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As evenings started to get longer it was starting to become something of a regular tradition for Arian to stop and grab a cup of take-out coffee before powering up and hitting the patrol beat as Athene for a few hours each night. Most nights he even got to finish the coffee.

It looked like tonight wasn't going to be one of those nights though, as it didn't take long for him to pick up on the the aura after powering up. Actually he thought there might be two auras – both close by – one with the sort of feel that made him think youma.

Athene took a few sips of the coffee before glumly discarding the cup to a nearby dust bin and reluctantly – he'd just wasted a perfectly good cup of coffee after all – heading in the direction he thought the youma-type aura was coming from.

It wasn't hard for Athene to find the youma – not when after a few moments of walking down a close-by alley the dark-haired senshi was able to hear it's growls.

He hadn't been expecting a horse-like monster though – certainly not with growls like that. After all horses were not supposed to growl – not even demon-looking ones.

Athene bit his lip as the 'horse' charged at something, his eyes trying to find something to lob at the monster. An empty bottle probably wouldn't cut it this time round – not even if he was lucky enough to find an unbroken one.

Athene had found a small piece of rubble that he might do the trick and moved closer to lob it at the horse youma – at least that had been the plan – instead, however Athene had found himself bumping hard into the source of the second aura.

It happened pretty quickly – one minute Athene was being told to 'watch out', the next he was being yelled at to move. The dark-haired senshi managed to get out little more than a “Wha...” as he was suddenly shoved sideways by the person he'd bumped into, the piece of rubble falling out of his grip as his hands instinctively fell forward in an attempt to break his fall.

Trying to roll as he hit the ground Athene felt the movement dislodge his glasses, the frames falling off just as moments later the youma charged past close enough that the short senshi felt the displacement of wind as it moved.

The piece of rubble was momentarily forgotten in favour of frantically scrabbling around for the glasses and Athene breathed a sigh of relief as his right closed round the edge of the frame – the unbroken frame – for a moment he thought the demon-horse thingy might have broken it.

As Athene slipped his glasses back on, he thought he heard the other call out something about the youma liking to kick. "Great oh great..." he muttered, the words tailing off as a thought occurred to him. Hang on where the heck did that thing just go?

For a moment – after remembering about it – Athene had contemplated maybe trying to find the piece of rubble that he had dropped. It was a brief thought, one that quickly cut off as he was yelled at to get out of the way and look out, his face paling as it dawned on the dark-haired senshi that he was the demon horse-thingy's target of choice.

Athene probably wouldn't have made it out of the way in time, if the horse hadn't paused to rear angrily at something – as it was he barely managed to move out of the way in time – half-wishing as he flung himself to the side that he still had that piece of rubble.

“Thanks” the words were called out in what Athene hoped was the other's direction as he picked himself up off the ground. It occurred to the senshi as he did so that mayhaps having some sort of plan would be a good idea – one that went beyond simply trying to fling himself out of the way and hoping for the best.

At least though the dark-haired senshi had picked himself up off the ground faster this time round. Maybe he was learning.

It just wasn't his day – first there was the loss of a perfectly decent cup of coffee, then there was the fact that he'd managed to become some demon horse youma-thingy's target of choice and then there was the stranger – much as Athene was grateful that he'd shoved him out of the way of the demon horse – the dark-haired senshi couldn't say that (in his opinion) the other's bossy 'suggestions' were making him feel better about the day. In fact Athene was rather starting to wonder who or what he'd managed to annoy so badly given the way his evening was shaping up.

Biting his lip at the other's question about magic, as it happened the dark-haired senshi did have magic (or as he called it a senshi ability) and it was something that might be useful in maybe giving them a breathing space – at least if it worked – Athene's luck with his senshi attack tended to be variable.

Still an unreliable attack was probably (marginally) better than continuing to try and dodge the youma horse all evening, so – while trying very hard not to think on the kind of damage the youma horse's hooves could do – Athene clenched his right fist while raising his left as he called out the four words of his senshi ability “Blue beads of Nazar!”

After a moment's pause – the (to Athene) familiar glowing ball made up of what looked to be insubstantial-looking beads formed and floated in front of his upraised hand and biting his lip anxiously the dark-haired senshi directed the attack at the youma – a youma which was in his opinion waaay too close for comfort.

[ooc note – Athene can use his senshi attack 3 times, but has to post 3 times between attack attempts (re-charge period). It can only hit one target, but if it hits then that target will be trapped for 15 secs/ 1post. Athene's attack only affects targets going after Athene specifically, it auto-fails otherwise]

It worked? Precious moments of Athene's attack was wasted as the dark-haired senshi stared at the trapped youma in stunned surprise.

The sound of cracking bone made him jump slightly – the source of the other aura at least seemed to be taking advantage of the brief opening that his power had given them.

Focusing on the other aura, Athene gave the brown-haired man a nod “I'm fine thank you.” Valhalla wasn't the first page he'd come across – well Camelot was a Squire now – but he was definitely younger than Camelot and unlike the Squire was wearing an outfit that looked like something a Viking would wear sans the helmet.

“I'm Sailor Athene, I'm...” A growl from the youma broke him off mid-sentence, a reminder that the beads making up the barrier wouldn't hold the thing forever, were in fact already fading away. Another piece of rubble was nearby and biting his lip Athene paused to scooped it up – okay it wasn't a parking meter but to be honest the dark-haired senshi wasn't sure he'd have the strength to lift something like that much less actually swing it.

Athene wasn't sure that Valhalla was expecting an answer, but he gave one anyway “I was going to throw it at the youma.” Athene told Valhalla quietly. “Chucking stuff works” he thought about it before adding honestly “At least sometimes it does.” Well that and he'd been lucky to have Camelot's help the last couple of times.

The dark-haired senshi wasn't expecting the page to grab his piece of rubble and almost practically push the parking meter into his hands, almost managing to drop the thing before his mind caught up with the fact that actually – it wasn't quite as heavy as he was expecting.

“I'll do my best...” There wasn't time to say anything further, not with the now freed youma lunging back into the fray and charging at him with an expression in its eyes that Athene didn't want to think too hard on.

Gulping he flailed out with the meter when the youma was close enough in an attempt to hit something significant.

Athene stared at the parking meter in his hand and then at the spot where the youma had once been with a slightly stunned expression on his face. The dark-haired senshi hadn’t really expected to do much good. Maybe hopefully distract the youma – yes – and if really lucky maybe get some sort of hit in. Outright dust the thing? No.

Athene missed the page’s comment about a baseball team, but would have politely disagreed about the other’s take on his ability. Although not quite the same, the dark-haired senshi had played a bit of rounders during summer PE lessons at his old school and had never been more than average at the game. He did catch the other’s compliment on the job done though and gave Valhalla a relieved nod and admitted “I guess I got lucky, although I’m not complaining.” As if realising that he was still holding the parking meter in his hand, he carefully set it down adding “Thank you for your help with it.”

At the taller page’s query about his senshi powers Athene nodded “I’m the Senshi of beads.”