Welcome to Gaia! ::

It wasn’t uncommon for Maia to be out, she usually was, and generally was out up to six nights a week. She knew it was going to be a hard habit to break, but she was certainly going to try. A social life was going to be a big part of her summer, right now however, she was roaming the city’s rooftops. She really wasn’t going anywhere and particular and the patrol itself was rather lazy, hopping from rooftop to rooftop and sort of walking across listening to the click of her own heels.

She stopped after a bit and went over to the edge of a department store rooftop, looking out over the shopping district. The world seemed a little quiet right now, sure there was the usual commotion of a passing car or person on their cell walking by, but she didn’t feel anything particularly sinister. She sighed leaning on the ledge of the building watching the world below, wondering why no one ever seemed to look up. They would likely see her if they did, red curls hanging downward toward the ground as though attempting to reach for it. She wondered if it was because they feared what they might find if they looked up, hell if they even took an alley shortcut in this city.

How many people were affected, she wondered looking down at a woman hurrying along with a sleeping child. Had she ever faced a youma? Met a senshi? Saw a negaverser? “Hmmm,” she hummed lightly to herself.

Captain Merlinite had been working on his new skills for a little while now, and he felt like he was getting pretty used to his new attire, his new weapon, and that neat ability to teleport away or toward trouble however he saw fit. He knew now that it left him feeling weaker than he wanted, if he used it too much, so he tried not to use it more than once whenever he powered up, if that. Save it for when it was important, that was a good tactic. He could get himself out of a fight that went sour, where before he usually just had to suffer it until he could run away or, worse, was allowed to escape.

There was nothing more embarrassing than running away from a Senshi.

Feeling bold and strong, the Negaverse Captain walked with his head held high, looking around with a grin on his face as he patrolled boldly. Yes, he stuck to the shadows while hunting and gathered his energy as stealthily as he could, but something in him did not actually care if a White Mooner caught wind of him. Let them come, and he would show them what he was all about.

Anyway, his barbed club was perfect for smashing faces now, so why shouldn’t he go out looking for a few good fights? He wanted to keep getting stronger, after all, and this was the way to do it. It certainly was not going to happen if he stayed at home and did nothing, or if he just took the easy route every night he came out and avoided all trouble. That was just not who he was, anyway: he had to be direct, he had to keep climbing. He would take whatever path necessary to get to the highest position of power, stepping on any and every person that got in his way on the way up.

He needed to be noticed.

Merlinite felt an aura near by and knew that it was stronger than him. That should have deterred him, but it didn’t. It just egged him on, in fact, and he moved to climb his way up to the rooftops, bearing in mind that if he could feel the senshi, they could probably feel him and knew he was there.

So no element of surprise. Whatever.

“What are you doing out here all by yourself, pretty lady,” Merlinite grinned, seeing the senshi with her wings and noting that he was already at a disadvantage. He’d seen Eternal senshi before, and they were nothing but trouble. “You look like you’re looking for trouble. Out to stop all the evil Negas preying on the city, or whatever noble bullshit you guys use for your mantras? I might as well save you some trouble, eh?”

Maia noticed the aura, but sort of ignored for a moment even as the other headed straight for her. She hadn’t been a real one on one fight in a really long time and sort of just really didn’t think it would happen tonight. She stood up and turned around as he addressed, her thinking at first that with the way that he addressed her he wasn’t hostile, but he continued to talk which made her from deeply.

“Do you make it a habit to insult others, particularly other’s stronger than you. It doesn’t seem like the bright idea to me,” she said softly sounding a little annoyed, but not really provoked. “I’m not looking for trouble, not really, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try to stop it. I was more pondering more than anything.”

She stood looking pretty at ease, rather unthreatened currently. When you have people like Wolframite and Benitoite trying to kill you didn’t scare too easily, not like she once did anyway. “You really ought to leave well enough alone. I have no desire currently to fight, but that doesn’t mean I won’t.”

“I do,” Merlinite said with a grin, “I do make that a habit. But I guess that’s just the kind of guy I am. I’m sorry if I insulted you, I was just trying to say hi. And I did say you were pretty, didn’t I?”

Sure, he’d also insulted the morals of the Senshi, and shown his disdain for the White Moon in general, but hey, he had managed to slide a compliment in there, too, so that should have evened things out. Not that he cared that much about it, at the end of the day. He just knew that these guys had to be his enemies, even if some of them were not so bad. If he was caught making nice with them, and meaning it, he would be in huge trouble.

