[B] Tap on the Head (Zephyr/Sinon) FIN

[Syusaki]

This time around, Sinon decided to do her patrolling with her skateboard. She was rarely seen without it during the day in her civilian form, so why should she have to part with her precious just because she was the soldier of lies now? It looked like any other skateboard; the design hardly unique—until you looked underneath, but people never really bothered to admire her designing handiwork.

At the start it was slightly difficult, since her boots made it harder to find her sense of balance on the board, but it didn’t take long to find it again. Years of skating had made it easier to find her inertia. Compared to the dull process of walking or running through the streets, breezing through on her skateboard was much more relaxing. Although her rather tight clothing (and the style was a far cry from her taste) made the sensation different, the steady, somewhat scratchy hum of wheels against concrete was soothing.

In fact, when she saw a giant fluff ball smack dab in the middle of the street she didn’t groan and complain! On the contrary, Sinon immediately hopped off her board and jumped onto the rooftop of the nearest building—a neat power of being a senshi, she decided with dumb glee—and hopped back onto the board. Shouting out her challenge (“I’VE SEEN THROUGH YOUR LIESSS!”) she rolled off the ceiling and landed right on the poor youma’s head. Unfortunately, she just bounced off of the thing like it was made of jelly. While she flailed one direction her skateboard soared the other way.

“My boarddd!” Sinon cried out in obvious distress, vainly reaching out towards it.  

[Xaki]

If there was anything Senri hated, it was idiots. And that was exactly what he thought of the owner of the skateboard, narrowly ducking it. He had turned around at the odd cry, 'My boarddd!' only to see the obstacle headed directly for his face. The board clattered to the ground, a bit of a distance away. Whatever he had been expecting, it certainly hadn't been that. He had been walking home, which always seemed to be interrupted frequently these days. His groceries dropped from his hand, while the male looked around to see the source of the problem.

He hadn't exactly missed the show.. his eyes landing upon an oddly dressed..person? No, Senri could see that she was a senshi. She had the bodice, and the white outfit for it. A senshi again? Senri almost sighed in response. He was beginning to wonder if senshi had the capacity for discretion. First Gunn, an arsonist, and now one who decided riding on her skateboard would be the most ideal thing to do. Well, that hadn't worked out. A theory was much different then a real life situation.

"I don't think you should be concerned for your board." Senri said as he was standing up. He picked up his fallen groceries, intending to put them on the side. After all, it wouldn't do to have them destroyed in whatever the senshi was planning to do. The youma was now standing up, bristling at the hard knock on it's head. It obviously didn't appreciate Sinon's efforts, and the hard knock to it's head.

"I hope you have a good attack," A polite smile from Senri. "Otherwise, I'd suggest you run."  

[Syusaki]

Hey, if the youma had been made out of more solid or firm material, Sinon would have landed perfectly fine! . . . landed with her skateboard in hand, at least.

The redheaded senshi groaned, slowly pushing off the ground before scowling at the abrasions that dotted her arms. At least her pants (shorts with uber long leggings might have been a better description) had protected her legs, but even they were somewhat aching from the impact. One eye closed, she turned to grimace at the gelatinous creature. Stupid monster and its jelly-ness. Instead of continuing to curse and swear at her terrible luck tonight, Sinon shuffled around in the direction of her board. Screw fighting youma, she wanted her skateboard back first!

Shuffling over to pick up the fallen block of wood, she scowled at the blue-haired lad. He was rather calm about the situation, if Sinon didn’t say so herself. In fact, she could recall the first time she had encountered youma as a civilian. Not exactly the proudest moment of her life. “If I didn’t have a good attack then I wouldn’t be doing this alone,” she indignantly huffed in her usual raspy voice, “And what about you? You’re just a good ol’ civilian, right?”

The thing bobbled over to face the pair, examining them both with its lone eye, letting out an innocent mumble. As benign as it appeared to be, it was probably best to finally get down to business. Warily frowning at its squishy form, Sinon jumped forward anyways. Doing nothing wouldn’t help! Hands curled into a fist and she shouted, “Sinon White Lies!” While her attack furled around the green blob, she silently hoped that it wouldn’t be some monster that multiplied.

And she hoped she just didn’t jinx it.  

[Xaki]

"Mm." Instead of a real answer, Sinon was treated to a smirk and a chuckle. That certainly didn't help, Senri leaning against a pillar to watch the situation. As she aimed her attack, Senri could safely deduct that she was the senshi of lies? Spheres were unique, in every way apparently. He then turned his attention towards the seemingly innocuous monster. Well, it didn't multiply. Sinon was fortunate in that aspect. However, being the jelly form it was, merely began to ooze out of the white strings bounding it. Clumps of it fell off to rejoin the main body.

"Ah." Senri said non-commitally. "Being amorphous does make it somewhat useless."

