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 Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 5:59 pm
Newgrange had been spending a lot of time with Elvira; it felt like they were closer now then they had ever been—though, they'd always been close, and perhaps the only reason Newgrange felt that way was because they had a secret that kept them bound together.
Most of the people in their life had no idea who he was, and he didn't think many people knew his sister's identity, either.
Their parents didn't know. Most of their lifelong and family friends didn't know.
They covered for each other when the situation called for it, and they had each other's back—and usually, that was enough.
Except Newgrange had been having nightmares again, about his arm being lopped off, and people being slain left and right by the Negaverse, and it left him decisively more paranoid than usual. So he'd made a plan with his sister, using the lie that she was spending the night to learn some new recipes and help him a bit in the Bakery. Her parents would suspect nothing, but then—they never did. They had no reason to; they had always been good kids.
Ah, if only they could see them now.
Newgrange was leading his younger sister to a clearly; they'd been chatting about something silly the way there while he kept his eyes and sensors open for any opponents that might attack, but throughout their whole walk, they were allowed to keep their peace. Weaving through the woods, he finally found the clearing he was looking for and clapped his sister on the shoulder.
"All right! Just as nice as I told you, right? And it's out of the way, so no one should accidentally wander around or bother us while we're practicing. Now," he warned, "I'm not the best at this, but I'd rather you practice with me so I can make sure nobody hurts you. Is that fair? I know I said we could practice, but let's take it easy. At the very least, for mom. She seemed worried about you for some reason. Have you been getting into trouble and not telling me?" he teased.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:24 pm
Elvira shrugged. “I mean, I’ve been going out a lot…and there was a couple of close calls but…” She shrugged, looking around the clearing. “It’s pretty here, I like it.”
The thing she really liked was spending so much time with Arias…that was one thing she was liking more and more…and he was getting easier and easier to hang out with…maybe it was because she was getting older…or maybe it was because he was finally realizing that she was getting older…either way. It felt like they were only growing closer and closer.
“I really want to be strong like you…you’re going to help me train, right? Because I think I need it. I’m a bit of a pushover, you know. People think I’m too cute for this and that’s really working against me. And about mom…I don’t know. She’s worried about you too. Why haven’t you told her about…your boyfriend. I really know she’d wanna know…you can invite him for Thanksgiving!”
That sounded like a very good idea, and clearly it was an idea that Arias should agree with…because…mom loved him, and she would continue to love him, even though he had a boyfriend. Besides. She still wanted to meet this mystery guy, and her patience was growing thin!
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 6:30 pm
Newgrange reached up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly at her last suggestion. "I don't know…We'll see. That might be a conversation for another time. But…I'll think about it, all right? Let's stay on topic and focus on what we came here for, deal?"
…Any escape from talking about his love life.
"I want you to be careful when you're going out. There are a lot of people who won't think twice about hurting you." He gave her a very stern, very serious look. "I'll do anything to keep you safe, and I know I can't keep you cooped up or stop you from powering up, but I can at least try to make sure you know how to take care of yourself. I think it's always best to have someone you know you can trust to have your back with you when you're out, but sometimes there are things you might have to take care of on your own. So this should be good training. I'm not the best," he warned, "But I guess I've been around for a little bit—and that's better than nothing. So I'll get you started, and when you get too good for me to teach, we'll go find someone stronger to help us out. Now!"
He smiled at her, walking a few steps away. "…Senshi have magic, right? I have no idea what yours does. Do you know? …I've heard it can be kind of hard to control when you're first starting out, so I want to see what you can do. Can you show me?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:05 pm
Elvira nodded. “I’m careful when I go out, honest…and sometimes when I’m out alone at night, I power up just to be safe okay? And I think I’m safer when I’m powered then when I’m not powered so…don’t you think that?”
Except for the whole cookies thing…if she hadn’t been powered then maybe that wouldn’t have happened…oh well.
“You want to see what my magic does? I mean…it’s not that impressive but…I’m more than happy to show you so…” She drew in a breath and thought for a moment, folding her hands together. After a few seconds of silence, she opened her eyes, spreading her hands as she called out her attack. “Elvira wreath!”