“Well, anyway, what were you ‘pondering’, then?” He used air quotes when he spoke, tilting his head at her and feeling playful with her. Maybe it was because he was scared, being under ranked here, and this was just how he had to deal with that emotion. “If you’re not out here looking for a fight, why bother powering up? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do, our two sides? Fight, I mean. If you don’t want to do that, then you’re in the wrong business.”

He watched her as passively as he could, though his eyes glimmered mischievously. He could not help how confident he felt, wanting to prove his strength and show himself, and then anyone he could tell the story to, that he was worthy of his promotion. And all the ones he could get in the future!

Maia frowned, but it was true he had complimented her even if she wasn’t entirely sure he meant it. “Thank you for the compliment, even though the after words were insulting no matter your intent,” she said softly. It was was pretty genuine, even though the ending words probably sounded scolding. She watched him as he spoke asking her question, one she could answer, others she wasn’t sure she should answer or even how to answer. She turned looking out over the city, even though that was almost like daring him to attack her. Still she did it, raising a hand and waving him over before looking down to the ground.

“Down there. I was watching them and pondering what I guess they know of all this, if they are involved at all, or if there lives have been undisturbed this. They never look up, you know. No one ever seems to spot you up here.”

She looked up all the time, though for an entirely different reason, not even looking for trouble on the rooftops, but more her eyes naturally seeking her star, and the cluster of other’s that lay with it. She looked at him pondering his other question before settling on an answer. “Everyone has different reasons for powering up. Of course I a patrol and watch out for trouble, but more often I train senshi.”

Was it a good thing to say, she wasn’t sure. Either it would make her a target not that she wasn’t already one or it would make them look more organized than they were and she was hoping for the latter. “I teach them to fight, among other things.” Was it a warning, maybe, but more so a truth. It’s what she spent the majority of her time doing these days. Passing on the knowledge she gained, using her experience to help other as best she could. She didn’t care to see other’s flounder, to be stolen by the likes of the DMC and the negaverse.

“I’m not the best at compliments,” Merlinite shrugged. That was more honest than he meant to be, but he found he did not have a hard time talking to senshi. It was weird, most of them seemed to just want to talk, instead of the stories he got when he first joined about how they all wanted to stop the Negaverse and were the enemy. More often than not, they were just trying to avoid danger and do… whatever it was they did. Merlinite was not really sure what sort of purpose they served, if he were honest.

They did not seem like they did anything, when it came down to it. They were just sometimes annoying when a Negaverser was trying to get their job done, and that was it. There had to be more to them than that, right? What point did they really have?

Aliens, the lot of them. They invaded and had no reason to stay. Why bother staying on a team like that?

Her words were new to him, though, and he peered over the edge of the roof to see what she was looking at. The people that lived down there? He did not think about them at all. They were just stepping stones, and it wasn’t like he went out of his way to hurt anyone. Sure, he would do it when he had to, and he liked to when it was a White Mooner, but as far as civilians went they were just a sustainable resource to be farmed when needed.

“I don’t know. How often do you look up when you’re walking down there? I mean, it’s ingrained in us now because we know there’s sometimes baddies lurking up here, but if you were normal, before you powered up, do you remember looking up to the rooftops for any reason? Most of their trouble, the people down there, is right in front of them, anyway.”

He shrugged, thinking it was a strange thing to wonder about, but then, he did not like to waste time thinking about others. He did not want to let things like that get in his way. After all, if he thought too much, he might start feeling bad for them, and that would ruin his ability to do his job. He could not let anything get in the way of that. He eyed the Eternal Senshi, who said she trained others to fight, and implied that she was tough.

It was interesting that they were organized enough to have people who trained others. He knew he could report to his higher ups, but no one went out of their way to help him. He didn’t need them too, either, really.

Maia gave a nod and a sort of soft smile, “thank understandable. Not everyone can be good at everything, I’m sure your strong suits lie elsewhere. Am I right?” She didn’t think she was wrong, everyone had their niche, though not everyone knew what it was. She moved away from the rooftops edge her mind on the captain in front of her and no longer on the people below, not fully anyway.

For the words he had spouted upon finding her, it didn’t seem like he was really out to cause any real trouble at the moment. She thought back to before, before she was Maia and eventually nodded. “Yes I did look up. The sky is beautiful in the day and at night, so yes, but no I wasn’t looking to the rooftops …”

She paused briefly thinking about it, it felt like a lifetime ago to have been ‘normal’ so to speak. Now it seemed almost everyone she associated with was involved and to be honest, it was redefining normal. It was probably what lead to a lot of her ponderings because the longer she was at this the larger her list of powered v.s. civilian identities grew. All her friends, it felt like, even her own brother.