But Senri didn't like letting his groceries spoil. And somehow, he didn't believe that this senshi would let him walk away peacefully. Stepping back into the shadows, he took out his henshin pen and transformed. "Zephyr Power Make-Up!" And he stepped out, emerging as a senshi. He held out his hand, "Break Wind!" and the strong gust of wind burst forth. It hit the youma squarely, sending it into flying pieces. However, before it reformed, Senri stepped over it's remains, his gloved hands digging through the disgusting jelly. He was searching for the remnants of it's heart or core. Once he found it, his foot stepped squarely on it, crushing it. The pieces that rose up to reform dropped back down in a dead manner. "Go for the core next time."

"Miss..?" He turned towards her, asking for her name. Or what her senshi name was- either way, it would be easier to refer to her.  

[Syusaki]

With taunting ease the jelly creature slipped through the strings, conglomerating back into its large, original form. Baffled, she could only slump her shoulders and gawk at the youma. Damn. If her attack was ultimately useless, how would she defeat this thing now? Recalling her fight with Sailor Sirius, Sinon wondered if there were any convenience stores she could snag a few matches from. Fire could always do the trick, right? Hopefully.

“Useless? Wow. That’s absolutely wonderful for my ego,” she idly commented, fearlessly strolling up to the blob and flicking it with one of her fingers. The small force sent miniscule wiggles rippling through the thing, causing it to curiously yet clumsily turn around to face the senshi.

Except a strong gust of wind pushed it backwards and a cape-clad senshi leapt over to ruthlessly smash its core.

HOLY CRUD. Where’d that come from? Too amused by the youma’s gelatinous form, Sinon had conveniently ignored the boy’s transformation (though she could vaguely recall the familiar henshin phrase in the background). A startled senshi of lies turned around to notice Zephyr. Taking careful note of the drawn breezes on his clothing and his attack name, she could only think of the sphere “wind” or “air”. That meant Zephyr, right? Greek god of wind. It made sense.

“Sinon, Senshi of Lies.” She answered, taking a playful, deep bow as she briefly introduced herself. “So, that boy was you, right? From before?” Sinon inquired as she intently peered at him, squinting her eyes as if they would somehow help. Henshins had a rather formidable glamour power.  

[Xaki]

"Senshi of Lies?" He certainly wouldn't have taken her for that. Not judging from the uniform, or her attack. He also noted her boyish appearance, if only for his information-collecting nature. He would have guessed the senshi of spider webs? Either way, he wasn't one to question the almighty one who determined senshi spheres and powers. "Well, it doesn't matter to me either way, Sinon. You can call me Zephyr."

And to answering her civilian question, Senri answered somewhat vaguely, "I suppose you could say that." Being called a boy .. Senri didn't think that he looked that young. If anything, this senshi was probably younger then him. If he had to guess, he would venture high school. That seemed to be the general age group for senshi. And that revealing your identity was a pain really. His glance assessed Sinon, and her squinting eyes. His eyebrow quirked in an ironic matter at the obvious motion. Her brain certainly worked in a quaint way. "I highly doubt that will increase your eyesight any."

"Are you sure you don't need glasses?" A gloved finger pointed to his eyes, indicating the area of glasses in a very teasing way. "Because I'd rather not that you hit me with that skateboard again." Although there was a smile, it wasn't entirely a joke. If there was a second time, she could be sure of the fact that Senri would definitely leave her to the youma next time.

Although all she had to do was be careful with that board, and hope that she wouldn't encounter some other odd youma and non-suspecting civilian.  

[Syusaki]

She could hear the doubt in his voice, and Sinon curiously furrowed her eyebrows while she continued to frown. “Do I look like the senshi of something else?” she sincerely inquired, craning her neck to attempt a glance at the back of her outfit. The front of her clothes was rather generic, and the girl had never bothered to carefully examine the rest of the uniform. Her fingers roughly ran over the web-like material of her top. “Maybe I look like a senshi of nets?” she skeptically mumbled to herself.

Her frown transformed into a small pout. “My friend says it helps her read the board sometimes, but it doesn’t seem to improve sight by that much,” she explained, although Sinon didn’t appear to be very convinced herself. “But she said squinting a lot is bad for you, or something? I don’t know.” She offhandedly shrugged.

“Very funny, but my eyesight is just fine, thank you.” She crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out, frowning at how icy-cold her fingers were starting to become. “I would’ve landed alright! If that thing hadn’t been so bouncy, like a trampoline,” Sinon insisted, her eyes glazing over as she pondered over that possibility. Youma trampoline. Hmmm.

Finally spotting her fallen skateboard behind Zephyr, she walked over and flipped it over so that the wheels were once again on the ground. Placing a boot on the board she turned around to face him. “I’m assuming you’re gonna go back home, since you have groceries.” She disappointedly frowned. “That’s a shame. It’d be nice to have a buddy to be with for a bit. It’s so boring doing this all by yourself.”  

[Xaki]

"Most people would assume spider webs." Senri answered on response to her sincere question. Although he could see where her uniform came from, now considering her attack.

