Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sutai was a busy woman tonight.

She’d promised Alexei (...sort of) to patrol the area around the courthouse for a few weeks to ensure no Chaos agents or youma infiltrated it. While technically Alexei said he would be fine with the civilian security guards and police, Sutai knew that simply wouldn’t suffice. Tonight, the Squire was chasing down a wayward Lieutenant, who probably harbored dastardly ideas about breaking into the courthouse! Sutai was sure of it.

A metallic sextant went sailing through the air and collided with the Lieutenant’s back. The Negaverse officer issued a high-pitched shriek and darted off downtown somewhere. Sutai, a bit winded but no worse for the wear, trotted up to her fallen weapon and picked it up.

She shook her fists in the air and shouted after the Negaverser. “YOU STAY AWAY FROM HERE, MISTER! OR ELSE!”

The words sounded threatening, but Sutai didn’t really mean it. She just wanted to sound like she was intimidating (despite her frilly outfit) and knew what she was doing.

Sutai had busied herself with dusting her outfit, which had accumulated some dirt from her running after the agent. With a huff, she was startled by a sudden appearance of a senshi. She greeted him warmly, waving with enthusiasm. She'd never met this one before! Senshi were usually very nice, so the Squire was always happy to see them. The sextant was tucked away into her bodice for safe-keeping (even though it looked ridiculous, and she could have willed it away just as easily.)

"Oh! Hello! Yes, I'm okay. Did that sound scary? Did I sound intimidating? I mean, I know I'm dressed a little silly, but I'm trying so very hard to be a better fighter. Are you a good fighter, Mister Senshi?"

Her movements caused the small crystalline accessories on her outfit to knock together, causing Sutai to sound like a rustled wind chime. "The agent was only a lieutenant and I do feel bad about chasing them around but you know how they are, causing trouble and everything. I'd rather not bonk them unless I have to, you know. It seems cruel. You never know what they might have been told about us, and about the city. Oh, it's very confusing. I'm sorry to ramble, Mister Senshi! My name is Sutai! What's yours?"

Caliban's approval was all she needed, and Sutai bounced happily with the praise.

"Oh good! I'd really rather intimidate them and shoo them off than whack them with my sextant. This thing packs a real wallop if I throw it hard enough." She made a silly face and pulled the small, metallic telescope-esque instrument from her bodice. She flipped it a few times in her hands, feeling the weight and craftsmanship with pride. The Squire lifted the instrument to her eye and peeked through the lens to view Caliban up close.

The senshi had a point - the Negaverse was actively doing horrible things to the people of Destiny City, and racking up massive amounts of property damage as far as she knew. Neither one of those things were actions that the Destiny City police department could easily rectify.

"You've never met a Knight like me?" Sutai seemed only slightly surprised. Indeed, she'd never seen another Knight in a ballerina getup like she was. Even other Polaris Knights were more sensibly-dressed. How'd she mess this up? It wasn't like Anandi could fill out a form and be measured for the perfect and preferred outfit for magical crime-fighting. She took a step back and curtsied for the senshi. "I'm a Knight of Polaris! Though, usually, they have long, furry coats. I'm not sure why I missed out on that. Polaris is very cold and a tutu doesn't do much for the cold, unfortunately."

Sutai seemed to rock back and forth on her heels, contemplating. “I know Chaos is mostly bad, but sometimes they pick good people who don’t want to do bad things like steal energy and break important buildings. But some of them love to do terrible things, and it’s those people that… I hope someday, we can help them too. You know? I think the really terrible ones are more than happy to have special, magical powers. They can evade the police and the laws that other citizens have to adhere too. Break things and hurt people and power down and nobody would even know who the perpetrator was. It’s awful, really.”

With a sigh, she continued. “Princess Polaris is a very kind and loving woman and I have faith that she can help fix a lot of things when she returns. She got married, you see, so I’m sure married life is keeping her very busy. We can’t neglect one life in favor of the other. Balance can be so very hard! But until then, I have a duty to help the city! And I like helping senshi too, like you, Mister Caliban. All the senshi I’ve met, they’re very nice people so I enjoy their company.”

The Squire gave him a sunny smile and a giggle.

Caliban’s displeasure with the Cosmic Tailor had Sutai nodding vigorously. “Yes! I would so have liked to have a nice, fluffy coat like Delphi and Alphubel but no, I got this tutu for some reason. And my Wonder is a snowy mountain. There’s no ice rink up there… that I know of! And no ballet recital, either. I don’t even know how to dance ballet!” Her indignant huff sent her layered tutu bouncing with the motion. While normally, she didn’t mind it at all, tutus were not built for mountain climbing expeditions in sub-freezing temperatures. If she were to be a proper knight, Sutai was forced to climb the snowy mountain for while she was ill-prepared.