She looked to Merlinite, her hair and clothes fluttering briefly in a cool June nights breeze. “Have I satisfied your curiosity,” she asked not trying to sound as she had better things to do, but more denoting what seemed like a change in his attitude.

Merlinite shrugged, though he knew he had talents. He was a damn talented guy, actually, and he was destined for greatness. Whatever that meant. He was just driven by a determination to be more than he was at the moment, whatever that took him towards. He did not like the idea of being stuck in one place, in this line of work or in his ‘real’ life, the one he led as a civilian. At least there he had finally been brave enough to take the real steps he needed toward being a police officer, and he was looking forward to proving himself once and for all.

Once he got the badge, it would be smooth sailing toward his dream job of being an investigator. He would not allow himself to be stuck in a patrol car or on a beat, and he had the hook ups and ground work to get himself where he needed to go. All he needed to do was some of the menial labor.

“I guess you’ve answered all the questions I could think up, but I mean. We’ve still gotta fight. How am I going to pass up the chance to fight someone who says they’re training other senshi? Gotta fight the best to be the best, right? And that’s what I want to do, so unfortunately, that means I’m going to have to challenge you. No hard feelings, right?”

He grinned at her, cracking his knuckles before he summoned his weapon to his hand. He had not had a chance to really use it yet, and he was not feeling guilty about challenging her at all. He felt like he’d explained himself pretty well, after all.

Surely she could understand where he was coming from. This was the war they were in, after all.

The face that Maia gave him could probably only described as incredulous. A very much, what wrong with you sort of look. She was stronger than him, admitted to training senshi and he knew obviously nothing about her magic and yet he wanted to fight. He even assumed that she was the best of the best, she thought for sure because of her admitting to training senshi and likely because of her buttwingedness. “I told you to leave well enough alone,” she said her frown only deepening when he summoned his weapon.

She was very tempted to just throw her magic at him and then knock him out, but that wasn’t really something that she wanted to do. She enjoyed her magic, it gave her an advantage, but even though he had a weapon she felt she already had a least a small advantage over him. She wondered briefly, how well he fought and what he fought like. Was she underestimating the captain before her? She really hoped not, she wanted to escape the night relatively injury free, preferably completely so.

She could have ran, jumped to the next rooftop and keep on into the night, but instead she took a stance. She had tired of running long ago, she didn’t often do it anymore, not unless she was in what she perceived to be real danger. “Fine,” she said, it was better her than a newer less experienced senshi anyway.

“Yeah I know what you told me, but I decided that wasn’t good enough for me! Well enough is kinda boring, don’t you think? We could always do better than well enough.” He laughed and shook his head, looking excited at the prospect of fighting. As much as he hated getting his butt handed to him all the time, he could not help but want a challenge and, maybe, this time could go better for him. Who knew?

He would only get better and beat stronger opponents if he took them on. Hiding was not his style. Just getting stronger by sparring with people that were safe and ‘friendly’ was not for him, anyway: he needed to experience his job directly.

When she agreed to the fight he laughed and braced himself, spreading his legs out a bit and taking up a very centered and balanced fighting stance. He was not formally trained, but he had picked up a lot in his efforts as a police officer to-be, and he had been brawling enough as a Lieutenant to know how to defend himself, at least a little bit, now. He was not going to keep making the same mistakes, and he wanted to prove to himself that he was as badass as he liked to pretend. He would never make a name for himself if he did not have some good stories to tell. His name needed to get be circulated, and if he beat an Eternal Senshi while he was just a Captain that would really help.

He was not really thinking about the actual chances of him succeeding, of course.

“Alright, let’s do this!” He charged at the Senshi, pulling back his club and taking a leap toward her, swinging it with both hands down at her, aiming for her head or maybe her shoulder.

Maia could except that statement, just doing well enough wasn’t going to win this war for either side, even if that wasn’t what she meant and she was certain he knew it. He was laughing after all, something that made his seem even odder than she already perceived him to be. He was seemed to excited and very ready. She wanted to groan inwardly, taking note of his stance, which told her at the very least he knew something about fighting.

When he jumped at her, she was ready and she spun out of the way, in a graceful sort of fluid movement that was common for her. Like dancing, as that was what she relied on to learn to fight and while she had learned more over the years her style was her own. She didn’t stop in the spin though, she continued around throwing out a leg, fully intending to kick him in the small of his back or the very least his side.

Her adrenaline was pumping and she was focused now, whether her kicked connected or not she moved away from him, returning to the stance she held before only now her fist were clenched and she was looking rather irritated. She wondered how much stamina he had and if she would simply be able to wear him out.

