Welcome to Gaia! ::

Atop one of the many apartment complexes that spotted the streets of Destiny City stood the Senshi of Prayer beside one of the several heating vents. With knees shaking and teeth chattering it was a wonder how she managed to not break any teeth. The blanket she often brought along with her on patrol had snagged on something and got pulled from her shoulders quite forcefully. Unfortunately she wasn’t quick enough to react and it landed in a muddy puddle.

Thanks to the dreams she had been having over the past few weeks, Acrucis had become some what of an insomniac and the only way for her to finally find rest was to exhaust herself by going out on patrol; otherwise she would most definitely not be out here. She brought her hands up to her mouth and blew warm air onto her frozen digits, “M-m-ust-t-t ke-e-e-ep m-mooo-ving.” Ha, so much for self motivation. Oh how she hated Fall and Winter; simply the most unpleasant time of year to go outside.

“Hey!” Acrucis looked over her shoulder at him clearly happy for the added company. She scooted around the vent then and motioned with her head for him to come join her by the warm air. One of the benefits of it getting colder out meant that buildings had their heat turned up and these warm pyers of air served as great places to keep from freezing.

“Me? Cold? Nooo” She smiled at him teasingly with a look that made it pretty obvious she was joking with him. “Skirts are so warm this time of year, you should try it.” Acrucis laughed through chattering teeth. Two sounds that would likely never be found in a hit song any time soon; it just sounded weird. “What’s got you out here so late?” she inquired, perhaps he was an insomniac too. “And in a short sleeve no less.” She added noting his bare arms least he has gloves with his outfit - lucky. The senshi of prayer thought with a bit of a mental sad face. The cosmic tailor that crafted these uniforms really failed sometimes.

Periwinkle hair flitted in the wind by a sharp updraft of cold air from between the two buildings and for a moment Acrucis hated life. Blessed be the darkness around them otherwise he may have seen an expression on her face that imitated a fairly famous internet cat that found its way onto any memes. “I know exactly how you feel,” she admitted finally. It was a sentiment easily shared and had been recently amplified with the dreams, memories of the future, she had been having as of late.

“I’m kind of useless out here on my own, yet here I am. The only thing I can do is hope I run into someone that needs help otherwise I’ll be the one who needs saving.” The only pitfall of powers like hers, great for defence, terrible… terrible for offence. “I’m Acrucis by the way.” The Senshi of Prayer extended her hand out to him, a motion which caused her bangles to make a ringing sound.

“At least you’re trying to learn.” That’s way more than she had been doing anyway. Then again how would she explain her sudden interest in self defence to her parents? So while you’re asleep I sneak out of the house and power up into a senshi of healing and run around town in a skirt fighting evil; or rather getting my butt handed to me because I don’t know how to protect myself other than what dad taught me in grade school and kick them ‘where the sun doesn’t shine’… yeah that’d go over real well...

“I’ll be honest though.” She fell silent for a moment mulling over what she wanted to say. On one hand some people were quite put off by her neutrality but at the same time she was still in one piece. However the last time she told someone she had chaos friends she had been chastised pretty harshly. “Not everyone on the other side of this war is all gung ho about fighting either”

“It’s okay to be prepared but I suggest not going in expecting a fight; unless it’s a youma. Those I tend to run away from.“ Those things just want to nom your face off or eat your soul. Never mind the shade incident last year with clones running amok. “That and I can’t throw a punch to save my life.” She jested in a small attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

“In all honesty I think it comes down to how each party approaches the situation if that makes any sense.” She ran her fingers through her tangled hair nervously. “You might be pleasantly surprised if you can get them to talk.” Them being those who have aligned themselves with chaos.

Acrucis’ eyebrows raised as she looked away with a smile tugging the corner of her lips; obviously embarrassed by her inability to properly defend herself. “I may have been told once or twice that I’d hurt myself more than the other person.” Then again with how easily she bruised that very well may be the truth.

“Not that I’ve ever actually tried though. The closest I’ve come to attacking someone was shoving them back through a mirror then landing on them.” And I’m pretty sure I got more hurt than he did. Even so it was something she still felt bad for even months later. “I’ve been in tough situations before but thankfully I wasn’t alone. Maybe that’s what you need? Someone to patrol with till you're comfortable with your fighting skills?”

Acrucis couldn’t help but laugh at his mock greeting, she had to admit that yeah it would be kind of strange if someone up and asked her that.

“It was different at first, kind of surreal I guess. I think the strangest part really was watching a persons cut close or bruise fade in seconds; things that take days or weeks to go away are just… gone. But I guess I’ve gotten use to it,” she shrugged her shoulders almost like it was no big deal, even though it was. “Magic is great and all but it seems to have it’s place and can be situational; and even then, just like physical fighting, sometimes it isn’t good enough.” How many times did she try to help Thraen, with all of those lacerations her heal didn’t seem to touch. Not to mention the events from her dreams.

“As for you, I wouldn’t worry too much. I think you’re kind of like my friend Ashur; back when he was a page he didn’t have any magic.” Was… is… she wasn’t really sure on the tense; it’s been a while since she last saw him but if her dreams were any indication on how he had grown in the future, magic was something he definitely came into possession of. “You know, you should meet Shangri-La! He would be a good person to talk to on what to expect.”

“As for sparing, I don’t know if I’d be a very good partner to go against. But,” she paused a moment feeling kind of sheepish for what she was going to ask. “But if you wouldn’t mind teaching me…” Acrucis trailed off. He was still learning as well but perhaps he’d be willing to teach her small things he does know? “And hey! If one of us gets hurt. If I get hurt” she corrected, ”I can always fix it. Practical application for healing magic yes?”

A smile tugged the corners or her lips amused by how excited yet nervous he seemed. Taking a step back from the vent she brought her hands up and brew warm air onto them “Kay,” she said as her knee caps started to bounce “now what?” Blue eyes looked at him almost expected yet in a sense embarrassed since she hadn’t a clue what to do, but that’s why he was going to teach her right?

To a degree she felt kind of like a ball-joint-doll in the way he moved her arms for her to show how to deflect the attack. Not that she minded all that much considering had it had been a real attack she would have just squeezed her eyes shut and prayed; perhaps squeal like a little child and run away. She laughed, however, when he took a step back, “Trust me you’re doing fine, I think I understand what you’re saying.”

Stepping back with one foot Acrucis brought her arms up, hands balled into fists - though she was sure the whole stance was wrong. “Ready?” she said perhaps a little too enthusiastically but in truth it was all in fun, and she knew full well there’d be no way her punch would hurt him even if she did manage to land it.