Welcome to Gaia! ::

Another day, another patrol. Why was Acubens doing this? She sighed as her boots clicked on the concrete walkways. It was a miracle she hadn't yet been caught by her parents. I'm going to study would only last for so long as a viable excuse. What would Micah do when that wore out? Sneak out without permission? She was already lying... was sneaking just a big leap? What was this alien race doing to her? Turning her into some horrible daugher? Were they trying to drive a wedge between Micah and her family? Her heart clenched painfully. Family was the most important thing to Micah. She was blessed to have one that was so tightknit. What would she do without them? Micah stopped, swallowing a sob that racked her whole body. What was she becoming?

No. Micah had work to do. She'd discovered teh boundaries of her powers, and now she needed to move on to step two: what was she fighting for? Someone had to know, right? It was impossible that both sides had no idea. What war would just be blindly fought like that? Right?

Micah pep talk didn't even work. What if no one knew? What would she do then? Micah already knew that she could not escape her fate. The pen she'd thrown into the river had reappeared on her pillow. Somehow. Her teeth clenched at the memory. Damned thing. She'd been forced into this war and now no one knew what she was fighting for. Brilliant.

Acubens looked up as she was addressed. Who had been speaking to her? Her golden eyes searched the snowy night before they settled on Lesath. She recognized the design of her fuku. Another Dark Mirror Senshi. Acubens grinned brightly, both to herself and to Lesath. the last two Dark Mirror Senshi Micha had met had been so kind. She blushed at the memory of them both. And so beautiful. There were days Acubens wished she could choose a gender to be attracted to. Between Leto and Remarque, Acubens was doomed to spend the rest of her life blushing.

Not that that was a bad thing.

"Oh, me?" Acubens laughed lightly to herself and tossed her hair. "Oh no, not in this terrible weather. I just... felt like I should patrol. Not sure what for but... I'm here." Acubens stopped her approach a few feet from Lesath, still smiling brightly. "You're a Dark Mirror Senshi, right? I've yet to meet one I didn't get along with. I'm Acubens."

Joining? Acubens could do that? She looked down at herslef, forgetting to be cold. "But... I'm white moon... can I really just... change sides like that?" She pulled at her skirt unconciously, a string from the fabric coming away in her hands. She looked at the thread curiously and eyed Lesath again. No one ever said anything about trading sides. What did that even entail? Was it like a sports team trading a player? Would there be a room of well dressed executives bartering for Acubens' price like she was an object? The thought made Acubens' blood boil. I will not be bought and sold. Her lips pinched into a thin line and she looked away from Lesath.

Lesath had been the only one to mention joining a side. Had she been lied to before? Was Lesath lying now? Who did Acubens believe? Beautiful Leto, who said nothing of trading sides but only spoke of the worth of Chaos? Or strange Lesath who suddenly propositioned the idea like it was nothing.

"I guess..." there was no mistaking the anger in her voice from the thought of being lied to. Acubens hated being lied to. More than anything. Her yellow eyes flashed up at Lesath again. "I never thought about it. No one told me I could change my fate." She noticed Lesath's shock then and grinned wickedly.

"Cinvince me that I should, Lesath. Prove to me that I won't be joining a losing side if I join with you. For now call me by my powered name. Acubens." She tossed her red mane from her face and dug her heels into the ground.

And hit Lesath did. Acubens' shoulder, so recently injured, was struck by Lesath's fist. She let her temper build inside of her, reveling in the comfort it brought her. Yes, faithful friend. Help me understand again. As her vision tinted red her smile widened. Her glee was only heightened by the pain in her shoulder. Was she on something? No. Acubens was just... a strange little girl. She liked what she knew and she knew her temper. She also knew fighting. She had a laughable form, and no practice to really speak of, save her lesson's with Jett. But Acubens had one thing on her side. She was scrappy and she didn't abide by the rules of fighting. She threw dirt in the eys of her opponents and she was not above a cheap shot. Honor would come when she could afford it.

So When Lesath came at Acubens and connected her fist with her bad shoulder, Acubens' arm hooked up, trapping the arm in a curl and moving bite down hard on the flesh. Gold eyes flashed up at Lesath, and in that moment everything stopped. Her first realy battle with a living, breathing senshi. Up until now it was just... youma. Mindless monsters. This was an opponent who could learn what Acubens did and adapt do that. And Acubens could adapt to her. She could feel her own heart swelling with something akin to love.

Teach me. Prove to me. Anything. Acuben's flexed her jaw, bringing the muscles to close around the muscle of Lesath's arm.

With Acubens’ ability being running, it wasn’t like there was any other option, really. Her arm still ached from her dislocation, so she couldn’t really use that. Still, she asn’t really expecting Lesath to descend to her fifth grade level of fighting. She growled, pushing her captured arm into Lesath’s mouth, the way she did her dogs when they bit. Lesath, if she reacted the way the beasts did, would get the sensation of choking on her arm and release her. Or, if she had any sense, bite down harder. Still, it was the risk Acubens took, and right now it hurt less than trying to pry her arm free of her jaws. “You put it in front of my face,” Acubens defended, ignoring the searing pain in her scalp as her hair was pulled. This was stupid. A girl fight, Acubens hated those.

