Welcome to Gaia! ::

It seemed as if the weather had finally started taking a turn towards winter. Adira shivered, drawing her scarf around her neck and zipping up the sweatshirt she'd been wearing; thankfully it was only a few blocks from home. She knew she was going to be sore tomorrow, but that was the norm. Adira had intended on going patrolling tonight, but had actually ended up staying a little later at the studio than she'd intended; doing some yoga with a few other girls who'd stayed after the self defense class.

Being a senshi had done much for Adira, some good and some bad. Tonight the good outweighed the bad when she was able to tell that she was being followed before the man was able to surprise her. Frowning, she debated trying to transform. She stopped herself from doing so, however. Adira was confident enough in her abilities to take care of a civilian stalker on her own. Besides, the senshi had enough bad rep in the media as it was. She would rather defend herself rather than be called a terrorist any day.

Still though, hoping to avoid confrontation, her sneakers moved a little faster across the pavement. Seems like tonight, however, she had no manner of luck. The man had caught up with her, grabbing the back of her sweatshirt to stop her motion. "Back off." Adira broke his grasp with a sharp elbow to the wrist and spun to face him. "Leave me alone!" Maybe she really should have transformed. Ah well, too late now. Adira took a defensive posture, waiting for him to make his next move.

Unfortunately for Zinkenite, Adira was so focused on her assailant moving forward that she didn't seen the captain behind the taller man, nor did she realize his starseed was being ripped out. So, to counter his motion, she'd stepped forward with the strongest punch she could managed, aimed right for his diaphragm. Adira had intended to knock the air out of him.

What she hadn't intended, however, was the man crumpling before her to the ground, and her punch continuing on to the boy behind. Adira's eyes went wide at the sight of it, but she couldn't stop her forward motion. Which sent not only a fist in his direction, but also her whole body after. This was mostly because she'd tried to stop halfway and ended up tripping over the unconscious male at her feet.

Adira squeaked a bit as she slammed into the shorter boy, thankfully the pair stayed mostly upright. Confused eyes turned between the captain and the unconscious man. Did he still have his starseed? Or did Zinkenite have it? Not that she could ask, however, considering she was supposed to be just a civilian. Damn. She stood there, catching her balance, continuing to wish that she'd transformed for the walk home.

But at the moment, she was concerned with the fact that she was nearly hugging a negaverser. Adira's cheeks colored, and she took a hasty step backwards, nearly toppling over the man once again. She took a wide step away from him, looking down at the body in disdain. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The man seemed to be living, or at least breathing, and her mind raced for appropriate things to say. "What did you do to him?" She couldn't very well yell at him to put a starseed back, after all.

"You should probably sit until you get air." Adira had to stop herself from looking just the tiniest bit smug. While Zinkenite wasn't exactly the biggest person ever, he was still a captain of the negaverse, and her punch had been strong enough to nearly incapacitate him. Clearly, she was improving by leaps and bounds.

The girl slipped an arm around him, intending to help him get to the stairway a few steps behind them. "Do you want some water?" She still had some left in her gym bag. Though, Adira wasn't sure if water would help or hurt.

That did leave the question of why Zinkenite had attempted to save her, or why he was there at all even. "Its been a while." And it had. Last time they'd met, it was because Adira couldn't leave the beaten body of a Lieutenant lying in the alley to die. She wondered, bitterly, just how many people she'd killed by proxy in saving him. It wasn't a good thought to have. After all, she'd heard it before. Compassion is what separated them from the negaforce.

Begged to wonder why this captain had compassion for her though. Zinkenite was logical enough, maybe it was just an attempt at a simple repayment of debt. She'd helped him, he'd helped her, end of story.

"Well, I think you've seen that I can be a bit dangerous too. Weird stuff happens in this city..." Adira laughed softly and took a seat on the stair next to him, giving him some room to breath still. "I like to be prepared for it." She just omitted the part about her being one of the weird things in the city. It would be no good to have a captain know her civilian identity after all.

"It was still a nice gesture." She didn't want to mention that she hadn't even really punched him at full strength. Part of her forward motion had been stalled by the trying to stop and tripping. Her self defense teacher would've been very, very proud of that punch.

"Well, I'm sure I believe you, considering the happenstances of our first meeting." If you were a normal civilian, it wasn't every day that you found a bleeding boy in an alley with a 'senshi' telling you to help him. Adira looked confusedly at his hand flick. What was that supposed to mean?

Unless... the girl hid the realization on her face by turning away from him, gazing at the man lying unconscious. Apparently his starseed had felt dirty too. the thought left a bitter feeling in her mind. "I feel bad, just leaving him there. Do you think I should call the cops?" Adira did truly feel bad. Yes, he had tried to rob her... and possibly do something else that she wasn't ready to come to terms with yet. But at the very least times where hard in Destiny City for some people. Maybe he was just doing it out of necessity? There were too many unknowns for her to judge.

"I would rather not be here either. I'll leave an anonymous tip." It didn't take her long to dial the number on her crackberry, and leave short, concise information for the operator. She hung up with a click, standing and shouldering her gym bag once more. "Even if he does figure out who I am to press charges... well, I am going to school to be a lawyer, after all." An incredibly ruthless look passed over her face. The man would regret the day he messed with a Perses, that much was apparent.

"Would you like some tea? My apartment isn't far from here. A gesture of apology, its the least I can offer." He had just been trying to help after all. It was good to see that being promoted to Captain hadn't sucked all the soul out of him.

"It shouldn't be an issue." Adira tentatively laid her hand on the proffered arm. It was a light touch, practiced and formal. It just hit her what exactly she was doing. Last time, Zinkenite had been in her apartment due to compassion and necessity. This time, however, regardless of how nice it was that he attempted to save her, she was offering up tea time like it was no big deal.

The thought staggered her enough to pause slightly in her walking before continuing forward. It didn't take her long to reach the side door of her building, opening it with a quick motion of a set of keys fished from her bag. "Sorry about the stairs." She took them fairly easily though, another benefit of working out so much. The door to her loft was opened with the same practiced ease as the door below.

The place had been redecorated since the boy had last been there, a pleasing palate of browns and blues had replaced the white colors. "Do you have a preference?"