Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mara stood there in a clearing and sighed. It was late but then again most patrolling and training happened later at night. She wasn’t a fan of it since it ruined her ‘beauty sleep’, more like screws with her time for her day job, but when her cousin had called her to ask for some training Mara hadn’t hesitated to agree. Besides, she really did want to train more. She was physically fit but not really a fighter so learning wasn’t a bad idea.

Again, she sighed, the desire to look at her non-existent watch strong. She knew that her cousin would be bringing her beau as well, which should be interesting considering their talks, but she wished they were here already. Mara had things to do and it was ******** cold out!

Wadeite, boy was that a mental trip, stomped through the darkness. The tie had already been discarded but the rest of the suit stayed on. It was annoying but it was part of his ‘uniform’ and he knew he needed to get used to it. No point in training in anything other than the clothes he would be typically in during a fight. “Sooooo, what's the point of the cat again?” He asked his companion, eyeing the feline that was tagging along. They were going to go train so why was the little alien cat there? Was she going to scratch one of them?

He was actually looking forward to the training, if only to show Abby, correction, Meinel what he could do. He was a boxer but the dainty little princess he was with had never actually seen him do anything with his fists outside of that ill fated scuffle with the snow mannequin. That one wasn’t his fault since he hadn’t exactly been expected to fight a magical construct like that. That had really been a shock.

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Rolling her eyes, Meinel looked up at Wade while holding Katya in her arms, “She can hide our signatures, make it easy so that we can have our spar without interruption.” The fact that he did not want to keep his tie on was something she really felt the need to ask about. “Why do you keep taking off your tie?” She tilted her head while looking up at him. “It doesn't get annoying to remove it every time you power up?” She pet Katya then shook her head, “You're stomping Wade…..Afraid you're going to get your backside kicked by your tiny fiancé?” Which 100% she planned on getting some kicks in with both of them.

The clearing that they were meeting at came into view and Meinel started walking faster, especially when she saw her cousin. What was her powered name again? “MARA!!!” She let the cat down gently, giving her another pet before practically running to her older cousin, trying not to tackle her to the ground. “Why does your outfit look so much better than mine?” She lamented the fact that she had a literal chest window while her cousin’s was perfectly covered. “It's not fair….”

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Turning her green eyes onto the newest member of the family team Katya almost laughed at the response he got. “She is right, if I don’t hide your signatures senshi and knights will feel it and the stronger they are means the more experience, more experience in tracking signatures. They’ll find you three with ease.” And then they’d really need to call benitoite to bail them out, he had more than enough experience to take on more than one member of order, even if he’d walk away from it injured.

Set on the ground Katya trailed after Meinel, tail waving behind her, as the mauvian approached the other female. “Mara, it’s good to see you.” Nodding her head while seating herself in front of the female, lifting a paw to pat at the raven haired female's legs. “After this you should all come over for a late night meal, replenish your energy and all.”

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Mara rocked back, nearly shoved off her feet by the rocketing hug of her cousin. “Meini, calm down. I would rather not end up on the ground quite so fast, and at least you have a longer skirt.” She gently chided the younger woman before looking over at the new male, “Wadeite.” Her greeting to him was quite different then the one she gave Meinel. It was much more curt and guarded. She knew about him, likely a lot more then he even realized, and was still reserving her judgement regarding him. If her uncle chose him then he must have some benefit, other then the one thing that all males had that is.

“Katya,” She nodded to the cat. “I would be happy to take you back home, I can always float some work related things past Beni while I’m there.” Mara was rather focused on her day job. This whole ‘senshi’ thing was more of a second job as far as she was concerned. She would still put in the time and energy required, the same for any job, but it wasn’t what she was truly focused on. “I do appreciate the assistance with suppressing our signatures and I hope you will point out a few things to work on.” Mara still wasn’t an ‘animal’ person but if she mentally pictured Katya as a human it was so much easier to converse the same as with any other person. It also didn’t hurt that the guardian cat didn’t act like a normal feline. Much to her relief.

“Alright. Let's get this ball rolling.” She said, taking charge of the whole situation, and absolutely ignoring the look she was getting from Wadeite. “One on one or are we tag teaming?”

“Because I prefer to breathe without being strangled,” Wadeite explained his hatred of his tie. “Besides, it is just asking for someone to grab and yank. That would suck in a fight. It's not great that I’m in this getup to begin with, so might as well try to make it as easy to fight in as possible.” It was a logical reason. Not the main one, but a logical one nonetheless. Mostly he just hated how it made him feel. Less himself. More corporate stooge. So the tie came off. “Oh princess. I’m not afraid of that, in fact I’m looking forward to it because,” he leaned over but was HIGHLY aware of the cat in her arms, “turnabout is fair play.” While she might dominate this little sparring session, he would be the one getting the most enjoyment out of their time… later.

