[B] Head and Shoulders (Virginiaterese/Athalia)

[Epine de Rose]

This evening was not one for patrolling and based on his scouting of the area there seemed to be no indication that anyone of particular interest was around. In fact, he'd scouted out this area several times just to be sure that in terms of activity it remained low. The reason was simple, he'd needed to find a suitable and safe location to give his new friend an opportunity to practice.

The location he'd picked was neither a park or an alley, it wasn't exactly enclosed either. Instead he'd selected a parking lot in the middle of no where, it was a bit of a mom and pop store, and he knew from his working life that they weren't exactly well known for maintaining their security devices. It wasn't that they hadn't tried of course, but when you happened to be in a more obscure area of town it could occasionally be a hotspot for opportunistic individuals.

Just as well he'd become such a nuisance in his career that they'd decided that it hadn't been worth it for the last few months!

He'd given the area one final check before he jumped up onto the gate and took a seat, pulling out his phone to sift through the small number of contacts he had collected. He paused momentarily, if only to sigh in exasperation at his bonded mauvian's choice of pose in his contact picture, and then finally located the one individual he had been looking for.

This evening was his turn to loiter.

Having sent her his location in a rather polite and formal text, he'd settled in to wait for her. He didn't quite know where she was from and the farmer's market may have been a journey for her, so it was in his best interests to give her some time to get here.

...In hindsight, he probably should have actually warned her in advance, but given that the spot might be taken on another evening, he'd simply taken the opportunity while it was there!

Bouquet of Diamonds

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

Athalia was lucky that Virginiaterese didn't have a civilian day job. She'd been all propped up at home as usual, dozing off with her hand shoved in another bag of chips, when the text pinged on her phone. Startled awake, and covered in crumbs, she had to read the text over more than twice just to understand it. A parking lot, in an odd part of town, in the middle of the night. If someone had sent her a message asking her to meet up in a place like that a year or so ago, she would have deleted the text and hurried to change her number. However, she was a new person now. A person with a whole lot to learn about fighting. She dusted herself off and hustled out the door.

Figuring out the bus route that would take her closest to the meet up spot had been a challenge, but it didn't take her too long. It was probably about half an hour until she stepped off and let the bus move on before she could find a hidden place to power up, then it was a matter of figuring out exactly where he was. She wandered out into the parking lot and looked around, before realizing it would probably be a better idea to text. She whipped out her phone.

"I'm here! Where are you?" She sent.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

His phone buzzed gently in his hand and he glanced down towards it briefly. At first he hadn't paid attention, given that Orias was working on several inventions that often meant that his phone received absurd messages, he hadn't really thought much of it. Fortunately he did have a very quick epiphany, his brain calmly reminding him that he had just invited someone to a strange part of town, and that he did need to be contactable.

Turning the phone over in his hand he took not of the message and sighed softly; just as well he had checked or else she'd have either thought he'd stood her up, or he'd have found her far too late to be polite. Having received the message he jumped down from the bench and made his way back towards the shopfront, dimly lit by light. Opting to text along the way he sent her a brief reply, though he couldn't imagine he'd be too hard to spot once he made himself obvious.

I'll be at the shop front, we'll be moving though.

A few short minutes later and he was already in view of anyone from the store front, 'costumed' figure standing out in the dim light in the otherwise isolated landscape. Just as well that the cameras here did work or the poor owners of this store would have more questions than answers, worst still, he'd probably need to intercept it and confirm that there had been reports of costumed larpers in random areas of the city re-enacting movie scenes.

Heh, it was a valid reason, and at least believable given how ridiculous he might look in the eyes of some individuals!

Bouquet of Diamonds

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

At the shop front, okay. Virginiaterese nodded affirmatively at the message and let her phone dim back to black. Right, that made sense. They'd meet in one area and move somewhere together. It was much easier to navigate somewhere that had lights at first, that way they wouldn't be wandering around looking for each other for hours.

