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 Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:33 pm
Patrolling alone was just boring. It didn’t serve much of a purpose other than being a lookout. Of course, if there were more lookouts, perhaps that would help to keep Xi safer in this stupid city. Gelria was still worrying a lot about his boyfriend. Getting mugged or attacked or whatever had happened…if he were stronger…well. He could stop things like that from happening. That was what he wanted to do above all other things.
Protect Xi-Wang and keep him safe.
Somebody had to.
Leaning against a light post, the senshi drew out his phone and flipped between his two contacts. Should he try for Encke? He hadn’t seen that senshi in a while…but…Malus…he had seen him not so long ago. Perhaps the two of them could spar a little and work on some fancy footwork and moves together.
It was worth a shot, at any rate. So he sent a quick text out to the purple clad senshi.
Quote: Hey Malus! It’s Gelria! I was wondering if you’d like to come and maybe spar with me? No magic this time, I don’t want to hurt you again! I just…I want to get stronger so I can protect my boyfriend…if you want to, I’m at the spot we were at last time! Hope to see you soon!
There. Now…hopefully the other senshi would come and help him out! If not…well.
He tried.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:44 pm
Truthfully, Malus was terrified at the idea of going out alone, even if it was just to meet up with another Senshi. He had been with Michel when he got the text but hadn’t quite known how to reply. It took a moment of awkwardly trying to explain before Michel just rolled his eyes and shooed Malus on his way. He promised to stay in the area but fully intended to give Malus a little space.
Honestly, it was as close to a Godsend as Michel ever expected, to see Malus willing to go spar with someone. Without him chaperoning.
He’d kept his word of course; he was circling a perimeter around the two, just barely outside of Malus’ radar but still close enough that he could have been there in a heartbeat, if he’d thought anything was wrong.
Malus had replied to Gelria with a quick, ‘On my way!’ before he’d begun the trek.
He hadn’t been patrolling too far away so the trip took a little less than five minutes once Michel had told him to go.
He found Gelria with ease and waved when he approached. “Hi,” he greeted, a smile on his face partially out of friendliness, and partially because he’d managed to make it here in one piece. “I should have texted to say that I’m not really good at, uhm, physically fighting, but. Michel, the Knight I patrol with, said that I should practice. Uhm. So I’m willing, but please don’t hit me too hard. I bruise kind of easily. It’s the pale skin,” he said, gesturing to his face as he continued to near the Senshi.
If he went outside more often, the paleness probably wouldn’t have been such a problem, but. One step at a time.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 8:49 pm
Gelria grinned when the text came back, relieved that there was an exclamation point at the end of the phrase. It made him feel less of a bother and that…well. Made him happy. When Malus got there, the grin widened and he waved back. “Hey! I’m really glad you could come…thanks!” It was kind of awkward…in fact, his whole text had been awkward and if he had thought it through…
“You know, I didn’t mean to be so blunt about it…when you put it that way it almost makes it sound like I asked you here so I could practice hitting you, and I swear that’s not it! Seriously I just…” His face was flushed and Gelria looked terribly embarrassed. “I just…want to get stronger for my boyfriend. He pretty much told me that he got hurt from something. And I’m going out on a limb and going to assume it’s the Negaverse or something like that, so I have to get stronger so he doesn’t get hurt again. He…I mean. I’m all he has, so…”
The senshi shrugged again and swallowed. “I’ll try my best…don’t hit me too hard either okay? I…I really don’t like pain.” Giving a nervous sounding laugh, Gelria held up his hands in fists. “Ready when you are, Mal. I’ll let you have the first shot? Maybe I’ll be able to block it or something?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:02 pm
Malus blinked and laughed, slightly awkwardly. “Oh—no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just really bad at hitting people. I’m better at being hit.”
Because that sounded so much better.
Malus’ lips pursed into an awkward shape as he strained to figure out if there was some way to recover from saying something so stupid. He doubted Gelria wouldn’t have heard it so he just hung his head and rubbed at his face quickly.
So, so stupid.