He just nodded, returning Mara’s brief greeting with one just as brief. The woman seemed more robotic to him, it made the skin between his shoulder blades itch. Wade kind of wanted to do or say something to make her crack. Anything to prove the raven haired woman wasn’t some automaton. He practically twitched when Mara started to round them all up, as if she was the one with the most experience there. That was the cat actually as far as Wade knew, but it still had him looking at her like she had just said something stupid, even if he kept his mouth shut. He had no real idea how this team ran things so it was the most prudent move, regardless of how it made him wish to speak up.

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While she knew what he meant, Meinel did choose to ignore what Wade said, figuring she would be the one getting the last laugh anyway. However, after nearly knocking her cousin to the ground, Meinel gave the older woman a cheeky grin. “But what if that was the plan all along?” The cold greeting she gave her other half did not shock her in the slightest considering her personality. She figured the two would take a minute to get along and really they had a pretty long time to figure it out. Having been used to her older cousins' take charge personality, Meinel stepped back with her hands loosely behind her back. “Well, when I was training with Beni and Kafka, we just…Started. Mostly me and Kafka trying to survive against Beni really. But I think it would be fun for us to have a free for all. It's not like the enemy would ask us if we want to go first right?”

From what she's seen on the other side, they were pretty….Strange. Not very many fighters among them it seemed. Not that she could blame them, she happened to find fighting to be exhausting and god forbid should she break a nail or something. Looking at Katya she asked, “Are we using powers or is this just physical?”

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“That would be lovely Mara, I’ll text Beni ahead of time so there can be some food waiting for us.” She could, and would, text her general while she sat and watched the three of them. She was more than capable of multi tasking, though that wasn’t often what she did, she thought it prudent to give her full attention to tasks she took on. “I’ll keep an eye out for anything which stands out Mara.” Enjoying the attention from the dark haired corrupt Katya strolled off, taking a seat away from the group so she didn’t get in their way.

”No, senshi and knights would never ask. They tend to throw their magic about, some tend to only use their magic as they’ve apparently forgotten they have two hands and two feet which can be weaponized.” The mauvian clearly didn’t like order, and thought little of them in fact, she was forever glad that she had changed sides nearly as soon as she’d awakened as a mauvian. “Benitoite can handle taking two of you on at once, as a general he has been jumped by multiple people at once.” The target on his back was rather large, he’d been around long enough to gain a reputation, it would be a good idea for order to try and take him down quickly in a large-scale battle.

“This training should be without rules…fight whomever you want and change it up. It’s more realistic that way. I’ll see if next time I can’t bring Beni, or Kafka in..perhaps even Stitchite.” She was also certain he was seeing someone…an eternal corrupt if she was right. She had been planning to visit him one night when she’d spied someone entering his home. She’d figured out who it was, a quick scan over officer files. She might talk to the eternal and see if they wouldn’t mind assisting as well, they had a few years under their belt as well.

“I say use magic as well, it’s best to get used to your ranges and learn how to deal with magic attacks…either throwing them off or avoiding them. So long as no one is seriously injured.” Nodding her little head as she made herself comfortable…and pulled a cell phone out of subspace so she could send a message to her little blond general.

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Mara nodded, grinned, and with a nod towards the cat who was now well out of the range of fire looked over at Wadeite. “Well, it seems like we are in consensus.” She made sure her cousin was not in the way before she took a few steps forward and called upon her magic. “Little Apple of Pain”, she flicked her fingers towards Wadeite, expecting the magic to work the way it was meant to, the way she knew it would work, only to look on in abject horror as the little droplets of magic changed trajectory and ‘targeted’ Meinel.

“Mei! No!”



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Wade narrowed his eyes at the smile on Mara’s face. That was not a nice smile. He figured he would be the one to be attacked, better him than Meiniel, but it still irked him and that smile was definitely not helping. So the Lieutenant braced for the attack, taking a protective boxing stance, his ‘weapon’ settled firmly on his knuckles. They weren’t exactly brass knuckles but they were better than just bare fists.

What he was not expecting was the magical attack, or how it seemed to backfire so very badly. “********,” He hissed as he quickly changed tactics and ran towards his fiancee, shoving Mara out of the way.

