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 Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:27 pm
Irene, meet me at the park. ~ Iris
That was the message that the Captain of the Asteroid team sent her teammate. There weren't any specifics attached to the text beyond the generic meeting place.
If Irene approached the park, she'd easily be able to pin point where the eternal senshi was hanging out due to the energy she was giving off. The blonde stood at the top of one of the playground structures, perfectly balanced at the moment upon a single pole. A pair of golden eyes were glancing about the area critically, waiting for the teammate to show up.
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:53 pm
When the Captain of the Asteroids called, Irene answered.
She had no idea what to expect, but was excited nonetheless. This was a message for her. Not the team, but just for her. From Iris, who wasn't exactly a big fan of touchy-feely moments. That she had been singled out was about as close as she could remember getting to any sort of validation that she had been doing a good job. Unless she was being singled out for criticism. That would be bad.
But no, it couldn't be that! Irene had been improving in leaps and bounds over the past few months. She could actually hurt youma now, some of the weaker ones, at least. She could walk in her shoes without tripping, though running was still difficult, and she had gotten used to being out and about late at night with only a teammate for company. The only reason she hadn't done better at the big ambush was because of the smoke, and she was even prepared for that! Hanging over the senshi's shoulder was a small dove-shaped purse containing her inhaler, epipen, list of allergies, and some basic pain medication. After she had recovered from the severe asthma attack the smoke had triggered, she'd gone out to buy a kit, and now never henshined up without it.
Maybe it was a big battle that Iris needed help with? Or some weird princessy thing? Not that Irene had a clue what princesses did in their spare time- Iris wasn't very forthcoming about that- but she was running out of ideas. All she knew for sure was that her leader probably hadn't called to go dress shopping, or for a late dinner.
Not knowing what to expect, Irene entered the park slowly, trying to ascertain aware of the situation. She was a little too slow, though, and didn't spot the senshi on top of the pole, though she knew could guess from the energy signature that Iris was somewhere nearby.
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:05 pm
Irene looked ridiculously dolled up. However, the blonde was more willing to suffer such, only because of what ********* had described to her from that ambushed meeting. It wasn't so much novelty as it was a necessity for the girl.
The girl had approached, but she hadn't noticed the captain's perch. The blonde kept her lips buttoned up tight for a time, but eventually she offered a rough greeting.
"'Sup Irene?..." Iris crossed her arms in a serious manner, perhaps dismissing any notions Irene might have had about this being a pleasant get together. She didn't say anything beyond the two words, waiting to see what her teammate would say.
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:29 pm
Irene's cheery demeanor faltered slightly as she heard Iris' voice. It took her another moment to locate the other senshi- why would someone with a fear of heights be up on a pole?- but when she did, she didn't really like what she saw. Iris meant business. Clearly, this wasn't a social call, or a commendation, or anything like that. Did that mean it was a reprimand after all? No, it couldn't be. there were other options. She just couldn't think of any.
Since the area seemed free of chaotic energy, she relaxed slightly before returning the greeting. "Good evening, Iris. At this precise moment, I'd say you were 'what's up,' but I don't think that's the answer your looking for." Was this a test of some sort, or was she reading too much into it? Maybe Iris was dealing with her heights issue and wanted support. Maybe. Probably not.
Sick of guessing, Irene folded her arms in return. "May I ask what brings us here at such an hour?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:06 pm
As if trying to remedy the problem of Iris being "what's up," the blonde jumped down, landing solidly on her feet in the wood chips.
The tense air which seemed to loom about the eternal senshi seemed to linger as she stepped forward to the girl, in an almost predatory manner. She didn't invade any personal space of the younger girl, stopping a reasonable distance away.
"Irene." The words seemed heavy coming from the captain's lips.
"I need to see what you can do."
The girl's body seemed to loosen up, but it wasn't because she was relaxing. Instead, her body took on a common stance which she took up with youma. She didn't say what she wanted directly, but considering how she had a fist held up towards the younger teammate.
It was time for a sparring session.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 5:35 pm
No, this definitely wasn't going well. Irene pursed her lips and tried to think of how to settle things quickly. "If this is about the ambush, I've got that issue under control now, really-"
But it wasn't. At least, not directly. She frowned slightly at the statement, and at Iris' body language. A fight hadn't been out of the question when she answered the summons- it never was for a senshi- but she had been expecting to go up against a youma or a Negaverse agent, not her captain.
"I assume you don't mean on the dance floor," she said, her tone more resigned than anything else. This was not the way she'd imagined spending her evening. But if she did well enough, maybe Iris would stop thinking she was a weakling. "Very well, then. How should we go about doing this?" As she spoke she rolled her shoulders back, shook out her legs, and assumed a similar stance, minus the fist. One thing she had learned in the field was that her punches weren't terribly effective, but Iris didn't need to know that, if all went well.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:19 pm
If this had been anybody but Irene, Iris might have been more inclined to snap at her in a harsh manner. However, this purple haired girl in front of her was the Senshi of Peace. Just the fact she was asking her to fight for no reason other than a mere test of ability was probably already pushing the younger girl's threshold.
"This'll be free-style... I ain't takin' th'first hit. Go about this however ya see fit, but I expect physical combat. Hit me with your best shot, Girly!" The jokes seemed to go ignored.