He forced himself to draw in a breath and lower his hands. “That’s a nice reason for wanting to get stronger, though. My reason is so I don’t get eaten by youma, pretty much. I hope your boyfriend’s okay. I’m gonna try my hardest, here, but.”
Gelria was probably better off fighting a tree.
Malus raised his hands like Michel had taught him, and while the position felt right, at least by Michel’s standards, it still felt unnatural.
He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready, but he made sure Gelria had time to prepare before he ran at the Senshi and tried to throw a punch. He aimed for his stomach, if only because he couldn’t imagine actually hitting—and bruising—his face. At least any bruise down there could be hidden with clothes and be explained in any number of ways.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:26 pm
Honestly, Gelria had been expecting a punch to the face…because that would have been where he punched…because you could see a person’s face. He had never been a bully in school, and thankfully had never been bullied in school, so the concept of punching a place other than the face wasn’t something he had squarely in his mind…so when he suddenly had a fist in his stomach…
He felt very, very dumb.
“Oof…I forgot…stomachs could be punched.” The words came out in a wheeze, and it was then that all of the movies that had bullies in it…clearly dabbled in punching the stomach. There was a whole body to punch…not just the face. “Nice one!”
The punch to the stomach had given him an idea…because clearly the whole body could be used in a fight…and he had kicked the snake youma that one time, so his foot shot out, going for Malus’s leg, hoping to kick it out from under him…but really just…trying to kick it. “Aha!”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:36 pm
Malus’ face flashed with mild alarm when his fist sunk into Gelria’s stomach. “You were supposed to block,” he blurted, too concerned with what he’d done to register that Gelria had kicked him.
It wasn’t enough to hurt, not really, but it was enough to push his leg in a direction very different from what it should have gone in, and the pressure was enough to bend it in such a way that Malus couldn’t easily catch himself. He stumbled; one knee hit the pavement and he would have scratched his hand if his glove hadn’t been there to protect him.
What Malus seemed to lack in strength, he made up for in agility; he was back on his feet, hopping hesitantly on his foot as he tried to test it. It seemed like he could put weight on it, so after a few test hops he turned his attention back to Gelria.
He’d had plenty of experience with bullying in school; if he’d been in a real fight, he would have headbutted Gelria in the crotch but that seemed a little too extreme for a sparring session.
“…That was good,” he grunted; he hadn’t seen it coming and even if he had wasn’t sure he’d have been able to dodge it. “But how did you forget that stomachs existed? Didn’t anyone ever slug you in the hallway or anything…?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 9:47 pm
Honestly, Gelria was impressed with how quickly Malus got back up…he would have ended up flat on his face for at least a good minute before getting up again, and even that would have been a slow rise back to the world of the vertical humans. “I mean…thanks! I’ve never…really fought with anyone like this before…and no, nobody’s ever slugged me in the hallway…that’s kind of what happens when the school you go to is full of nerds…we don’t really attack our own kind, you know? I go to HITS, so…we just…”
He seemed almost embarrassed. “If we fight, we use robots instead of people so…yeah. Where do you go to High School? Are you at Meadowview?”
He figured that Malus was about his age, maybe a little younger, or maybe a little older, but his age all the same. It was nice. Meeting people. Kicking people. Getting punched by people.
Ah. Friendship.
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:04 pm
Malus couldn’t help but snort. “You go to HITS but you’ve never taken any?”
He seemed a little amused, but there was obvious disdain in his voice when he said, “I dropped out of high school. I hated it. I got my GED, though. But it wasn’t a good time in my life.”
He shrugged and sort of seemed to kick at the ground for a second.
“But it’s not all bad, now. I got a job in a kitchen, which is great, because I love to cook, but then some things happened and.” He shrugged again and seemed sort of at a loss for how to explain it—so, he didn’t; he skipped right over it and went on to say, “Well, now I’m working with a friend of mine. She told me I should open my own food truck, so we’re going to work on that. I’m really excited.”