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Meinel grinned when Katya confirmed that this would be a free for all of sorts, very prepared to take on her cousin and fiance. This was going to be different from fighting Beni and Kafka since both Mara and Wade would probably fair a lot better in a fight than dearest kafka. She prepared herself, only to narrow her eyes when both cousin and fiance decided to focus on each other rather than her. Being a whole rank above them, she thought she would be the main focus and she hated the fact that she was not. Huffing, she started making her way towards them, about to run her finger along her belly to start her power when all she heard was a shout of Mei no!

What? Why did Mara say no?

She found out soon enough when some sort of sap smacked her right in the chest.

At first, she didn't register what was happening till there was a burning sensation on her chest that was increasing in its intensity. At first, Meinel thought she could handle it, she would have to because the enemy would not take her well-being into consideration when it came to fighting. But as time went on, she could feel blisters forming, bubbling and at that point, the instinct to reach and hold her chest was getting very hard to ignore. With watery eyes and clenched teeth, Meinel tried not to cry out while running her finger along her leg. Mara did not mean to target her but that didn't mean she couldn't get her back. Even as she saw Wade heading her way, she looked at Mara with a pained smile.

“O-Oleander’s D-Deceit…”



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Katya was glad to be out of the way, she didn’t fancy the idea of magic being flung her way, she was just here to watch things and keep everyone safe. If she got involved, a very big if, it would be a surprise for everyone that she had a laser beam available to her. She wasn’t much for fighting, even if she certainly could, she would much rather train and mother hen those who made up her team. Mara’s magic she hadn’t seen yet, thus she was curious, she knew the older woman was one of those older corrupt senshi who had magic which acted on it’s own at times. Something she and Benitoite would need to fix, just like Rene’s, it wouldn’t be good in a battle if her magic turned against her.

But for now she didn’t say anything, it was something which would be handled though, but it seemed the issue wouldn’t be fixed before someone in the family got hurt from it. Cursing the mauvian went to pull the small medical kit she kept in subspace, if it was bad enough she’d pull her little phone and send a text out to Lorcan, it was obvious that the super was in pain even though she did still manage to use her magic. That was good, and she did clap her little paws, because an enemy wouldn’t stop because they had hurt someone. Meinel would need to be able to hold her own till help arrived, or the fight came to some conclusion, it meant fighting while in pain…like she was doing now.

“I have a med kit if you need it. But I’m proud to see you still using your magic and fighting back!”

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Mara staggered back when Wade pushed her but she was less concerned about the man then she was about her cousin. She bit her lip and even started to reach out as if she would be able to help. She really hadn’t meant to. She only wanted to make sure the boy had what it took to protect her cousin, not hurt Meinel!

Before she really had a chance to wrap her head around just how FUBAR things went, the sweet smell of wine wrapped around her. Dazed, she took several steps towards her before tripping and landing on her knees as everything went unstable under her feet. The senshi broke out in a cold sweat as she did her best to calm her rapidly rebelling stomach. She was able to keep everything under control, to some extent, but did shoot a look over at the cat, who seemed to find the whole thing valid rather than one twisted game of magical warfare.

Though it did mean that they should continue to fight, even when it felt like she had one horrid bout of motion sickness. Swallowing down the urge to be sick, and trying to really see straight, Mara did the only thing she could think to do… she threw a snowball. A hastily constructed, badly aimed, snowball.

Wade wasn’t more than a few paces from Meinel when her magic took effect. He had felt it before so it didn’t really come as much of a surprise when a wave of dizziness had him staggering. Nor was the rather violent need to drive heave. That he was able to control even if it made him sound strange as he stood next to her, “You ok?”, reaching out to help. The urge to be physically sick was strong, and it was only getting stronger as the floral scent continued. The ground was starting to spin but still he kept to his feet, he might have been unsteady but he was still standing.

At least he had been before something hit him right on the back of the head. The cold that slipped beneath his collar gave him a damn good idea of what just happened…. He had just gotten beamed with a snowball. Between the impact and Meinel’s magic, Wade couldn’t help but stagger forward, trying to twist so he wouldn’t land on his fiancé but his hands snagged on something, he didn’t know what. He was going down, he just hoped he wasn’t going to take Meinel down with him.

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Lord, they would have to have a meeting to discover what everyone's power is.

Meinel would have giggled if the situation wasn't a bit more serious, shaking her head at the offer of a medikit. Hopefully the pain would go away once Mara’s powers wore off.

