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Gently wasn’t exactly happy. Everything was sore, and she couldn’t get the images of the whole thing out of her head. A fight gone wrong with a Senshi much too strong for her. She had gotten the drop on him! She had her new add ons for Mr. Saddles. It was supposed to be easy. But, no, instead, she had gotten her butt handed to her roundly, and she had, for a moment, battled with the idea that the Senshi might kill her.

But he hadn’t, and that meant she could work up a way to get back at him.

The trouble was, she had lost a bit of her confidence. She would deny it, of course, but usually when she failed, no matter how spectacularly, she could get away and hide, or come back with a new and better trap to try again. Nothing got her down, ever, and she made sure of it. But this whole incident had rattled her more than she thought possible, and more than she had mentally prepared herself for.

She didn’t like the idea of dying, and would just have to work harder to avoid it.

Sitting on her sofa, cuddling with a pillow, she waited for Skye to ring the doorbell. She had called her Captain, or rather her friend, over so they could talk, and maybe she would get some perspective to restore her confidence a little. Really, though, she was just looking forward to a chance to complain.

Skye had received the phone call while she had been out riding. It was awkward to talk while on horse back but she had cut the ride short taking her beloved horse back to the stables and then heading back to her new apartment (thank you parents!) getting changed and heading out to Gently's. She wasn't sure what to expect as she had made it rather clear on the phone that she was out with others and lets face it anyone could hack into a phone call.

Skye being Skye had got basically to Gently's front door before she realised she had forgotten something and headed back to her dorms at Crystal. It seemed even with her new luscious apartment she was still living in dorms. She had forgotten something she had decided to give the girl and so she had rushed back to pick it up. Eventually she made it to Gently's place maybe a lot later then she had been expected but then was that really unusual?

When the door was opened to Skye she would be seen picture perfect as always. The girl didn't even have a hair out of place. She was to look beautiful all the time and that she did, probably not the best of things when going to see a friend who has been beaten pretty bad.

Gently was beginning to think Skye wasn’t going to come. Maybe she was upset with her for losing the fight, and didn’t want to encourage it? She couldn’t blame her Captain for tough love, she supposed, though she really just wanted to be reassured that she was not, in fact, going to die the next time she stepped into battle. The more she thought about it, the more she told herself she would be fine, but it worried her that doubt might pop up in the middle of something important.

And that would be dangerous.

She almost jumped out of her seat when the doorbell went, and she quickly scrambled over to open the door. She opened it and smiled, sheepish. The side of her head was still bruised, a small bandaid over a cut the Senshi’s shoe had created when he had kicked her. She had bandages over the cuts and burns left by the Senshi’s attacks, though they were all covered by a sweater sporting her university’s name. It was oversized, and she looked like she was swimming in it.

But it was comfortable, and that helped. She had a bandage on her neck, as well.

“Hi, boss,” she said, inviting her in, “you look nice!”

Skye smiled as she walked in.

"Why thanks! Right lets look at you then..." She basically shut the door behind her, grabbed Gently's arm and dragged her into the sitting room. Skye then sat down and smiled.

"Take your top off then, lets see just how bad it is." Now Skye didn't think for a second that telling a girl to basically strip was odd, she wanted to see the injuries and wasn't really aware that her request could possibly seem a little odd to her lieutenant.

"Also let me hear what happened but I want to see all these injuries first and I will check them over and redress them if you want. I have done it enough time to myself if you want to give me some more bandages and a bowl of warm water." She might as well do it properly now. Skye wasn't generally the gentlest of friends, more the bossy side of friends but she did care very much for those she as in charge of. She was to be honest relieved that it wasn't as bad as she had expected.

Gently closed the door quickly behind Skye, locking it and then drawing the window covers. She sighed heavily, itching at the bandaid on her neck. At Skye’s direction she nodded, pulling off her top without much hesitance. She wasn’t shy about that: it wasn’t like she was naked, and they were both girls. It happened in the theatre all the time, when sharing a changing space.

She was only awkward because of the cuts, which were mostly covered by bandages, on her arms and body. The burning could be seen where the bandages failed to cover, and she looked a little silly in her efforts to keep her wounds cared for, since she hadn’t gone to a hospital. She didn’t like doctors much, and hadn’t wanted to answer any questions.

It was just easier this way. Anyway, it wasn’t like she was dying. Just threatened to be killed. There was a difference.