It did dawn on her though, as she was making her way over to the store, that it might have been a smarter plan to share civilian identities, meet up, and power up when they got to the second location. Maybe he wanted to keep his identity a secret? ... Yeah, she couldn't really blame him if that was the case. Not even she was sure she wanted people knowing she could transform yet. She made a face at herself and focused her attention on the store.

Well, at least he wasn't too hard to see. She smiled and waved.

"Hey! It's good to see you again!" She called, trotting her way to his side. However, another thought crossed her mind as she moved, causing her to pause. "... Uh... This place doesn't have cameras, right? I mean, if it does..."

She glanced around the shop front, her mouth twisting about a moment, and eventually shrugged.

"You know what? Whatever." She chuckled, folding her arms awkwardly. "If we're on the evening news tomorrow, it'll at least be a good joke, right?"

Epine de Rose

(Apologies for double or triple quotes. My brain missed like... Three words as I was typing somehow.)

 

[Epine de Rose]

"They're broken," he thumbed towards the cameras behind him and shook his head. "I'm familiar with this place," he added and gave a nod for her to follow. Even with the cameras inactive or otherwise unreliable, that still didn't mean that the senshi was inclined to main in full view of any sporadic traffic that happened to drive down the road. Granted at this time of the evening no one really paid attention to what was around them and focused on what was in front of them, but he preferred not to take any chances.

"I'm a cop," he added, glancing over his shoulder. He offered a small smile and kept walking round to the side of the car park. It was still lit, but they were now shielded from the building from view and he was confident they'd be left to their own devices. They could technically be as loud as they wanted but if the last encounter they'd had was any indication of their own abilities, neither of them seemed to have anything particularly loud or explosive at their disposal!

"This place isn't bad in itself but the store does have a problem with people knocking their cameras out," he explained, finally coming to a stop when he was satisfied they'd picked a spot without too much on the ground. If she landed any considerable punches he wanted to make sure he wasn't landing in anything untowards or unpleasant. "Used to be a popular meeting spot for questionable activity."

He paused and pursed his lips.

"And then my partner and I started making a nuisance of ourselves in the name of science, so at the moment it's reasonably quiet. Give it about a week and they'll probably be back up to their usual antics."

"I'll find something more scenic for the next one," he promised. "And perhaps closer to home for you, if you give me a rough idea of what 'close' is."

Bouquet of Diamonds

Haha I think you're good, it only popped up once!

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

Virginiaterese sighed with relief, before tilting her head up at Athalia with just a little bit of concern. How exactly was he familiar with a random store at the edge of town, much less it's security system? Not that she'd question him, after all he was being more than gracious to her by offering to teach her to fight properly and she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was still rather... Odd.

Thankfully he cleared that up as they walked. A cop would reasonably have that knowledge and she had nothing to worry about. ... Not that she was ever worried, everything was fine. She nodded along with everything he said, her mind unfortunately drifting off as it usually did, and snapped back to attention when he mentioned finding a better spot for next time they met. At least he was thinking ahead? God she hoped this would turn out well.

"Uh, well, I'm in a ritzy sort of area of town." She replied, tapping her fingers together idly. "You know... Not exactly mega-mansion level houses, but my family certainly doesn't want for anything. My dad's the CEO of a popular movie theater franchise, if that helps narrow it down."

She winced at herself. If anyone were spying on them, she probably just outed her entire family to the dark side. She took a deep breath through her nose and rubbed the back of her head.

"So... Where are we headed from here?" She asked.

Epine de Rose

OKAY good! |D I'm always paranoid about that because it's happened before and people used to be like "Why did you quote me three times?" and I had to be like "Sorry! My fingers have a mind of their own, I swear."

 

[Epine de Rose]

"I think I have a rough idea," he replied with a small smile. She was certainly from a more luxurious life than him but he hardly lived in the slums himself. At the very least he could appreciate that somewhere this far outside of town would have been a fairly significant jaunt for her, particularly as she didn't seem to have used a car. Ah, and the more he thought about it, if he'd relied on her to use public transport at this time of night then...

