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 Posted: Sun May 15, 2022 9:58 am
Adria met Lysithea that night, right on time. He’d stopped at a nice little sandwich place and gotten some dinner and snacks for them, and even if he was a little nervous about sparring, he was excited to go visit his homeworld. He hadn’t been in a while–in too long. He was excited to share with Lysithea, and he hoped she’d liked it.
Traveling there had been easy; they met up in the park and he’d given her a quick hello before he hooked arms with her.
Now on Adria, two suns hung low in the sky, casting a radiant golden glow over everything. When they arrived, they were standing in a field of golden grass that danced in the wind and tickled at his midriff. He pushed it aside instinctively and held Lysithea’s hand as he guided her towards the beach.
They were only a few yards away from the sand, and under the light of the dual suns the beach glistened like someone had sprinkled glitter into it. It smelled salty, but not overwhelmingly so. A pleasant, flowery fragrance carried on the wind. White lilies grew in abundance nearby and seemed to add another layer of peace to the world.
Clear ocean water lapped at the shore peacefully; beyond that was a great expanse of nothingness. The suns hung over the water, but weren't so bright that it was impossible to appreciate the colors of the sky–purples and reds and oranges and pinks, all brilliantly blended together.
“The sand is good for training, it makes you work on your dexterity a little more,” he said, swinging his bag of treats for them. “Have you thought about what types of things you want to practice, or do you just want to work on your magic?”
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 7:21 pm
Lysithea looked around, her eyes bright with curiosity and excitement. The idea of spending time with Malcolm–Adria. It was wonderful and, now that she was here…
“Adria, this place is stunning. Do you come here all the time? I know that I would if I were you!” Truthfully, she had already forgotten that they were supposed to spar, and when he mentioned it, she blinked in some confusion before giving a rather sheepish grin. “Oh. s**t, I forgot the whole purpose of this. Um. No, truthfully, I don’t have any kind of magic that’s helpful for this. It’s just healing magic but. How do you best fight? Will you show me? Or, show me your magic so I can see what it is my partners can do?”
Get the boring stuff out of the way so that she could enjoy exploring his homeworld a little more was really what she wanted to ask for but…
She didn’t. Not yet, at least.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2022 8:38 pm
Adria couldn’t help but smile a little. He hadn’t done much for this world, he’d sort of just found it like this. But it had been good to him and he couldn’t help but be proud of it. Maybe it wasn’t fair to call it his when he hadn’t put in the work towards it, but…
He hadn’t come up here to be self deprecating, he came up here to show Lysithea and spar somewhere safe.
“Yeah, I can show you. My magic isn’t really a big deal, it’s just a distraction. But, um–we can practice! I’ll use it, you try to break free. That’s important too, I guess. Even if you aren’t fighting, you have to be able to take care of yourself. The best offense is a good defense, right? Or…”
He paused. “That might be the other way around, I’m not actually sure.”
There were plenty of safe places to set down the bag of food, so he laid out a little blanket first and then set the food atop of it before drifting a little closer to the beach. “You should probably stretch before you spar or anything. Or go out in general. I did before I powered up. Oh–magic, right. Okay. So this is important! I’m going to use my magic. Try to break away–and as soon as you can, I want you to dome and try to hit me, okay? As hard as you can, as fast as you can. I’ll be okay. If I get hurt, you can always heal me!”
They were here to spar. They were going to do this. He gave her a few seconds to get settled in, and then he sucked in a breath and called his magic.
A few feet away from him, the illusion of a letting setting sun appeared.
Quote: Sailor Scout Attack: Setting Sun Adria summons a baseball sized glowing orb into his hand and is capable of throwing it up to ten feet away. Once thrown, the orb, mimicking a sun, will begin to set. Everyone within a five foot radius of the orb will feel a peaceful warmth wash over them; they will feel compelled to watch the orb set. It is relaxing but not threatening; the orb can do no damage to anyone who comes in contact with it nor the ground beneath it. The attack is primarily distraction and stronger willed individuals can break free of its spell. It will last for thirty seconds and can be used three times per battle.