"I'll tell ya when we're done..."
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:07 pm
This was terrible. Not only did Iris clearly not think that Irene was reliable, but the only way to prove herself was in a fight. A fight that Iris was almost guaranteed to win, by virtue of experience and strength. A fight that Irene had no desire to be a part of. But if the alternative was being perceived as weak and useless, then the Captain was forcing her hand.
She took a deep breath, then charged. Going straight in for a hit would be borderline suicidal against a battle-hardened warrior like Iris, so before she was in striking range, she shifted off to the side, hoping to get behind her fellow senshi. What she'd do when- or more accurately, if- she managed to get there, she wasn't quite sure. No matter how she liked to paint herself, she wasn't the sort of senshi who could really fight on her own. And Iris knew it.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:38 pm
It was true that Iris did have the advantages in a fight, but even with all of those, that was not the point of this exercise.
Irene rushed towards her, which in all honesty was the first test in itself. Would Irene fight? It wasn't the younger senshi's first time fighting, but this was even an improvement from what Iris had observed from the sparring matches.
The girl dipped in close and swiveled around the blonde swiftly. Golden eyes managed to follow the movements quite easily. However, her body didn't move at all.
She was keeping her word. She was not taking the first hit. "So yer behind me... now what?" A partial smile creeped along her expression.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:48 pm
Whatever Irene was expecting, that wasn't it. Iris wasn't even taking her seriously. She had no idea what she was doing, and Iris knew it, and couldn't be bothered to move. The thought made Irene sad, and for a moment she was awash in self-pity. Then she pity faded, replaced by an even more unfamiliar emotion. She was angry. Iris wasn't taking her seriously, and that made her angry.
In a way, it was fortunate. Anger pushed people to react without thinking, and since Irene couldn't come up with any strategies on her own, she was willing to let herself lash out instead. Her fists were weak, so instead she tried to drive her elbow into Iris' back.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:08 pm
Iris had kept her word.
She didn't strike out first at her teammate, even though she was more than capable of it. However, when she felt the stab of an elbow against her back, the tomboy's half smile seemed to turned into a full one.
"Good..."
Though she felt the impact of the hit, the eternal senshi's body moved along with the impact, almost as if she was cushioning the attack by moving with the offending elbow. It forced her body into a sort of leaning-forward position.
The blonde pressed her hands flat against the ground, and in a less than lady-like manner, she kicked back one leg in a manner similar to a donkey. It was times like this that Iris wished that she knew Capoeira like how Parthenope did. She could have pulled off such sweet moves if she did!
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:36 pm
For a moment, her elbow connecting gave Irene a savage sort of pleasure. There, she had managed to land a hit on her high-and-mighty captain. And it had probably hurt. She was happy, for a moment, before realizing that she was. Hurting someone else made her happy? No, that wasn't right.
Before she could think too deeply on it, she felt Iris moving. She tried to move away, but she wasn't nearly fast enough. Iris' foot slammed into her knee, and she staggered backwards, barely managing to stay upright. Her knee throbbed, and she couldn't put her full weight on it, but Irene decided that she was okay. Not just okay; she was ready to give Iris a fight that she'd never forget.
That trick had left Iris in a vulnerable-looking position. Rather than try to catch the raised leg and end up on the losing side of a tug-of-war, Irene ducked down and tried to sweep Iris' supporting leg out from under her. Maybe the eternal senshi wouldn't be so confident if she was flat on her face.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:58 pm
Iris' experience really did seem to shine at times during a fight. In this spar, a faint glimmer of her experience seemed to show. Iris' head was looking down under her own body along the torso, catching a faint window of vision upon her opponent. The girl drew in close, and it seemed as if she was going for the leg holding her up.
When she struck, her own leg bent down, somewhat taking away the thunder from the attack and lowering herself a bit. There would still be the impact, but the surprise of losing balance would be lost.
Rather than try to get up, the blonde almost seemed to try and roll over, almost as if trying to use her leg that was still sticking out to topple over the other girl.
Notice, damn it!
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:06 pm
To her credit, Irene did notice. She just noticed far too late for it to do any good.
Iris was, as expected, a good fighter. Nothing Irene had done seemed to have even inconvenienced her captain in any way, let alone hurt her. Instead, Irene had a throbbing knee and managed to trip over something she couldn't quite see. Since she was also low to the ground, her fall didn't hurt much. She thrust out a hand to brace herself, wincing as her wrist bent awkwardly. That would probably hurt later. So she would worry about it later.
In the meantime, she faced a total lack of ideas. For better or worse, her anger was still fueling her movements, so she did something that she normally would never try. With the two of them close to the ground, Irene launched herself at Iris' chest. If she couldn't pull off doing something smart, maybe the trick was doing something stupid.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:24 pm
Her recent tactics did not work at this close range. So soon enough Iris had an Irene colliding with her body. She made sure to heave out a heavy grunt so she didn't get the wind knocked out of her. After the initial collision, the pair ended up rolling a bit onto the ground, almost as if struggling to see who would end up on top.
Logic said that Iris should have been on top since she was clearly stronger and larger than the darker haired girl.
However, soon enough Irene would find herself seeming to roll up victorious on the top.
And Iris was smiling.
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