When the wreath of poinsettias formed, she flung her hands towards Newgrange, hoping to get it right around his neck. Aim was the thing she had the most trouble with.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:15 pm
Listening to Elvira speak made Newgrange feel a bit safer about all of this; she was a smart girl who knew what she was doing—what was he even worried about, again?
When she was ready to show him his attack, he braced himself; he stood firmly and held his breath, and he watched her while she attacked. He wanted to get hit as few times as possible, so watching her now was what he hoped would be a one time thing.
She called her magic, and aimed, and he was ready for it, but…
It never hit him. He blinked, watching the magic sail right by his head. He stared off at it, kept his eyes on where it landed, and then looked back to his sister.
"All right," he said after a few seconds. "Well, that wasn't…bad. A little far to the right, but…I mean, you gave it a good effort, so I would give you points for there. Were you aiming for me, or…uhm, for the tree?" he asked, trying to be as polite as he could about it. "Because—if you were aiming for the tree, great job!" —He sounded like he meant it, and smiled encouragingly. "If not…then…On the bright side, I know what we can work on! Do you want to try again, El?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:34 pm
Well darn. She didn’t like that…she really wanted that to have worked but…but she could try again. “I wasn’t aiming for the tree…seriously…That’s the worst part of my attack is it misses…a lot. I feel really useless sometimes when I use it so…Just stand still…or better yet move towards it if I start missing you, okay? Make this easy for me, Newgrange!”
Elvira drew in another deep breath, making it last for about fifteen seconds, puffing her cheeks out. She clasped her hands once more and summoned the wreath, flinging it towards her brother once more.
“Come on Newgrange! Let it hit! I think you’ll like it!”
Her attack made people happy, how could someone not like it?
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:49 pm
Newgrange stood perfectly still so she would have better success at getting her magic to work on him. He made himself as easy a target as possible and didn't move an inch—and this time, she was met with a successful attack.
At first, he blinked, and then pride and happiness filled him. "You did it!" he said, and reached to admire the flower wreath that had encircled him. The flowers didn't seem real, but they were magical and glorious all the same. "—Elvira," he exclaimed, and he felt better than he had in ages. "This feels wonderful. You should use this attack more often, I love it!"
The grin never left his face. "—And, you know, I've had an idea. If we're going to focus on hand to hand, it might be best to enroll in self defense classes, or something at the gym—a professional, but if we're going to train for you to use this, we should go get a horseshoe set. We can set it up in Mom and Dad's backyard and they won't suspect a thing. And they can watch us training and they won't know a thing, they'll think we're just having fun."
The magic was slowly wearing off, but Newgrange was still in a good mood and it was hard to tell how much the wreath had been affecting him when he was still so proud of Elvira.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:59 pm
Elvira was just about glowing, feeling terribly proud of herself. Well…at least she had managed to land an attack on him…and look how happy it had made him…he was gushing and…
Maybe the next time they decided to spar she could hit him with the attack and talk about him telling mom about his boyfriend…yeah, that was an idea…if only there was a way to use the attack when she wasn’t powered up…she could change the world with it. Ugh. That would be so cool. Changing the world…
“All right, we can go to the gym I guess, but you know I’m really not the physical type, Arias...unless it’s dancing. I can do that pretty well.”
Step dancing she could do really well, so yeah she was being a bit modest. But step dancing wouldn’t do anything against monsters or terrible people…maybe she did need to get arm strength.
One day. One day.
“Can we go home now? I’m ready for some hot chocolate and maybe we can watch a movie?”
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 8:12 pm
Newgrange blinked at her, a bit confused at how eager she was to get out of there. He couldn’t help but laugh. "Elvira! This was barely more than a walk to the woods! You're lucky I can't say no to you," he said, walking over and giving her a quick squeeze. "…We'll work harder in the future, but all right. I won't push you tonight. But only because I really am proud of you. And I know that if you keep practicing, you'll be as strong as anyone out there."
He had never seen her magic, but a part of him was reassured. It wasn't really an offensive attack, but if she used that on someone…how could they stay angry enough to want to attack her?
It would at least buy her a little bit of time to run away…
Either way.
She'd be okay.
They'd work all of this out.
After hot chocolate and a movie.
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