“They’re okay, I think,” she said, of her wounds, “they sting like crazy because the stupid senshi had everything on fire. They were like these fast little knives and they burned and… and then he kicked me in the head,” she pointed to that injury, pouting a bit. “I tried to fight him like you were teaching me, but I didn’t do very well. He seemed so much stronger than I thought…”

Skye decided she was going to sort her friend out once she saw the full extent of her injuries.

"I will need his name if you got one and a description but that can wait till later. You have a bath in your house? If so, go and run it, nice warm water." She smiled and headed to the kitchen hoping that Gently would do as she asked. It was clear she hadn't been to the doctors and well, Skye wanted to make sure those wounds wouldn't get worse. The burns would need to be cooled but she wanted her to have a warm bath to clean the wounds... nope cold it had to be.

"Sorry run a cold bath!" She called and went to the freezer, getting as much ice out of it as she could. She hoped Gently wouldn't mind being looked after like this but Skye wanted her fit and healthy!

Sighing, Gently nodded.

“I’m not sure I got his name…” she hadn’t really been thinking about it. She would have to think harder, though, if she wanted to get some revenge on him. And she did, badly. Her Captain would be good to help with that, as well. Nodding her head, she went to the bathroom to run the water. At the second order she switched from warm to cold water, frowning.

“You really don’t have to tend to me, you know,” she said, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. It was nice to have someone who wanted to take care of her, at least, though she felt silly since in their civilian forms Gently was technically older, despite Sassolite being stronger and her Captain, and she felt like she should be taking care of the other. Of course, that would work better if Skye had been the one needing some looking after.

“I do appreciate it, but you must have something better to do today? I never even asked if you had any plans, I just called you up and made you come over here. I’m sorry…”

Skye looked at Gently as she made some sort of feeble reason as to why Skye shouldn't help her out.

"Oh shush woman!" Skye couldn't help but laugh. "Now go and get in that bath!" She chuckled a bit more. "I have no other plans it's the weekend, no school and homework isn't exactly much to worry about so come on lets get you sorted and then we can eat ice cream or chocolate and watch a film." Skye had decided and as long as Gently didn't have any other plans Skye saw no reason why it couldn't go ahead. After all the two of them needed some more social time so this seemed perfectly reasonable to her.

"So in the bath you!" She smiled at Gently, "after all it will make you feel better!"

Gently bit her tongue and nodded, trying not to grin. She thought it was very nice of Skye to come over just to tend to her, and would have to make it up to her some how. She didn’t like having debts not because she was too proud for them, though her ego sometimes go the better of her, but rather because she liked to settle them as quickly as possible. One upsmanship was spread over many aspects of her life, and ‘out helping’ someone who helped her was one of those things she delighted in doing.

She would figure out how to return the favor to Skye, some time. She just had to pay attention.

“Okay, okay. That sounds fun, though. We’ll have a girl’s night in!” She chuckled, then made to go in the bath and relax, clean the wounds, and take care of things properly. She wasn’t too worried about anything now, she found. Just having someone in her company made her feel so much better than when she was alone. She hated being alone.

She could probably fall to sleep if she was left to, dozing in the bath despite it being cold. The bubbles still smelled nice, and she had a towel on the side so she could rest her head against it like a pillow. It might have been nicer warm, but it actually made her wounds feel better, not aching as much, the burning numbed, and that was a blessed change.

Skye smiled as she got her way which of course she always did! As Gently went and got in the bath she went back to attack the freezer and any ice that she could find. Eventually she had a bowl full of ice and so trotted back to the bathroom. She walked in without knocking because you know thats the normal thing to do!

She walked straight in and dumped the ice in the bath before sitting down on the loo to talk to Gently. Skye was clearly the normal friend, you know walking in on their naked friends in the bath.

"So how does that feel?" She smiled happily sitting there looking at Gently. "When you get out have you got some moisturising cream or something? Will help to cover you in it just to help keep the skin cool and moist." Yep Skye had dealt with burns before.

Gently opened her eyes when the ice was dumped into the bath, having all but dozed off. That was certainly one way to wake her up. With a yelp and a lot of splashing, she looked up at Skye in surprise before folding her arms over her chest. Not out of embarrassment, but because she was now shivering. She nodded her head, though.

“There’s some in the cabinet over sink. Did you knock? I didn’t even hear you. I was sleeping, I think. Ah. Or resting my eyes. Either way…” She chuckled, shaking her head. At least now she knew where the boundaries were. She didn’t have to feel bad if she failed to keep herself polite. She sighed, leaning back against the towel as the ice cooled the water significantly.

