Welcome to Gaia! ::

The pool of people Spacewatch did not attack on sight by the premise that they were powered individuals was small. Very small, and very selective in how she generally treated them. She was more than a bit reluctant to say she liked them or thought of them as nice or wanted to express how she thought they were good but she did her best at trying to be a ‘normal’ person.
So when she caught sight of Icarus, the senshi she’d tried to beat up and had instead offered her a strange comfort without forcing her to do anything, the young senshi trailed after him at a healthy distance for a while.
After about four city blocks she got near enough to muster the courage to ask him-
“Is it okay if I um.” Was he patrolling? Maybe. Awkwardly she suffled into view, looking petulant and uncertain.
“You know.” Hang out? He was older and stronger but he was nice?
“I don’t want to go with the others. They keep telling me that I have to do ‘good’ and save people but it’s all-“ Shoulder lifted then fell. She just wanted to be not-alone alone in a way.

“It’s hard.”

Looking away from him for a while until he gave permission that yes, it was okay to bother him, Spacewatch didn’t really smile so much as she seemed to visibly relax. Her posture not quite as tight or nervous, but still defensive. Always ready to run or fight as if she expected it.
“What did you say?” She asked, not understanding the Russain but it sounded bad. Like a curse word. And boy, she did like using those words, (one hand to just be an offensive brat, the other to spook Arthur about her vocabulary).
“That word, what’s it mean in English?” She would ask that first, just to be sure he wasn’t insulting her.

Darting to stand next to him, she looked up, skeptical that he was really going to tell her the truth anyway.
“I thought so. Most adults think it’s easy, that things are just good and I can do good but-“ She slumped her shoulders.
“-They told me that I’m not allowed to hurt them, that it’s wrong. They hurt anyone but I can’t hurt them back? To make them stop? It’s stupid.” A huff.
“It’s not like asking nicely will do anything.” Again, she looked up at him.

"Have you been good?" She gave the word finger air quotes for emphasis.

Spacewatch learned the translation. Spacewatch repeated the curse right back to Icarus, clearly ready to put this newfound knowledge to use as was only right. She also gave him a look. The 'tell me if I'm saying it right' look.

She switched over to a passive pout when he called her a kid and figured he was at least admitting he was wrong, "Role-models are all fake and overrated anyway. They just lie and pretend they're better than others is all." Was her way of saying that she accepted his wording.
She didn't want him to be some role-model, just him to be him.

It was much easier to be around someone who didn't treat you like you would break from something as dumb as a curse word. Like ******** or bullshit.

"Thats what I said though!" She yelled, as he explained why they should hit back. "They're just going to keep doing it unless you give them a reason not to. But- what happened? What did the cats do?" She was genuinely curious.
"Arthur says most don't fight. He certainly doesn't. He usually just watched and hides and tells me to not eat a whole pizza when we get delivery."

She felt she should explain.
"I live with Arthur. He's not my cat, be he's a cat. A good cat."

Not a good cat but a good cat. There was a difference.

Later on, she would loudly use the curse in front of Arthur and possibly a few adults at a bookstore, but hey, they would all deserve it for telling her not to ready from that section, (its not like it was 50 shades or anything, it was BETTER).

Until then, it would be stored in her curse word repertoire.

"So." She eyed Icarus with a sly look. "By that logic, you're a better role-model than most then." She smirked, feeling like a smug cat because no doubt, the teen probably didn't want to be looked up to, (outside the context of height).
"See, you don't even try to lie about how bad a role-model you'd be, that makes you better. You just keep making yourself better by being worse at it."

She laughed and smiled, feeling like it was a rather funny joke at Icarus's expense.

"Well. I mean. Arthur is a cat. Being a p***y is kind of what he is. He does try though, to be brave. He's wanting to come out with me but- I'm scared to take him." She sighed and looked at her shoes.
"He can't fight, and I don't think I could protect him and what happens if he got hurt I can't take him to a vet and what if a youma got him and it's all-" She huffed. "I wish he would fight but I also don't? Does that make sense?"

She made that PFFFT sound that every bratty middle-schooler who thought they knew best did when in fact they knew nothing at all.
"The worst I would call you is a- uh." She hesitated, wondering if insulting Icarus was the right move to make.
"Well, I'd call you something so bad you'd blush. Besides, I DO make good choices, it's everyone else who makes bad ones. Like your shoes." She pointed at his feet. "Space didn't do you any favors come winter."

She was a typical kid, going a mile a minute.
"But yeah, Arthur has claws but he's bad at fighting. Like.. really bad." She scowled at nothing in particular. "As for help, Arthur was the only one who really helped me after... after." She went silent, eyes downcast and feeling suddenly very stupid for even thinking about it. She was stronger than this, she wasn't going to cry in front of Icarus. Not again.

"Nobody helps you. Not really. They help you until you're a burden."

Was that a challenge she just heard? A question if she could do something? Oh it was, and like hell the little once chibi was going to let that stand. "I can totally make you blush!" She opened her mouth to issue her insult then blushed herself because no, it was bad and she felt bad even thinking of calling Icarus something like that.
"But you don't deserve it so I won't." There, matter settled.

Staring at the ground, she listened in silence after that, only going up next to him and standing there awkwardly.
"Do you think it's possible then? That- that maybe I could become normal?" Her voice caught, uncertainty clear.
"That's all I want. Just to be normal again."

"You listen and it helps but.. I don't know if I'm allowed to be normal."

She wilted at the truth she didn't want to hear. She knew it was true, but she had in her own way, wanted to be lied to. To pretend that yes, she could have what she'd lost. She'd get it back eventually. Just-
"Different Normal. I guess I could work with that, might even turn out okay." She smiled at Icarus, doing her best to put on that brave and hopeful front that was as close as she got to just lying with the cliche 'I'm okay' bit.

Then the pulse of darkness came, and Spacewatch paled, nearing Icarus out of reflex, homing in on his comforting power aligned with her own.
"Did you feel that? I- I'm not imagining that right?"

Spacewatch wouldn't normally hide behind someone these days. She'd normally resist and try to fight and demand to be recognized.But the dark energy she felt was not just chaos. It held an edge to it she remembered from the rift. Cruelty, malice, evil.

It crawled under her skin and made her throat tighten.
It was the feeling she had felt when she saw her parents, lying dead in her home.

Icarus's grip tightened and Spacewatch was shaking. This man was clearly powerful, and she got the feeling, that it was not a matter of winning a battle, but surviving one. And Spacewatch, for all her fear dealt with it in a manner she knew how.

"None ya Business Pinkie!" She made a shoo shoo motion.