Which was easy to see; his face immediately lit up when he was talking about it. Whatever plagued his mind seemed, at least for the moment, forgotten. “Do you build robots?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:15 pm
“No I haven’t!” Gelria frowned, his brows furrowing. “Just how old are you? You can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen? I’m seventeen, and I’ll be eighteen in January. And…I don’t mean to imply that you’re old, but I seriously thought you were my age, yet you’re talking about dropping out of high school like it happened years ago…also, there’s nothing bad about HITS! It’s a great school…also, you’re going to open a food truck? Will I get free food if I stop by?”
He seemed excited. “If there’s one thing I love, it’s food.” The senshi was looking at Evan as though he was Jesus come once again to feed him. “I don’t have the patience to cook, but I could literally eat all day long…so long as it isn’t tripe. I hate tripe…It’s just. I mean, I’ve had a lot of strange food, my family travels a lot so I’ve eaten all over the world but…tripe…is my enemy. Seriously.”
Gelria shuddered at the very thought. “Also, yeah, I do build robots…not that I’ve put much work into my project since becoming a senshi, but if you ever want to feed me, I’d be happy to show you what I have finished! I mean…it was going to be pretty cool…then I got a boyfriend…and got really, really lazy…but this is my senior year, so I have to get it done now, right? One last hurrah.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:34 pm
Malus faltered when asked about his age; a part of him certainly didn’t feel like he’d aged while he was…well. Not himself. Goosebumps covered his skin as he thought of it and he rubbed at his arms instinctively.
The other part of him felt like he must have aged years, even if he could rationalize that it had only been one.
“Yeah,” he answered slowly, chewing on his lip as he strained to figure out just how to answer. “I’m…like…” his voice lowered and he mumbled, “Twenty one.”
Which didn’t feel like as big of a number as he figured it should have; most days he still felt fourteen.
“I don’t have anything solidified, like name or theme or menu, but. I have a few options that I’m trying to narrow down. I’ve been cooking a lot—do you want to come try something sometime?”
He was a Senshi—that meant he was safe, right?
“I could really use some opinions on things. No tripe though, I promise. I mean, not unless I was certain I could make sure I could prepare it a way you didn’t hate it, but I don’t think I know you well enough to take that risk. But I want to get opinions on some food things, so—absolutely. I love to cook, and if you love to eat, maybe we could make that work? Because, I’d need you to have a big appetite. I think I’ve sort of stretched out my roommates’ stomachs as far as they’ll let me.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:47 pm
The number surprised him, he wouldn’t lie, the other senshi looked so much younger, but…hey. It didn’t really matter. This guy was offering to feed him, and that was the best news ever. “Heck yes I want to come try something. I’ll come try all the things if you wanted me too. I don’t have the patience for cooking, but I could eat all day and all night, if your roommates want a stomach brake, you can give me a stomach ache!”
He felt terribly clever for the rhyme, and looked excited. “When do you want to do this? You can call me anytime. I’m always ready to eat everything, so no worries on bothering me or anything.”
Glancing around, Gelria powered down into Caleb and drew out his normal cell phone, eagerly pulling up his contact list. “If you give me your number, I can text you, then you can invite me to eat food. All the time. If you want.”
It didn’t even matter that he hadn’t yet tasted Malus’ cooking. It was cooking, and he wanted a Food Truck and that was kind of a big deal. You didn’t get a food truck if you weren’t good at cooking…so clearly this was a good plan. “I’m Caleb, by the way. It’s nice to meet you outside of the top hat.”
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:06 pm
Malus offered a faint smile; it was strange seeing someone powered down like that. Realistically, he knew there was a person, a real person, under there, but it never ceased to amaze him. He had known Michel and Lysithea before seeing them powered up. Seeing a new face…
He smiled, but didn’t power down, himself. “I’m sorry,” he apologized when he didn’t. “It usually takes me a minute or two to power down. I have a hard time concentrating. Imagining myself, it…”
He shrugged and looked a mixture of ashamed and embarrassed. “It’s something I’m still learning how to do. But—my name is Evan, if you want to put that in your phone.” He gave him his number and added, “Maybe we can do something later this week? My schedule is really open, so I can work around whatever you’ve got going on.”
And, Zac or Cambria would probably be home, just in case.
But he really doubted this guy was going to be some murderer or something. And, even if he was…
Maybe Malus could have taken him.
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