Welcome to Gaia! ::

She stood in the empty, abandoned, parking lot and struck a pose. “Ha!” The young woman let out a little puff of sound as she punched the air, following the steps she ‘learned’ from a YouTube video. She wasn’t very good at it but she was trying.

Botein had learned quite painfully that she needed to learn how to defend herself. She couldn’t just keep relying on the kindness of strangers. Regardless of how she felt about it in the overall scheme of things. She didn’t particularly like the idea of fighting other people but if she was going to do any good as Botein she would have to. So with the determination and stubbornness of a rock, but with the pockets as empty as the dry well, she took to youtube to learn how to fight. Right then she was trying to throw a punch that wouldn’t cause damage to her wrist or hand, a common injury if the internet was correct.

Botein was a bit faster on the uptake this time when someone approached. That’s one of the reasons she picked such an open spot, she was able to see others approaching! It was a great idea and kept others from sneaking up on her like that one time. It also helped that the other girl wasn’t trying to hide her approach, between the noise she kicked up, stones and trash, and her greeting it was really easy to find her in the darkened area.

The other woman was in a really bright and flowy outfit, she was definitely wearing different clothes from the last two people she had run into after returning to Destiny City. “Oh, um, just practicing.” She answered a little sheepishly. “I found this video on YouTube that showed how to punch without hurting your own hand and well…” she trailed off and shrugged.

“I don’t suppose you have any pointers do you?” As fresh as her last encounter was in her mind Botein was still willing to give the other woman the benefit of the doubt, after all not everyone in the world was cut from the same cloth. “I’m Botein by the way.”

“It’s great to meet you Pharos! I love that name and yeah Youtube is so useful when it comes to learning new things!” Botein agreed wholeheartedly with Pharos, she had picked up many interesting tidbits of knowledge from the platform. It might be full of things that were not quite true but that's why it always took actually doing some research to verify what you see. Then again that was generally a good policy to do anyway in pretty much anything.

The strawberry blonde tilted her head slightly at the offer to help her practice from the slightly smaller woman, at around five-two herself Botein didn’t really consider height-age correlation. “Really? I would love that! So um… First I’ve got to stand here with my fists up to guard my face.” She had practically bounced as she settled herself into the form that the video had talked about, a wide stance with her non-dominant foot a little further forward than her right. Both fists up by her face, guarding from any strikes. “Ok so then I pivot my hips as I-” She faded off as she performed the punch, her right hand slowly and deliberately extending even as she shifted her lower body the way the video mentioned before resetting back into the start position. Botein repeated her moves twice more, this time at a more natural speed and with her little ‘ha’ sound that she had been making earlier.

With the punches thrown the younger senshi stopped and stood naturally, “So… what do you think? Did I do it right? I really don’t know how to fight all that well and I’ve got to figure out how to do something. I can’t keep relying on nice strangers to show up like that lady with the spear.”

“Oh,” Botein was a bit surprised by the sudden appearance of the staff. She didn’t have that, right? From what she remembered of her crash course years ago, senshi had magic while knights had weapons. Honestly Botein kind of wished she had a weapon as well since, well her magic was more of a support type not a type that would actually protect her or others in a fight. “Sure! Any practice and pointers would be greatly appreciated!”

She quickly reset her foot placement back into the one she did for the punch. “Ok so I’ll punch you!” She announced her ‘move’ but still ended up ‘throwing’ the punch in slow motion. Like she wanted to give Pharos time to counter it or hold up a hand kind of like they do in movies and the like. It wasn’t a punch that was ment to hurt if it actually landed. She didn’t want to hit the other woman, she just wanted to get use to punching. The right form and everything.

“But,” Botein faded off as she realized the other woman had a point. There really was no point to slow-mow fighting once she had the basics down. She needed to actually strike like she meant it. Or at least like she actually meant to hit the other person, not like she was in the Matrix or in some other action movie. She just didn’t like the idea of hitting someone. It just felt so….. wrong.

However, regardless of how it felt, Pharos was right. She needed to do this correctly. “Alright.” She agreed reluctantly before taking a moment to psych herself up. “Here I come!” The strawberry blonde said as she launched herself towards Pharos, her hand in the, newly learned, proper punching form. When she got closer Botein winced and took a swing at the other woman, aiming to just hit her somewhere on her torso, but since her eyes were closed there really was no telling where her punch would land. If it landed at all.

Botein’s eyes snapped open when she felt herself being yanked forward but she didn’t have any time to do more than sticking both her hands out so she didn’t go face first into the cracked asphalt. Her knees slammed into the ground, her palms scraping against the rough stone, the pain drawing a hiss from her as she came to an abrupt stop. It hurt! Her eyes teared up slightly as she sat down and inspected her hands, brushing off the debris and noticing that while she had roughed up her hand she hadn’t drawn any blood.

Gritting her teeth, the petite woman climbed to her feet, wincing as her knees protested. She frowned and took a moment to Psych herself up before she tried to hit the other fighter once again, this time keeping her eyes open. She really disliked it but Pharos had a point, fighting ment that anything could happen. A weapon just made things even more dangerous. She needed to, had too, get better at this.

Botein was silently both sad and glad that her punch just, wooshed, past Pharos. As much as the strawberry blonde knew that she needed to fight, as much as she knew that it was to save her own life, as much as she knew it had to be done, she still didn’t like it. Botein nodded and reset her stance at the knight’s suggestion. Maybe it would be easier if Pharos was the ‘attacker’ rather than herself. She didn’t really get a chance to prepare beyond what she had already done.

One second Pharos was a little away and the next she was right in front of her. Botein actually reacted, but just not in the way that the knight was hoping. The younger woman reacted by blocking the incoming punch with her arm, well more like redirecting it by swiping at Pharos’ arm with her own, even as she stepped back and away. It was a smooth motion. A practiced motion almost. Botein gaped at her own actions before it was like a lightbulb came on for her. “The Self-Defense Badge! Of course!”

It had been one of the first badges she had gotten when she became a Junior Girl Scout but it was so long ago that she had forgotten about it. The activities were more informational and mental learning then physical things but they did have to learn a few simple techniques. Apparently Botein hadn’t forgotten all of them, she just didn’t really remember them anymore. It wasn’t the same as attacking but defense was still better than nothing!

Botein was not ready for the kick, nor was it anything covered in that long ago lesson, and while she did her best to avoid and block it, she still got kicked. The senshi staggered to the side, barely staying upright. That kick had a real… kick… to it. “Wait, wait, wait!” She huffed out as she tried to avoid another attack.

She never did get that pause, or maybe she did, just not in the way she expected because before anything further occurred the sound of a rapidly approaching siren echoed in the empty space. The flash of blue and red meant that the police were at least going to be really, really close and Botein didn’t know about Pharos, but she couldn’t afford to be arrested. She didn’t want a record! “Oh dear! Time to go! Come on, this way!” She gestured for Pharos to follow her away from the direction the police were coming from. There was a hole in the fence that surrounded the empty lot that she had snuck through. They needed to make it there before they got caught, that's for sure.