If it hadn’t been cold before, it certainly was now.

She sat there waiting for Skye to leave so she could get out, but she was quickly getting the impression that she… wasn’t going to. Looking at her friend in wonder, she cleared her throat. “I think I can’t bear this cold much longer. I’ll have to get out soon.”

Hint, hint.

Skye didn't pick up on the hinting, she just didn't. She was too busy working out the best way of drying her friend off without hurting her. She wasn't coming up with any ideas though.

"Okay... I will help you put the moisturiser on then, be careful when drying yourself, don't want to hurt yourself at all..." She smiled and then turned to get the moisturiser.

"I will wait for you downstairs, then we can sit and watch a film of your choice, you must have some good ones!" Skye smiled, grabbing the moisturiser and dashing off back to the sitting room to wait for Gently to get out. Hopefully this would help her friend. She then needed to find out who the senshi was who did this so she could watch out for him and get some revenge for Gently.

Gently stared at her, then shook her head and laughed. She considered standing really fast and getting her towel while Skye was turned from her, but she didn’t have to plan that far ahead. Skye made to leave the bathroom soon enough, and she chuckled and shook her head. She’d never had anyone walk into the bathroom while she was bathing before, and certainly not have them sit down to talk.

Getting up carefully, she wrapped a towel around herself once she was free of the tub, pulling the plug to let it drain. She’d clean it up later. Using a second towel, she dried off her short hair as best she could before carefully dabbing at her skin, not wanting to upset the burns around the cuts by being too energetic.

She pulled on some loose fitting pajamas and went downstairs to find Skye waiting, as she had said, and smiled brightly.

“That was lovely,” she said, of the bath, “I should have thought to do that. I think I was too busy pouting.” She made to sit down next to Skye on the sofa, carefully, looking at her friend with bright eyes. Much brighter than they had been when she opened the door, at least. This was exactly what she needed to feel better. “Thank you so much for coming over. Oh! Did you look at my movies? I don’t know what kind you’d like. I’ve got a few.” She motioned to a bookshelf near the TV unit, which had all of her DVD cases in.

Skye smiled as Gently came back in, she was still holding the moisturising cream in her hands.

"I will look at the films in a minute, let me put this on your back where you can't reach then you can do the rest while I look at the films yeah?" She smiled while she spoke, believe it or not she did actually respect some privacy of others. After all she was well aware that girls liked things done their own way but Skye was one for pushing her help on to someone else.

"Then you can tell me about that senshi...." Which of course needed to come back up at some point.

Gently nodded, turning and letting the other help her while she pondered the events of the fight. She shook her head slowly.

“I don’t know who he was, I don’t think he said his name. But his attacks had something to do with claws and lions or something. He had a lion on his chest. Goldish hair.” She didn’t know it, because she had yet to learn the difference of Senshi and their fighting styles and powers, but she had jumped on a Super Senshi, which hadn’t worked out well for her in the end.

She looked back at Skye, her shirt lifted so the other could get at her injuries easily.

“He wasn’t in a good mood, I suppose. I did drop on him from above, and hit him in the head. If only I hadn’t bungled it up and hit him with the wrong end of my weapon! I had a bat, metal, attached to Mr. Saddles on the stick end, but I ended up hitting him with the horse head side. Stupid, I know.” She sighed.

Skye started applying the cream as Gently spoke, she did so as carefully as she could not wishing any pain on her in the slightest. She listened carefully to everything that was said though making sure to remember what he looked like on the off chance she ever came across him.

"Don't worry about it, you are alive. Most senshi won't kill you. I have however been wondering about some. Like did you see that thing on the news? I think it was before christmas about the negaverse attacking police and stuff? i am almost certain that was senshi work... two police officers I think got really hurt." She couldn't help but wonder about that again, something about it didn't seem right. "It could have been us but I would have thought we would have heard something - someone would be in trouble. Anyway like I was saying it's rare to come across senshi that want to kill, I don't think they have it in them." She added the last bit on to Gently's back and then gave her the bottle.

"Here your backs all moisturised. Just make sure you keep doing that till it heals and you should be fine. You just don't want your skin drying out." She smiled and then leant back on the chair. "Don't worry about what you did though, you learn from mistakes. Call me if anything happens, put my number on speed dial if you have to." She spoke softly which was at least comforting in a way though Skye did wonder why Gently hadn't rang her almost immediately.