Not his best moment.

"We'll pick somewhere more pleasant next time," he promised. "Significantly closer to home so that you don't have to go on any epic quests across town," he added with a shake of his head. He didn't quite have any specific locations in mind at this point in time, but he was sure he could scope something out at a later date that would be suitable.

"This is where we stay," he motioned to the parking lot around them and cleared his throat. "I don't intend to be throwing you around so you don't need to have anywhere soft to land," he explained.

"If anyone's going to be falling, it'll be me," he added and glanced down briefly at the ground. A few scrapes here and there would be fine, he was used to those and he knew how to land on hard ground at least.

"However once you've gotten a feel for some of this I might consider testing how well you handle being thrown around a bit," he chuckled and clapped his hands together. "So, to kick things off, I'll ask that otherwise predictable question."

"How do you think you're supposed to hit someone?"

Bouquet of Diamonds

Multiple tags = Someone is editing their post like I have a bad habit of doing. xD Never gonna tell peeps off for that!

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

O-oh. Virginiaterese surveyed the parking lot with a discerning eye. She supposed it made sense to stay put, espescially if the cameras of the local business were down. Plus, it was a big enough area that they could really stretch out in if they wanted to. She nodded to herself.

His comment about not intending to throw her around was met with a bit of a stifled chuckle. Yeah, uh, she wasn't exactly sure she was ready to be tossed like a ragdoll, espescially on a blacktop and concrete environment like this. She appreciated the fact that he wanted to wait for that stage of education until she could handle the basics more than he'd ever know.

"Uh..." She blanked, his question causing her to immediately pause. That wasn't something that had ever crossed her mind, if that was ever hard to believe. Was there a proper way to hit someone? Probably. He was trying to teach her, after all. But, was he asking her answer with a demonstration? Given the context, that probably would be the best way to answer anyway? She pursed her lips.

"Like... This?" She continued, raising her fist up and aiming to land a... Meek hit to his chest. It was probably safe to consider that she couldn't actually hurt him, but she didn't want to put all of her effort into the first punch. Gotta conserve some energy for later, you know?

Epine de Rose

-Virginiaterese hitting Athalia sound effect-

 

[Epine de Rose]

If there was ever a time to play a sad trombone it was probably now; fortunately, Athalia managed to refrain from chuckling at her attempt. Truth be told he hadn't expected much and the fact she'd given it a go was enough for him. However, now that he had at least watched her form and she seemed to have conveniently avoided wrapping her thumb up in her fingers, he was confident she could probably put a little more passion into it.

"You smacked those Youma like you were aiming to knock them out of the ball park," he pointed out. Sure, his British self had probably butchered that saying, but he still meant it. "You're telling me that this -" he reached out with a finger and prodded her teasingly. "Is the best you can do?" he asked curiously.

Shaking his head he stepped back again and beckoned towards her.

"You have strength in you so let it out," he instructed. "You're not going to break your fingers, you've proven you know how to hold your fist," he reassured her. A sly smile crossed his lips and he raised both brows. "So how about you put some of that swinging strength into it and land a proper one, hm?"

"If you send me flying then you've done your job," he added.

Admittedly he probably wouldn't let her send him anywhere just yet, he'd catch the first couple himself in the palms of his hands... but after a while, he was going to start making her 'think fast' as it were. It might take a while, but she'd get there, and then eventually he had every hope she would send him across whatever expanse they happened to be practising on at the time!

Bouquet of Diamonds

xD The visual is so cute. I can just imagine the quiet little 'poof' after as nothing happens too lolol.

Apologies for delayed tags, work has been a little crazy so I've been delayed.

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

Virginiaterese's first instinct was to fuss. The situation with the rats was completely different. She was petrified back then, which somehow helped her pulverize those rats. Athalia, however, was not a rat. He was another person. An ally made of flesh and blood and bone and not evil dark magicky stuff from the depths of hell or wherever those horrible creatures came from. She wasn't exactly well versed on how or where those things were made, just that she had to fight them if they decided to show up. But that was off the topic. She had wanted to hurt the rats then, but she didn't want to hurt Athalia now. That was enough of a difference.

