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That day had sucked. Royally! Massively! Epically! There weren’t words in the English language that quite describe just how bad her day had been. Truthfully even she didn’t believe it. The whole end of her day was more or less a haze as she left her condo to take in the city at night. It was not the safest move but she wasn’t thinking about that. She wasn’t thinking about much of anything right now. She was much more focused on the past, more specifically on that one night in April. That one night that ended in a way she never expected. She had been sober by the end, hell she was fairly sober before the start, but there was nothing that inhibited her actions and yet the whole thing felt like she had had an out of body experience. It was hard to think it really had occurred, and yet… it did.

And now that bill was coming due.

Dessie just started to walk silently, contemplating so much and yet retaining so little. A flash of colored light showered down upon her, drawing her attention to the sky where a massive bloom of fire lit everything up. A huge firework that bathed the entire city in light, but made no sound, and left the young woman blinking in the afterglow of the explosive. Its afterimage leaving a bright spot in her vision, obscuring her view of the world around her for a little bit. Icy blue eyes blinked rapidly, but the glow only faded slightly but what was really strange was that it seemed to move. It seemed to beckon her forward, across the street and into a park. A dark and solitary place at night in Destiny City? Bad idea. Bad idea all around but Dessie knew how to protect herself. She was not some damsel in distress.

But still she hesitated for a moment, her arm absently drifting across her abdomen, as if she was holding herself back… or protecting herself. Gritting her teeth because she wasn’t scared, or worried, or anything, the young woman quickly crossed the street and melted into the dimness that was the park. There was still light but it wasn’t great.

Maybe in this dim bower of greenery she could come to terms with what she had learned, and decide what her next steps were.

The light faded even as Dessie just found herself standing in the middle of an empty park. Why exactly was she there? It was a stupid move that’s for sure. Just standing there was practically begging someone, or something, to come and get her… not that they would find her an easy target. If there was one thing that Dessie knew it was how to take care of herself.

And yet, if what she had just found out was true her biggest strength was locked away from her for quite some time. She would be limited to just her own hands and feet, her own will to live and survive. She could still kick a**, it just wouldn’t be as easy when facing down certain magical nuances. With an uneasy feeling growing in her chest the blonde woman turned to leave only to face a shadowy creature. A monster that she knew exactly what it was even though she had not encountered one for several years. An entity that she was hoping not to run into. The only way it could have been worse was if along with the youma, a handler or two were to appear.

Dessie hesitated a second, a second that cost her as the youma roared and swiped at her with its clawed paw. She was able to get out of the way but it wasn’t elegant or fancy, it was a tumble and a scramble, and left her on the ground a little distance away. Not exactly the best position for fighting a much larger, kind of looked like a messed up bear, youma that wanted to chomp down on her.

It all happened so fast. She was on the ground with a youma looming above her and then two voices came out of nowhere, the youma started to meander around like it had no clue where it was anymore, and two senshi appeared. One, an older male, taking a single knee as he caught his breath, the other a young girl, came to stand at Dessie’s side. “What?” Light, icy colored, blue eyes blinked at the chibi before looking down and spotting the charm as well, “No. Nope, not at all.” She had a few at home already, the poor scuffed little trinket was not something she had dropped.

Wait! There were more important things going on right now!

With a bitten back curse, there was a kid there after all, Dessie got to her feet. She absently placed a hand on her abdomen for a second before raking the area with her gaze. She needed a weapon and quickly, whatever magic the duo did wouldn’t hold out forever, so it was best to arm oneself as fast as possible. They had seconds at best.

There!

It wasn’t a great weapon but it was a weapon none the less. Dessie quickly ran over to the trash can that was sitting at the side of the path, yanking at the dingy yellow handle. What she extracted from the refuse was a plastic bat, it had been tossed because it had a noticeable bend in the middle of it but it would serve her purposes just fine. Once armed the young woman turned back towards the creature of chaos. She was certain that between herself and the other two senshi, they could dust this critter back to hell where it belonged.

Dessie had nearly a decade under her belt when it came to fighting, more so if you counted her childhood. She had not been neglecting her training while she was overseas, in fact she had actually picked up more skills. Namely fencing. Fencing was elegant, quick, and very, very useful when it came to using a weapon but she was still much more at ease with the down and dirty brawling style she was used to. At least when it came to dealing with youma and other creatures of chaos.

She had gotten in a few glancing blows before the youma seemed to regain its awareness of its surroundings. If she had to guess the magic that one of the senshi did had worn off. It of course did not take kindly to the pale blonde woman with a plastic bat for a weapon. It roared and went to swipe at her once more when something threw it off balance, its claws passing through the air quite harmlessly. Pale brows rose for a split second when she spotted the Eternal, she finally spotted the butt wings, going after the youma. Good on him.

“I’ll keep it distracted. You go for the heart or the head. It's the fastest way!” She called out, even as these little cubs came from behind to cause some minor damage to the youma. It was the second time that had happened. Had to be the chibi’s doing… Mr. buttwings over there was too damn busy to cast magic if Dessie was any judge. “Oh, No, You…. DON’T” She let swing with the bat when the youma looked like it was about to claw at the eternal, the plastic made a rather satisfying thwap, even as the creature roared in annoyance.

With the youma dusted it was more then time to go home, pleasantries be damned, but apparently she got stuck with an eternal who felt like giving out a mini lecture. Once again a single brow rose, even as her icy blue eyes just stayed locked on his, a deadpan expression on her face. “Whatever you say butt-wings.” He hadn’t fought all that badly, he and the kid worked well together. Dessie would guess either one hell of a close knit team or family of some sort. It was the same way her family fought, with trust in each other but still protecting everyone’s backs.

Her cool expression faded as she looked over at the young girl, a light smile flashing across her lips “You did great kid. Thanks.” It was a real shame that the child was part of this nonsense but at least it seemed she had a decent head on her shoulders. No point in jumping into the frey if you have something that will work at a distance.

“Well, since it seems my work here is done,” she snarked, not like she had any work in the park that time of night anyway, “best be on my way. Rather not stick around for the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood gang to show up.” With a nod to the eternal and a little finger wave to the chibi Dessie made her way back to the trash can to chuck her improvised weapon back where she got it. Sadly she noticed that something in the trash was rancid, she must have dislodged whatever it was when she yanked the bat out. The smell hit her, making her gag for what felt like a full minute, but was more likely just a few seconds. Before eather senshi could say or do anything, with one hand over her mouth and pinching her nose closed she held up the other in a stopping motion. The bat was forgotten on the ground by her feet.

Green around the gills, the young woman rapidly extracted herself from the fog of stink, gulping in the relatively clean air of the park once far enough away. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” The ‘stop’ hand was still up but she released her nose and mouth only to cross her abdomen like the smell had hurt her stomach. “It just was nasty. I’m ok. Nothing a good night's rest won’t fix.” Her ‘reassuring’ smile was as plastic as that bat was, and just as crooked.

Dessie just nodded in understanding, she got the whole ‘say something so they don't do something stupid later’ idea. Hell she had done it herself a time or two. Still didn’t mean she liked being on this side of the lecture. With that done, the youma dusted, and her nausea mostly handled she needed to leave. She still needed to get back to the condo to grab her stuff before going to the house.

With a wave, she left, not bothering to look back or react to the thing the young senshi said. If only the kid knew… The eternal wasn’t the only one that was dressed like that when powered up. Not by a long shot.