Okay, so she was fast. Merlinite could deal with that. He had fought quick little senshi before, after all, and she could not be all that different to them, right? How much of a difference was one more rank, anyway? The answer to that question should have been all too clear to him, considering how much stronger he felt now compared to when he was a Lieutenant, but he was too driven and determined now to let things like common sense get in the way. He had to follow through with his decision to fight her.

He did manage to pull himself around as she span to kick him, though, bringing his arm down and getting his elbow between her leg and his side, disrupting the impact. It still managed to knock him off his balance and he stumbled a few steps as a result, but at least he had not taken the brunt of the attack to a sensitive spot. His arm ached but he could take that for now, using his other arm to wield his club.

“You’re not too bad, for a senshi! Do you teach all your followers to do this? I mean, I wouldn’t peg you for a fighter, just by looking.”

She did not have the look of a fighter, after all. She was cute, in her way, and her outfit was very misleading in that she looked too delicate to really put up a fight. But then again, he supposed that could be said about all the Senshi he ran in to, for the most part. None of them were exactly geared toward fighting, just on look alone. And they were not given weapons to fight with, though they had their magic. Oh yeah, the magic. He needed to remember to be careful of that.

He charged at her again, this time keeping low and barrelling at her in an attempt to tackle her to the ground. If he could haul her off her feet and pin her to the ground, maybe he could get a good swing with his club in.

For someone who wasn’t very good with compliments, if they were on the same side, right about now Maia was probably be damn flattered. As they were enemies, she was only slightly so, because even though he likely wanted to beat her to a pulp it was nice to hear those sorts of things. She knew she looked dainty, even fragile maybe, but she made no attempt to change that, it wasn't exactly working against her. Another smile worked its way onto her lips briefly.

“Maybe, that’s really for me and them to know. The main way to find out that is to be one of us” she admitted softly. She also knew another way for him to run into one of them, though neither of them knew he already had. She didn’t really like the idea of him going after other’s to find out if she had taught them and what. She’d be more than a little angry if she found out he hurt one of them.

Now really wasn't the really the time to be worried about that though, as he went to attack her once more, this time it seemed to knock her over maybe. He didn’t currently seem like the type to bluff, so she when he got close enough to her, she dropped down as low was she should could and swung out a foot to knock him off his feet, before making to roll away. If she managed to knock him over, she certainly didn’t want to be in the direct path of that forward momentum.

He seemed to have spirit, but she didn’t think he was going to best her, oddly she was sort of having a little fun. It was almost like training in a way, only she didn’t intend to teach him anything. Well nothing useful for fighting anyway.

“One of you?” Merlinite laughed at the idea, shaking his head but still grinning jovially enough. He was having fun, and he was learning that there was a balance here. For some reason, he could talk to these jokers and it actually turned out okay. They were interesting, he was learning, and he could smash some faces in when he was lucky enough for a good fight. He was learning all the time, as it turned out. His whole approach to this war was always changing, even if just slightly. Maybe one day he would actually figure out what the hell he was doing.

“I don’t think I could pull off the skirts you guys wear, sorry.” If he had more pithy responses in him, they were knocked out of his brain as his feet were knocked out from under him. He stumbled from his full force tackle and tripped, falling flat on his face and just barely managing to pull his head up enough not to smash his nose to pieces.

He moved to get up quickly, though, not willing to be beaten so easily. He had a lot to fight for, after all. Well, it was all tied directly to his pride, but that was a lot for him. He stood up and called his weapon back to his hand, since it had gone bouncing over the ground.

“Damn it!” He charged at her again, but this time he opted to just keep his path straight. He swung his club low like a golf club, aiming for her knee this time. Maybe she needed to have a taste of the ground for once, so he wasn’t the only one falling on his face.

He went down and she managed to get out the way and not be smooshed, but she didn’t up quite quickly enough. She found him right behind her as she turned and his club already in motion, to close for her to really avoid it. She cried out falling down, as pain cursed up her leg. She tried to push it down, rolling away and scrambling to her feet and shuffling away from him. She glared at him, feeling a little angry. Angry wasn’t good he didn’t want her to lose her temper, something she so rarely did.

She stood up straight fist raised ignoring the pain in her leg and moving around, sort of as thought to circle him, squaring of so to speak, but more so to attempt to walk of the pain, to move through it. She danced ballet her whole life, even before this, its not as though she never had to do it even before being pulled into all this.