Instead of saying any of that aloud, though, she forced herself to take a slow deep breath in through her nose and out again. Then, she focused on what Athalia was saying. Apparently she knew how to hold her fist and she wouldn't break her fingers. Yes, that was optimal, she didn't want that. Now he wanted her to really swing at him. Just put all of her effort into it. ... Oh God how was she going to do that?

She looked to her fists, as though they held all of the answers, and clenched them tightly. Then, a lightbulb went off in her brain. ... Maybe if she imagined a rat stuck to his chest, she could hit him harder? It might be just what she needed to do to trick her brain. She stared at his chest, imagined as big and ugly as a nega-rat as she could, and swung at him with all of her might.

Epine de Rose

That's okay, take your time! I'm about to be tablet only for a few days because I'll be house/dog sitting, so I may be slow to respond myself! o uob
Also YES. That's the exact visual I was thinking of! A little puff of smoke, LOL! |D

 

[Epine de Rose]

Hrngh...

Okay so maybe he hadn't been ready for that; whatever mindset she had gotten herself into had caught him off guard. He wasn't completely winded, but she had managed to land a considerable blow to his chest and both hands and fingers tensed ever so slightly at the impact. In those moments he was both impressed by her determination and his own ability not to wheeze and stumble backwards slightly while he groped his own chest.

...But for real though, ow.

"Ok," he cleared his throat, his tone giving away the tiniest amount of pain. She'd certainly gotten in a good punch, but in his own defence, he hadn't exactly intended to move out of the way of it either. Granted he had intended to catch it, but every other time this had happened he'd been greeted with a rather lacklustre set of attempts and it had taken five or six hits before someone actually put their back in to it.

"See, told you that you could hit something pretty hard," he continued and sucked in a deep breath, regaining his composure slowly but surely.

"And now that I know you don't need to be persuaded to actually make an effort, this time I'll make sure that I catch them," he raised a brow. "Although after the first couple I'm going to start moving and you'll have to see if you can still land one then," he smiled.

"Sound good?"

Bouquet of Diamonds

xD And just cause it was too good an op to miss... (It's bigger, I just shrank it, you can click for the full one.)

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

Oh God, she'd really hurt him! Virginiaterese's eyes drew wide as she watched him grab his chest. Her first thought was to spiral through several flailing apologies and ask him if he was okay but, by some sheer force of will, she managed to keep her cool. After all, a minute ago he'd quite literally asked her to land a proper hit, and she'd obviously done that. There was no reason for her to apologize, she was doing this right.

"The first couple...?" She parroted to herself, her brows knitting in confusion. ... Oh, he meant punches! So he wanted her to keep trying to hit him and then he'd start trying to avoid them? And he expected her to be able to keep up with that? She took a breath.

"Yeah, but just to clarify..." She replied, pursing her lips in thought. "I'm supposed to just keep trying to punch you, without stopping? Or do I need to be aiming somewhere?"

It did dawn on her that, maybe, she sounded like an idiot for asking... But it felt important to ask where it was okay for her to aim a blow before she started throwing her entire upper body into this.

Epine de Rose

I need you to know that when I saw that picture last week when I couldn't reply, I made a noise that should be classified as a siren. ; .; <3 I've never had someone draw fanart of an rp scene before and I'm touched that you got Virginiaterese's first timid punch immortalized like that! Thank you so much!

Also thank you for being patient with me. We lost power after the storm and only got it back last night. I would have replied sooner if I had an easier way to type while at one of my client's houses. My tablet hates loading Gaia so much that it outright refuses to load entire pages sometimes, so it's infuriating to try to do replies while I'm away.

