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Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:07 pm
Antiope needed a break.
It was difficult adjusting to having a second persona like a super hero, especially with the odd uniform. She was the Senshi of the Mantis, which clearly meant she had to fight using only one particular style of martial arts. However, the way her sleeves always seemed to cover her hands made it very difficult to do such a thing.
A nearby lamp post had a piece of cloth tied to it, though now it was hanging loose as the green suited senshi was knelt down.
It was somewhat of a make-shift set up in the park, but that canned tea wasn't nearly as good as preparing it herself! Her tea caddy might have just been a tin, and she lacked a tea scoop altogether, but she was still able to make her matcha well enough.
The girl remained in place as she whisked away at the mixture in her tea bowl.
It might not have been the typical scene for a senshi in the park, but Antiope was not the typical senshi.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 1:35 pm
Galena’s patrols had been atypical. At least she thought they were, because otherwise she had a totally different idea of how wars usually go. Her battles had been sparse, and she found knights to be perfectly agreeable. Senshi had managed to garner her distaste and dislike, though. Between the likes of Thraen and Draconis, and the senshi behavior at the hostage situation in Bischofite’s mission, she was less than pleased with them.
She could see why there was an organization dedicated to fighting them.
And then sometimes she found them completely baffling, like when she came upon a cute little long sleeved senshi mixing matcha in the park. She kept a respectful distance, but tilted her head as she watched the curiosity. “U-um… excuse me? What are you doing?”
Gal liked tea as much as the next person, possibly more, but it seemed like an odd time to be dabbling in such hobbies.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 4:27 pm
Perhaps she was engrossed with her current task, but by the time her cup of tea was prepared, someone had asked her about what she was doing.
Certainly, she was a new senshi, so that weird feeling, almost chill tingling down her spine, was something she wasn't adjusted to. It wasn't the first time she had encountered such a feeling, but at the same time, she also hadn't the luxury of having time to notice such a feeling previously.
Her answer was simple enough. "Right now, I am drinking tea." With a brief sip, she finally glanced up to the current company.
Though the girl's uniform was dark, she did not look even remotely strong. With an easy going smile, she added "I could prepare you a cup if you do not mind waiting?"
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:17 pm
Galena stared. Her lips pursed in a dull and emotionless line highlighted by dark lipstick, and her brows just slightly raised in curiosity. But her eyes were feverish. She had been cornered by senshi before, her trust for them ran low.
The girl's odd antics were observed and watched carefully like a dog that had been kicked to many times trying to judge the safety of a new human in its midst.
"You aren't afraid I'm going to attack you?"
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:21 pm
The way this dark haired girl looked at her didn't bother her. In fact, it was almost as if the senshi was completely oblivious to any suspicion.
The inquiry about attacking only received a brief roll of the shoulders as Antiope took another sip from her cup. "If you attack me, you attack me... if you don't, then you don't! All I know is I am going to keep enjoying my tea until I get back to training!"
With a firm, determined nod, she resumed her break, smile ever present upon her lips.
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:34 pm
Galena tilted her head to the side and observed quietly, pondering the answer.
Maybe this Senshi was as new as she was. Or maybe it was all a trap. The possibilities for the anomalous behavior were endless but there was also the option of accepting it for what it was and taking it at face value.
And face value was a cute senshi offering her tea.
"That's one way to approach things I... I suppose," Galena said, cradling her elbow and tapping one finger under her lower lip. "I am lieutenant Galena, it's a pleasure to meet you, miss..."
She bowed her head slightly in a proper greeting.
"And if it's not too much trouble I would love a cup."
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Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 8:47 pm
Setting her own cup aside in the grass, the senshi once more prepared to make a cup of tea. It was fortunate she brought more than one cup.
"Antiope... you can call me Anti if you want... that's what I've been calling myself! I probably won't be making this tea in standard ceremony fashion... but that's okay as long as the tea is good!" With a laugh, she popped open her tin and carefully tilted it over the cup, tapping the edges to get the right amount of the powder into the container.
Once she had the satisfactory amount, she closed the tin and pulled a thermos forward. "Isn't tea great?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 7:55 am
"I've never been one for ceremony anyway," Galena admitted, lowering her folded hands to her waist politely and standing there with squared shoulders.
While tea culture was a hobby of hers, the self cultivation of the traditional aspects had never appealed to her as anything but a curiosity.
But just the discussion made her smile, a rare feat.
"I enjoy tea very much," She said with a level of unprecedented warmth for usual human interaction, although relatively next to other people it might've seemed 'less cold' versus 'warm.' Still. "What kind are you making?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 6:45 pm
"Mmmm... some thin-style Usucha that I picked up recently..." the senshi easily responded in a hum. She poured the water from the thermos into the cup, careful to not pour too much. Once satisfied with her work, she lifted the thermos again to stop the water flow. After sealing her canister up, she proceeded to start whisking the tea.