He didn't look affected by her childish pout, since he was used to that from girls. But he was smiling at her answer that she chose to doubt. He always took explanations with a grain of salt, choosing to confirm things for himself. But since his eyesight was perfectly fine, that would be a useless point indeed. "She might be right." He stepped forward, lowering himself to her eye level to glance at her orange orbs. His gloved fingers curved around her cheeks, tilting her face to see her eyes better. He also remarked casually while doing so, "But I suppose she also neglected to tell you that it also makes you look weird?"

He stepped backwards, watching the girl stick out her tongue and cross her arms. "Still a child, I see." Senri chuckled, since only a child would respond in that manner. He guessed that wasn't a bad thing. Although he was sure that he wouldn't be around to test that flawed theory.

Senri shuffled his groceries so that nothing was getting damaged, and then turned back towards Sinon. He pulled out his cellphone, checking the time before flipping it shut. "I'll give you 5 minutes." Senri remarked with a lazy smile. He didn't have any intention of being her senshi buddy, considering that he wasn't planning to fulfill the 'senshi' part, much less the entire 'buddy' thing. But he could afford to give her five minutes. Who knows? it might have been interesting. "Why don't you just call another senshi?" Senri asked idly, having heard of teams being formed and partnering senshi. He didn't care about them, but if another senshi wanted company so badly, wouldn't that be the most obvious route to go?  

[Syusaki]

Sinon quizzically stared at Senri, but reluctantly accepted the answer. However, she also took note that she would have to investigate this further once she returned home. “Yeah, okay. I’ll trust your word on that,” she relented with a shrug.

Perhaps most girls would immediately recoil from the sudden intimacy, but Sinon wasn’t like most girls. She didn’t particularly mind—she could be particularly affectionate to friends and strangers alike if she wanted to—although she didn’t particularly like it either. “Really now?” the senshi replied coolly, comically pursing her lips and squinting her eyes again, “because I’m perfectly fine with looking like a weirdo.”

She pouted at his remark, though she wasn’t incredibly irked by it. After being told how immature she was about a thousand times the statement started losing its effect. “May as well as live my life the way I want to,” reasoned the redhead.

Sinon frowned. “Just five minutes? That’s nearly not enough time to have any fun.” But she supposed that it was the best she was going to get. She pursed her lips again as she pondered about her answer. “I could, but they’re busy tonight. Since they didn’t show.” Sinon shrugged, kicking away a rock. Remaining silent, she wondered if she could accompany Senri for a while. She didn’t know him, but she liked company. Being lonely was . . . lonely. Sinon stared down the desolate street, peering into the thick darkness. “Eh . . . well, back to patrolling for me I guess!” she chirped in the brightest smile she could manage.

She slowly balanced herself on her skateboard. “Let’s team up again sometime, or something. I bet it’ll be fun!” Or perhaps Sinon was imagining somehow using his wind attack to get incredibly high air on her skateboard tricks. Hmm.  

[Xaki]

He wasn't fooled by the bright smile that Sinon put on. But he also didn't have the luxury to be able to babysit another senshi. Not that he had that much experience as a senshi himself. "If time allows." He said vaguely. Was it time so much as opportunity? Most of the time, Senri was reluctant to change unless necessary. He wasn't the best person for this hero-senshi job, and he would be the first to say it. Nevertheless, Senri took a step back, a somewhat bemused smile. His hand reached out to pet Sinon's orange hair.

"It'll be fine." She had a great deal of senshi to patrol with, Senri was sure, even though he wouldn't be one of them. He tossed her a piece of candy that he had brought at the grocery store. Sugar had always worked for him. "Cheer up." Otherwise, girls would be a pain.

He probably didn't know what Sinon had planned for him. But if he had, he would have chuckled. He picked up his groceries, no, they weren't spoiled yet. But what a frivolous senshi, yet that might have been one of her strongest points. "Sinon, was it?" He tucked that away for later use, Don't skateboard and hit another youma now." He said with a casual wave. He didn't bother with any courtesies such as 'Get home safely' or 'Be careful' any further, doubting that the senshi would listen to any of those messages anyways.

And he disappeared around the corner.  

[Syusaki]

Instinctively catching the small sweet, she confusedly stared at the candy before glancing back at Senri. “And why wouldn’t I cheer up?” Sinon replied, chuckling as she stared back down at the candy. Admittedly, her heart had always had a soft spot for anything and everything sweet. Her smile stretched wider as she looked back up at him.

“Yeah, Sinon,” she confirmed, the wrapper noisily crackling in her fingers as she unwrapped it and popped the treat into her mouth. “Ayeee!” the soldier lazily drawled while carelessly waving the lad good-bye. “I’ was a’ accident I tell ya, a’ accident!” she managed to retort despite rolling the large candy from side to side in her mouth. As he walked away, Sinon tilted her head. Zephyr, was it?

She would have to keep that name in mind, Sinon decided as she plopped down her board. Carefully balancing on it, she began to wheel away.