“You wouldn’t get a skirt, as far as I can tell you would be a knight,” she said not really engaging him, “well okay so maybe that’s not fully truthful. I can’t saying being a knight means you don't get a skirt.” She was trying to keep away from him, any attempt he made to get closer that the moment, you have her quickly shuffling away, eyes trained on him.

Once the pain dulled a little though her shuffling ceased and she moved toward him, not quickly but she wasn’t trying to avoid him anymore.

He was surprised that she wanted to continue the conversation after he bashed her knee with his club, but he had to say he was also impressed by it. These senshi really stuck to their guns, when it came to talking it out. Even though she was actually fighting him right now, she was still trying to talk to him about the White Moon.

It was not actually something he had really allowed himself to hear before, either. He knew that it was a thing, that it was possible for a Negaverse officer to become a White Moon soldier, but he did not really understand the process. Or why someone would want to do that, when the Negaverse offered organization and power, while the White Moon offered… hugs? Still, the idea that he would be a knight was a strange and new one, and he wondered if people just swapped sides because they thought the title was better, or if they were romantic at heart and wanted to live that fantasy. Whatever it was, he did not feel it.

He liked being a Nega: it was fun so far.

“Wait, Knights wear skirts?”

He was definitely out, then.

When she moved to attack him again he was ready, braced and eager. He could hardly contain himself as he bounced side to side on his toes, ducking like a boxer for no reason before he lunged to meet her, swinging for her face this time.

Maia almost laughed when it seemed she momentarily confused him. “Well I’ve never seen a knight in a skirt, a tunic, yes, a skirt now. I don’t even even seen to many of the females in a skirt, but I’m sure it likely possible, likely to happen, maybe not. Probably not impossible though. Honestly it could probably happen to one of your own as well, maybe even a dress, its not like these uniforms are exactly uniform.”

She didn’t know if it was true, but she had seen all manner of outfits on both sides, so really she wouldn’t put it pass whoever came up with the outfits they wore. Though senshi were by far the most ostentatious for sure.

She continued toward him and much like she suspected he would with how excited he seemed to be even now, bobbing about or whatever. It wasn’t to hard for her to keep up with his movements though being struck with the club slowed her down a bit. Still she made to weave out of the way of the incoming fist as if to go around him, but instead she stepped hard into a punch launching her fist right for his abdomen her red hair flying out behind her as she moved.

She fully intended to catch him as he went down and injure him further with a knee to abdomen to follow up the fist, so long as she managed to hit him hard enough. She was certainly close enough, and had strength even though she generally fought with her feet, so her legs were stronger for sure.

Well, she had a point there. They all wore different outfits and nothing about them screamed ‘team’. The Negaverse as well: some of them did not even look like soldiers. At least not to him, though his view of things was limited. He had ended up with a very military look, and while he assumed that was the usual, he was learning that no one he ran into seemed to echo the theme. It was hit and miss, maybe, just like their weapons.

Whatever response he was thinking about forming was knocked out of him, almost literally, as her fist connected to his gut and he was forced to double over, his body reacting against his will to the hit. He felt her grab on to him and her follow up attack landed just as easily. It left him in a bit of a pickle. He collapsed completely, though he managed to get his hands out in time to catch himself before he hit the ground. Sort of.

He looked like he was suddenly interested in doing push ups.

So attacking someone of a higher rank was still a bad idea, but at least he had learned a bit about her and about himself. He got up slowly, wobbling, and looking at her angrily. He could not be too mad, though, because he had picked the fight, and she had just responded to his taunts. He took a breath, though that hurt to do.

“Alright, alright,” he puffed, “that’s enough.”

The punch, kicked combo had worked exactly as she intended to and it seemed the captain had enough. She guessed maybe it seemed obvious to him that he wasn’t going to win and she was glad because she could honestly do much worse to him if pushed. She thankfully didn’t have to and certainly didn’t like to have things get that messy. She watched as he got up and took a step back allowing him get up.

“You know, saying enough, when you provoked me, pushed for this fight is fine with me, but not all of my allies will be the same. I would think twice if I were you, you may not have met one yet, but there are some who wouldn’t think twice about killing you,” she said with a sort of half frown on her face. She likely just bruised him, he feared for him running into some of the other’s.

She turned and walked the edge and stepped up onto the ledge and looked back to Merlinite, “Think about what I said about being a knight. If we were allies, you would not be in quite so much pain right now. I’ll see you around, maybe next time we can have a more proper chat.” She wasn’t his enemy, not yet. It was his choice, as to what he did, whether he made her truly his enemy. She jumped down onto a building a below and headed off after a moment.