She might not have had the flair of the traditional ceremony, but she made it look as if she had practiced the art many times with many cups of tea.
"So... 'Galena' you said? Does anybody call you just 'Gal'...?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:57 pm
"That sounds delightful," Galena said with a smile. Probably because the more bitter varieties of usucha matcha was one of her favorite teas. Something just clicked with Antiope, and she couldn't bring herself to maintain the stoicism. Small indulgences went long ways.
"Well, no, I don't think so," She said, thinking on the question. "Not to my face, anyway. The Negaverse is very formal. Militant. You know. There isn't very much room for nicknames and the like during operations and I haven't... really made very many friends..."
She started twisting the fingers of her lace gloves a bit.
"Anti is a cute nickname."
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Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:21 pm
Anti did not really hear the exacts of what Gal had said.
It sounded to her like "Blah bla blah Negaverse bla bla blah blah blah."
Perhaps not a mature way to look at this war, but these sorts of details were not something that the green suited senshi really would dwell on. A deep thinker she was not.
"I thought so!" The girl's lips parted briefly for a confident grin before she tapped the edge of the whisk on the edge of the cup. "There we go! One cup of Matcha, coming up!"
With two floppy sleeves still completely covering up her fingers, she lifted up the cup and offered it to the Lieutenant. "I tend to not have much luck in the friend department... but that's not too bad in all honesty!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:38 pm
Gal seemed to notice her ramblings weren't being heeded, but she didn't mind. She didn't need validation; Simply being able to articulate her thoughts safely was enough.
She took the cup and with a restrained smile and gave a little nod in her thanks. After a sip and a moment of silence, she at least offered, "I like the texture. Do you practice tea ceremonies?"
She brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and tilted her head, unsure of why Antiope would have poor luck in the 'friend department'. She seemed perfectly pleasant to Galena, but Galena was incapable of recognizing subtle things like a total disregard for her opinion as something others might find off putting.
It was probably why she radiated it subconsciously more often than not herself.
"I think you'd make a lovely friend."
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Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:59 pm
Eager to get back to her own tea, the senshi picked up her own cup and sipped from it, taking in a long breath afterwards, as if to soothe herself.
It would be a lie to say this was the first time she was asked about tea ceremonies. It was a common misconception with new people in her regular daily life.
"I have been known to practice them, but it was never enforced due to heritage or anything. Just something that calms me down and I enjoy. Nothing very formal on my part though..."
She took another sip from her cup and once more she took another stretched out breath after finishing the mouthful of Matcha.
"I'd make a kick butt friend! Oh well! Their loss!" It might have been a depressing subject for some to confess that they had relatively few friends, but Antiope seemed perfectly at ease discussing her own shortcomings in the friend department.
Truth of the matter, it just wasn't that important to her compared to other goals she had.
With her final sip of tea emptying her cup, the green-suited senshi was back on her feet, making her way to the lamp post.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:16 pm
Galena nodded enthusiastically. Calming effects were one of the reasons she enjoyed tea as a hobby herself. There was something comforting and nostalgic about it, and the tools and tea culture that came around it were nice diversions.
She continued standing there, holding her cup in her hands as she watched Antiope finish up and walk over to the lamp pole and blinked in silent curiosity before finally asking “And what are you doing now?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 9:27 pm
The long cloth (probably a bed sheet) tied around the lamp pole was held up tightly before the girl turned on the balls of her feet to facing her companion again. She made sure to step back so that the cloth was taut. " Resuming practice! This is typically an exercise that requires 2 people, one to hold the cloth, the other is the one practicing! However, nothing stops me from doing this one-handed!" With her right hand, she made sure the cloth was taut as she used her left hand to demonstrate. She seemed to thoughtfully adjust the floppy cloth between her fingers. Giving the sleeve a sideway glance (not that it was easy for an observer to tell), she then took in a deep breath before striking out with the adjusted sleeved hand. The movements were swift and seemingly well practiced as she swiped at the cloth, dragging it down with the most pointed part of the sleeve (where it seemed her fingers were pointing from). The arm seemed to reverse, mirroring the previous motion, only for her to strike at the cloth and hooking onto it from a different angle. " It is usually smoother when you have two hands, but practice is practice is practice!" Carneli Oh, I see," Galena said politely, but in a hollow tone and a head tilt that said otherwise. She didn't get it, but she didn't get things like this in general.
She watched the motions with an intent stillness. Something was calculating in her green eyes but she hadn't figured it out just yet. There was something useful in the tea making Sailor Antiope, something she needed, but she whatever that was it was just a sensory notion for now.
The lack of control was unsettling. Galena was the sort of person who was very finicky about control over her general space, but she had not been able to take comfort in this since she had been recruited into a world she had very little knowledge or grip on.
Every question was needling.
"Thank you for the tea, Antiope," She said, setting the empty cup down with the white moon senshi's things. "Perhaps we'll meet on another night."
And the lieutenant made her exit.
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