 

[Epine de Rose]

"I would suggest that we aim for the larger moving target first," he had managed to regain enough of his composure to sound normal again and he motioned to himself. He could make her life a lot more challenging later, but for now he just wanted her to get comfortable with the idea of it. He'd never expect anyone to walk before they could run, but if it became very apparent she was a natural then at some stage he was just going to throw her in to the deep end.

"That being said, that doesn't mean that target is going to be quite so easy to hit this time," he raised a brow and smiled wryly. "I now have little doubt you have it in you, so in the interests of self preservation so that I can allow you to achieve more than a few blows, it doesn't seem quite as appropriate to just stand still." he pointed out.

It was the only warning she'd get.

He had other ideas of course and perhaps one or two little tricks up his sleeve but she didn't need to know that... and besides, at some stage she was going to have to get used to surprises so why not start that little lesson sooner, rather than later, eh?

"So, let's see how you do this time when your target isn't quite so inclined to underestimate you." He beckoned.

Bouquet of Diamonds

You're most welcome! I thought it would be cute and I kinda/sorta love her design as is hahaha (feel free to use it wherever you want, Yuna also mentioned we can get it coloured by someone if we want to play with that option too). No worries on tag wait by the way, that's totally ok and I know the weather is nuts over there too. <3

 

[Bouquet of Diamonds]

Virginiaterese paused, but tried not to let it show that she, still, wasn't exactly confident. Perhaps it was her own way of having a stiff upper lip, as they say. What Athalia was saying was intimidating to her, but not enough to make her want to back down. He had genuine confidence in her. He really did think she had a knack for this. She had to start believing in herself a little more. It wasn't fair to him to keep doubting herself, espescially when he was doing her a favor. She gave a little nod.

"Okay, now I understand." She replied, raising a fist to her chest in an earnest fashion. "Your confidence in me is wonderful and, I'll admit, making me a little nervous. But, I really want to learn how to fight, so I'm determined not to let you down."

She lowered her fist and readied her stance. All she had to do was channel the same energy as before and keep trying to hit him. She could do this, she could do this.

"Here goes!" She announced, hopping toward him with her arms poised for striking rapidly. She assumed that if he could recover so easily from a chest punch before, why couldn't he handle a few more?

Epine de Rose

I've already got it saved to my imgur and I added it to her journal! ; w; (Also thank you, Natsube did an amazing job with what little concept I had for her. Basically I was like "Forest witch princess??? Can that be a thing???" and she was like "Yes" and, thus, Virginiaterese was born! LOL.) And I was wondering about colors, yeah! That might be fun to get done in future! (I was going to suggest that I try my hand at it, but I'm not that great at coloring. Like, I love making CYO plushies and that's about it)

The weather has been crazy, OTL. It's super hot here again. Luckily I have a pool to throw myself into if I get too miserable. |D

 

[Epine de Rose]

Ah, well at least when he wasn't expecting less, he could certainly see more. With his expectations realigned to more appropriate levels for the talent the senshi had, he could now see some of her more subtle movements. She had tells before she took action, and while everyone did, it gave him the ability to raise a palm each time to catch her blows. His strength combined with her's ensured they were comfortable capable of cancelling one another out in that respect and she was safe to wail on him without hitting anywhere particularly sensitive.

However once she settled him he was otherwise inclined to up the stakes a little bit.

...So he moved.

Without warning he ceased catching them, and instead on the next throw, he simply deflected it off to the side. He had more than enough time in her flurry to do a small number of these, but after a moment an impish smile appeared on his lips and he simply dropped below them and rolled off to the side.

A sweep back up to stand and he beckoned in a rather cliche and teasing fashion.

"Good, now try it while your opponent is ready to move," he challenged.

After she had a moment of this? Well, he might be able to get her to squeak as he returned the favour (gently of course), she was going to have to see what it was like to have them come at her briefly as well so she was prepared for each lesson he could give.

A brief introduction to everything was all she might need this evening!

Bouquet of Diamonds

-cry- I have no colouring abilities and it makes me sad, but I could probably stick flats in it rofl.