“I don’t see you exactly rising above these tactics,” Acubens countered, wincing from the bite that still stung her arm. At least Lesath’s arm was covered. Acubens’ were exposed. She glanced down at the appendage as she continued to yank back on Lesath’s finger, listening for the pop of a breaking finger. She didn’t want to break it, not really, but if that’s what it took to get free of the Dark Mirror Senshi, then she’d do it. “I should have warned you that I don’t really fight fair.”

As if to make her point, Acubens lifted her leg, and brought it around, connecting it with Lesath’s side. It was an easy enough hit to land, with Lesath, literally, within arms distance. Still, whether or not it hurt was still out. Hopefully the shock was enough to get Lesath to release her if all other tactics failed Acubens.

Acubens’ brooch was a double edged sword, pushing back into her own chest and sure to bruise. As for the head butt, it rather knocked the wind out of Acubens and sent her falling to her rear. She winced and took a moment to gather herself and figure out where Lesath was. She coughed a few times from her place on the ground, rubbing her chest with one hand as she dug her other into the dirt next to her. Give up? That was not in Acubens' vocabulary. "Well, no one's ever called me honey pie, I have to say." Her laugh was mirthless as she rose to her feet, one fist clenched at her side. She looked down at the arm Lesath had been biting.

"Well damn, now look at what you've done," she scolded, holding up her bleeding forearm. "I hope you're satisfied, and I hope you get something from that chunk you took out of me too." She wiped her forearm on her fuku top and braced herself again. "But that's not going to do it for me, baby cakes. Come at me again, see what happens." Acubens grinned wickedly, heart pounding as she planned her next attack. Yes, this one would be a good one. She'd even get in a good punch or two if all went according to plan.

She was excited. Really excited to be in a real, hand to hand fight. No powers. They were just two girls, ridiculously dressed, duking it out form some strange reason with nothing better to do. It was perfect really.

As Lesath spoke, Acubens looked at herself. Of course she liked the compliments. Who woudln't, right? She grinned at Lesath and held up her fist. "If you've had enough, that's find with me, but what am I supposed to do with this?" She let the dust fall from her fingers, the dust she was going to use as a smoke screen against Lesath. Still, she shrugged. "Not evryone can handle the Raptor," she sighed, wiping off her hands with a challenging smirk. Granted, she wanted nothing more than to continue fighting, but she also had her honor code. If someone was done, they were done. It didn't matter what Acubens wanted. She held out her hand to Lesath in a sign of good will, now free of dust.

"I've yet to meet a Dark Mirror Senshi I don't like." It was the truth. From Leto she'd met as a cat, to Remarque who challenged her with philosophy, to now Lesath, who would fight and banter with her. "But like I said. It's gonna take mroe than that. I have a fmaily to consider. I can't just leave them unless I have a good reason. If I go with you, I lose who I am. I have to be someone else. My brother loses his twin, my parents lose thier only daughter. It's not just about me. But if you gys can convince me that I can protect them best thta way... well, the jury is still out."

Thicker than blood. God, that sounded so good. Even the ground Acubens’ mentor belonged to was exclusive. She always felt, when she visited their meetings, that she was being held at arm’s length. Like she was the adopted daughter of the mother she so loved and all of her other children looked at her with contemp. And while she pulled at Europa’s skirts with her tiny fists, face streaked with tears and voice ragged with pleas… she would always… always be second. The Jovians… the real Jovians… they always came first. Acubens could feel her eyes heating up as she thought on it. Her mentor… Europa… would never love her the way she loved the Jovians. Those… those exclusive senshi that Acubens so wanted to be a part of. She wanted… to be a part of something… of anything… so desperately. She sunk to her knees as the thought over came her.

Her face was too hot as her tears slid down her cheeks. Everyone she went to as a senshi seemed… to hold her at arm’s length. Like there was no place for her anywhere in the world. Everyone had friends… allies in that world. And she had… no one.

No. Acubens had the Dark Mirror Senshi who were all so nice to her. All so calm and actually answered her questions and gave her solid reasons. She’d spent so much time in a state of horrible stasis, caught between Chaos and Order, and now, somehow, these three senshi had pierced through her barrier of confusion and grabbed her hand. Belong to us, they asked her. Be part of our family. Acubens sobbed again, voice foreign in her own ears.

“We killed you,” she whispered helplessly, falling forward to catch herself on her hands. “We… my faction… killed you? But why? We don’t kill. I was told… none of us killed. They… lied to me…” Nothing… nothing made Acubens angrier than being lied to. Her temper roared to life again, causing her fingers to flex, digging painfully into the frozen ground. They… lied to her. They lied to her! Europa… lied to her… “Liars,” she screamed, pounding the earth as hard as she could, ignoring the pain in her fist. “Liars…” She repeated the word over and over until the word was strange and didn’t sound like a word at all but just a sound. “Liars…”