She wasn’t about to wallow in self-pity, however. “I do like your outfit, Mister Caliban! Sometimes I can guess what a senshi’s special power might be, based on their outfit, but I’m afraid I’m at a loss for you! I do like your tie, though. It’s very handsome.”

Sutai seemed surprised and in awe of Caliban’s desire to stop evil in its tracks, despite a lack of power on his part. She remembered being a wee Page, completely on her own, lonely and frightened. How brave Mister Caliban must be, to charge head-first and save the day, even at great risk to himself! The Squire beamed at the taller senshi. “You’re very brave, Mister Caliban. You’ve probably helped a lot of people! Someday, I want to be as brave as you! I’m trying, really. I’m just not the best when it comes to fighting… and sometimes it’s very scary, to be out here by myself, but I do try. Honest!”

Someday, she would show Delphi and Sessrumnir that she wasn’t entirely useless. Just… mostly.

The Squire nodded to Caliban, his assessment of life and responsibility being correct. “Yes, I’m sure being a Princess on top of being a wife and having a job… that’s an awful lot to have on one plate. I’m sure her husband - his name is Niflhel! He’s a knight of Saturn. A little grumpy and sullen and I don’t know him very well, but if the Princess likes him enough to marry him, then he’s just fine in my book. The Princess wouldn’t marry just anybody, I’m sure. How a Princess finds the time to sleep and go grocery shopping, along with all her other duties, is beyond me. It must be so very exhausting, to say the least.”

She was suddenly very glad she wasn’t a Knight just yet. Perhaps, with Knighthood, came additional responsibility. She was able to balance her programming day job with every-other-day patrolling and training, but adding anything to her to-do list might be catastrophic. Sutai fidgeted under Caliban’s gaze, fussing with the hem of her tutu. “I’m very glad that senshi and knights have such a good alliance. I don’t know where we would be without one another! A good support system is so very important, yes indeed. Have you patrolled with a knight before, Mister Caliban?” She tittered at his compliment to her outfit. Senshi were just so nice!

Caliban explaining his power left the Squire quite confused, and it wore plainly on her face. Golden eyes looked skyward for a moment. “Ceiling? But… Mister Caliban, does your power only work indoors? Or do you just… make a ceiling appear?” What a strange senshi power!

The Squire clapped her hands over her cheeks. "You still try though! And that's a lot, you know, because you're just starting out. I remember, just starting out, everything was so very difficult. Fights were scary and you don't have very much magic as a senshi... You don't have any magic as a Page! Even though I'm a Squire now, there's so much to learn and it's still scary to patrol by myself. Like you, Mister Caliban, I still try!"

Caliban openly pondering teaming up with a knight made her squeak with glee. "Oh, Mister Caliban, would you like to train together? I could always use more practice, you know, and I could use my magic on you! It speeds up Order-aligned starseeds so you'll move much faster than normal. It's fun, actually, running that fast, but you have to be careful when you try to turn or slow down!"

Sutai had almost given herself road rash due to her inexperience.

She giggled and blushed when Caliban explained it wasn't a ceiling, but a sealing. "Yes, haha! I'm so very sorry. English is a very funny language. So, you lock things away. A seal, like a magical seal. Yes, that makes a lot more sense. You're a very nice person, Mister Caliban!" The Squire was beaming at him, feeling quite blessed to find a new friend this evening.

"I wish I knew!" she admitted, huffing her indignation at the sky. How did the universe expect them to defend themselves without any magic? It didn't seem fair at all, like running a gauntlet that could end in your death without even knowing. "I was really lucky to have lots of support when I was a Page, otherwise I don't know what might have happened! We would be really easy pickings, you know?"

Pulling out her civilian cellphone (eventually, she would have that signet ring! She would!), Sutai tittered her happiness at acquiring a new friend. "We could always practice, you know! It takes some time getting used to moving so fast. I crashed into the senshi I was practicing with. His name is Fornax, he's very cute and dresses like a chef. There is so much variation in senshi outfits, so it's very exciting to meet new ones and see how they dress!"

Sutai giggled, bouncing to and fro. She gave Caliban her contact information, letting him know the senshi could text her any time, at least until she received her ring. She was working on it. Perhaps they could set up a scheduled practice time? They would both benefit greatly!