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 5:11 pm
Lysithea huffed softly, wrinkling her nose at the very idea of trying to hit Adria. He was her best friend and the very thought of him being injured...of her causing the injury it…
It made her stomach feel horribly unsettled.
“...I don’t know if I can hit you, I mean…I…”
But he was already using his magic and Lysithea turned towards it, the words dying on her tongue. Oh…it was beautiful. It was soft and warm and lovely and…
She wanted to keep watching it, but something rang in her mind…try to…try to break away? What…what a funny…
Magic. This was magic. Adria’s magic and he wanted her to try to break it…and then to hit him, and with every ounce of strength that Lysithea had, she wrenched her gaze away from the orb and huffed out a long breath, almost tripping over herself as she closed the distance between herself and Adria…and managed a pathetic little slap to his shoulder, still trying to blink away the soft peace she had felt watching the sunset.
“...s**t. That’s strong.” Not dangerous…not overtly dangerous…but strong.
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 6:17 pm
Adria was ready to try and defend himself from an assault, but there wasn’t really any force behind Lysithea’s slap. He’d raised his hand to deflect but when she hit him he could tell her heart wasn’t into it.
“Not all the time,” he admitted. “I think it’s stronger on you because you didn’t want to hurt me in the first place. It doesn’t usually work that well when someone wants to attack me, but, um. I mean, I think if we keep practicing and you can focus more and learn to hone yourself, it might help against other magic that’s designed to distract you, too? Just to be on the safe side. I’m…”
He hesitated for a moment. “I’m not the best at actually fighting. Like, attacking people. But I’m a pretty good punching bag.” He laughed, a little shyly. “So my magic is pretty much good for buying a little time, either for me to get away or someone else to be more useful than I could ever be.”
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 6:25 pm
“Buying you a little time or allowing your allies to wreck their faces. God, if you use that and you’re in a group? Adria honey, that’s terrifying and kind of fantastic. But…no, I didn’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t hurt you. I love you. A terribly large amount of love for you I have just cascading through me and even the idea of hurting you kind of makes me sick.”
Lysithea hesitated and flopped against the other senshi, looking up at him with a pleading expression. “...Since we’ve seen your magic, do you want to have our picnic now? Have our picnic and just talk about your books and maybe…you can give me some pointers in beginning to write myself? Like, I really think I’d like to do some children's books or something. Not saying I want to write about unicorns…but something…with unicorns sounds…kind of fantastic, to be honest with you.”
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 7:14 pm
Even now, he didn’t really seem like he knew how to accept any sort of praise. His cheeks and ears turned pink and he couldn’t meet her gaze. He smiled appreciatively, but his brows still knit worriedly.
He was afraid she was overestimating his ability. Afraid he’d wind up disappointing her at some point.
He didn’t tell her that he usually didn’t go out with anyone, he didn’t have people to go out with. And going out alone was dangerous. It was complicated.
“Oh, um–yeah, we can do lunch. Adria’s always good for a picnic, sometimes I come up here when I just want some fresh air. It’s peaceful. It’s a good place to start if you just need to clear your mind and get some inspiration. So, um–yeah, we can talk. I think a kid’s book about unicorns sounds really cute. But I think you can do anything you want. I can give you my tips. I have–well, you know I have a blog. But I can help. You know I talk stories and publishing seriously, so um–yeah, anything you want to know. We can stay here for as long as you want. Or talk about it whenever you want, I’ll always be here for you.”
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Posted: Sat May 28, 2022 7:21 pm
She smiled brightly and rested against Adria, closing her eyes for a moment. “Perfect. And thank you, Adria. You’ll always be there for me, and I do know that. And…honestly I think I trust it with you more than anyone else, strangely enough. But, I have your back too, Adria. Just in case you were worried. I’m not going anywhere…not again. Not if I can ever help it.”
She was home. This was home. He was home. A very big part of home. “I think we should have a picnic on Lysithea again sometime too if you’re ever interested. And a sleepover. I want to make up for everything I don’t remember and make sure that neither of us ever feel alone again…because we damn well deserve better than to feel that way.”
And that was all there was to it.
One day she would write a book, and one day neither of them would be lonely again.
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