs." (It really was amorphous, sort of bubbling up like some kind of smart matter in a horror movie. She was waiting for tentacles, maybe, or some kind of horned, toothy creature.) The redheaded scout swiveled, set her elbows on her knees, her hands forming a "gun". "Yeeeah. Um."

She nodded, wishing she could reach into the top of her uniform and pull out the BlackBerry to take a picture, make a note of some kind. But there was some kind of disgusting, goopy monster gimping their way, and she felt that would be more than a little bit irresponsible. (One of her better decisions, she thought, especially considering the sort she'd had recently. Kitten.) "Sailor Gunn," she said, pulling on her hood again. This was pretty awkward. It was more awkward than dinner with the family. Stranger than finding a tadpole in your paint water. More embarrassing than--

Cop. Cop was still the highlight of her sailor scout career.

When the area around them went dark, she went fishing in her uniform for her blackberry. It didn't light up, so she put it back, and looked over to the glowing Sailor Europa. "I... set things on fire. Uh, that is, I'm the soldier of wildfire, or something. Sailor Gunn, of Wildfire. And I'd really rather not, you know, do something."

She did trot a few steps forward and kick it. No effect was had.

Giant wibbley gasoline mass, yeah. She was seeing that. She did see that. Right in front of her, wibbling. Oily. Rainbow reflection from Europa's weak blue glow. It was making a weird kind of mumbling noise, and she put up a hand over her mouth. "Gross," she said, a little weakly. She was trying to wipe off some of the disgusting goop attached to the toe of her shoe off on the grass, avoiding Europa's teacherly gaze.

"Explodes," she said, staring hard at the gasoline creature and stepping back a few paces. "Kaboom, you know. And then it burns for a very long time."

The other sailor soldier's argument was pretty good. It would end things very, very quickly. It would also end a few trees and possibly a building. "I'd really rather not. With my luck, we'll catch me and you and miss the monster entirely, you know."

It definitely was not the reassuring smile Europa thought she was giving. Gunn's answering smile in the very dim light was really very not reassuring, shaky and sick-looking. Yeah, it wasn't going to move now, she thought as she shuffled back a few paces. But who was to say that it wouldn't go somewhere after, you know, after it was already on fire?

"Uh, well, that's all well and good for you, because your attack just--squishes things!" And there wasn't any fire anyway. Nothing she could see.

She decided this should probably be brought up to the apparently more experienced soldier. "I can't," she said. "I mean, I literally can't, I need a source of fire. Last time I had sparks. And that's what the cat said." Should they really be standing around over it, anyway?

Gunn was retreating, step after step, when out of the corner of her eye she saw something glowing a dim orange-red. She dove for it, held it up, and threw it.

"Gunn Wildfire Propagation," she said, sweeping one hand out in front of them. And the ball of flame produced by the cigarette wasn't much, it was true, it was the size of a baseball, but it was still impressive considering she'd made it out of a cigarette.

As expected, the youma did seem to be made of some kind of combustible material. There wasn't anything so much as an explosion as the fire... caught. And then it... spread. The monster was fully shrinking in size, any idiot could see that, it was keening its death wail, but its slimy trail was also catching on fire and it was such a good thing they were on a sidewalk but s**t.

Gunn was staring, open-mouthed, at the fire-y trail. It was kind of obvious she had no idea what to do now.

"Oh, yeah," said Gunn, and she turned after Europa. Time to hightail it back to Crystal, really, it seemed like a good plan. Actually, it was her usual plan, because well what exactly were you supposed to do after defeating a monster? A victory dance seemed appropriate, but was it? The oil monster had burned away, leaving a small trail of stubbornly crackling fire, but you know, she'd still started a fire. One that people could see, and associate her with.

It was kind of a big deal.

She shoved that thought out of her head. "Yeah, coffee sounds good," she said, glad to have that decision out of her hands--otherwise she might have stared at the fire for longer than absolutely necessary. She smoothed her skirt, tucked her hood up again, and said, "Let's go."

And off they went.