Gently winced, on principle mostly, when she felt the cream on her back. The wounds didn’t react too badly, stinging a little, but they were quite soothed by now.

“He looked like he wanted to,” Gently said softly, shaking her head. “Kill me, I mean. He said I was a murderer, but he wasn’t that twisted.” Now that she was finally thinking about it, she could remember things more clearly. By the point all this was coming out in the battle she had known she had lost, and it had been intense at best. She also remembered, since she wasn’t blocking it now, his name. “Regulus. He said ‘in the name of Regulus’ when he had me and wanted me to surrender.”

She shuddered, not wanting to run into him again. At least, not on an even playing field. She would make a good trap for him, and make him pay for what he did to her. And she wouldn’t give him the chance to try it again.

Pulling her shirt down, she smiled and took the bottle, leaning back and sighing as she curled up on the sofa. “I was scared you’d be mad at me,” she said, as if reading Skye’s mind. Really, she could see the confusion on her face as she spoke of calling her. “For losing and not listening to your training correctly.”

Skye listened to Gently's words and tucked her knees up to her chest. "I doubt he would have, they really don't have it in them. I will try and get more information on this senshi though, see if we can be ready for him." She made a note of the name in her phone. As she put it back in her pocket Gently said those words that shocked her.

"Really? You thought I would be mad at you?" Skye just sat there looking completely confused and slightly hurt. "I don't come across that badly do I?" She hoped not. She tried so hard to look after her two lieutenants. She doted on them both so much. She had even given them christmas presents... oh that reminded her!

"You call me if you ever need me. I won't ever be angry at you about nega stuff. It won't help. Anyway I got you something to make you feel better." She dug into her bag and brought out a little box. "It was why I was late, I forgot it." Inside the little box was a silver necklace (real silver of course...) on the chain was a small silver horse head with a rather nice diamond for an eye. Skye thought it was gorgeous and had bought it for no reason one day. It had only been today she had thought it would be the best present to cheer her friend up with.

"Anyway on to the film, what shall we watch?"

Gently nodded, glad to hear that the senshi weren’t particularly keen on killing negaversers. She’d have to keep that in mind, for next time. She was feeling much better about the whole thing, and was glad that she could rely on her team when things went badly. She was still new to the whole ‘working with people’ thing, but she rather liked it. She wondered if Jack wanted in on their revenge plots, should they get the chance.

“Oh, no, that’s not what I mean!” Gently said quickly, shaking her head. She hadn’t meant to offend Skye, and she quickly tried to amend herself. She smiled, “I just though that because I’m dumb sometimes, and let my head get away from me. I just ran with the idea that since you’re my boss, you’d automatically be mad at me for losing. I don’t think I really worked your actual personality into it.”

She blinked, surprised, when Skye presented the box. She looked at the necklace in wonder, then looked at Skye with her mouth hanging open.

“This is beautiful. You didn’t have to bring me anything!” She looked at it again, admiring the horse head carefully. She smiled and hugged Skye, feeling ten times better than she had before. “You’re the best, boss.”

Skye just smiled.

"I am glad you like it now don't forget to call me if you need anything! I have my own apartment now, not that I can live in it on my own yet but yeah if I find you all bloody or something I will take you there and you can rest... or you can hang out there when ever you want. I need to let Jack know where it is as well." Though of course her reasons for Jack knowing may possibly have some different motives. "It would be a good place for team meetings and all that." Which she thought was kind of cool. Her parents were the best sometimes even if they were always off travelling. However Skye wasn't so desperate to go home as much as she use to be.

"Anyway film?" They could think about nega stuff again later, it didn't have to be sorted out now.

Gently nodded her head, sniffling a bit.

She got up and offered Skye some of the titles from the DVD library, settling on a comedy to keep the mood light so they might have fun. Once it was put in she sat down and pretty much forgot about all the bad things that had happened, turning to the night at hand and having fun. It was nice, and she hadn’t done something like this in a long while, though she liked to have friends over.

If this was what it was like to have a team, and be on one, then she was perfectly happy to always have them around her. And she was now motivated to prove herself, to show her Captain that she was better than how things had turned out today: she could get the job done, and she would do it to prove herself, to help her own ego, and to have something spectacular under her belt.

But all that would come later. For now, there was a fun night as civilian friends ahead.