So instead, she looked at Wade as he got closer, frowning. He knew how her powers worked right? Why was he still coming closer when he should be moving in the opposite direction? “Wade….” She was still in a bit of pain, “You're not supposed to get close when I use my powers, you know this…I’ll be fine…Hurts but that's what I expected.” She saw that Mara was basically down for the count. This was a victory for her, but it was short lived since Wade went to reach out for her, but instead of placing a hand on her shoulder or arm, Meinel let out a squeak of embarrassment when said helping hand managed to snag the front part of her outfit. She could feel the breeze on the exposed side of her chest as she went down, landing in a way that was on top of Wade but also on the side…Which, exposed chest meeting the snow? Never a good feeling.

“O-OH MY GOD THAT IS COLD!!! KATYA! I-I'M DONE I'M DONE!”

Was the only thing she could say as she got up slowly so as to not expose herself again, the senshi sniffled and kept her exposed chest covered, powering down immediately. Before leaving she sighed and squatted down, poking her fiancé in the cheek. “Wade…….Get up.”

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Katya for her part was very proud of them all, fighting on and moving past the magic affecting them. Clapping her little paws the russian blue pawed her way over towards the group once she was certain to be safe from the magic in the air, she was not interested in becoming it’s victim as well. “Are you done over just a little cold?” She questioned, tilting her head at the super senshi before her.

“Your fiance did well, walking towards you despite your magic and knowing what it did. Sometimes you’ll have to press on, despite a senshi or knights magic, and push aside its effects as best as possible. A fight is a fight and it’s best to learn to tolerate certain things…to push certain things aside be it pain or something else. In a big battle you may not have an option to escape or avoid things…it might wind up one fight after another or escaping one and getting cornered by someone else.” So she needed them to build up their stamina and resistance, their tolerance, for pain and other things.

“I’ll find an eternal for you three to train against, I have someone in mind.” She’d been doing her research and had a good idea, their magic wouldn’t harm anyone physically but would be a lesson in pushing past things. His magic being the emotional sort would be just perfect for things, as it wouldn’t cause them any physical damage while also teaching a good lesson. “I can also have you three train against Benitoite, though that would be a lesson in dealing with weapons more than anything.” She said this while sitting herself Infront of Meinel and patting her gently. “You did well, you all did, but the cold is no reason to end a battle.”

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Mara took a few more deep breaths, glad when the urge to be sick faded, before shakily climbing to her feet and making her way over to the two lovers embraced in the snow. “Mei, are you ok? I don’t know what happened… I didn’t mean to target you.” She tried to see only to lose any possible visual of magical damage by Mei powering down.

“Katya,” Mara took her cousin’s cue and also powered down, glad to have many more layers on as a civilian. “Why did my magic go awry? I didn’t indicate attacking her, hell she wasn’t even in the line of fire per say so why?” She reached down to offer the cat a hand up. It was still snowy out so she figured the feline would prefer to be off the ground… It just happened that her fingers were cold and cuddling the cat could help with that. “I had meant to hit him.” There was no need to indicate who ‘him’ was.

Wade knew Mei was tumbling down with him so he tried his best to be the thing she landed on, and to some extent he was successful since she was partially on him and partially on the snowy ground. Something that became exceedingly obvious when she nearly screeched his ear off. At first he was going to hold her close, so she would be pretty much just laying on him, but before he could do so Mei got up before promptly powering down. He sat up at the poke, eyeing her. “You ok, princess?” He knew the pet name would rile her up but hopefully it would also shake her from any lingering feelings she felt from him accidentally taking them both to the ground. He had no clue that he had done more than made them involuntarily make snow angels.

“Gee thanks,” He scoffed at the ice queen who was reaching out for the cat. “Maybe you should work on your aim before more people get hurt by friendly fire.” Wade waited a few more moments before climbing to his feet and brushing himself off, no point in getting covered in snow… again. Once clear of lingering snow, he too joined the women and powered down. “Honestly Katya, it might be best to see what's going on with her magic before we go back to slinging spells.” The man explained to the cat, “I’m all for sparing without magic but if we need to get used to everything then limiting it won't be a good idea. But still best to figure out what went sideways.” He would have been a bit more critical of the dark haired woman if it wasnt so obvious that she really hadn’t meant for it to happen like that.

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The cold was a definitive reason for her to end the battle since she had a wardrobe malfunction. The cat could try knowing what the ice cold did to one's nips, then maybe she would see what the issue was. But then again, Katya was like the mother they all didn't ask for and needed at the same time. Once Wade was Ben again, Abby had her arms crossed, standing up to narrow her eyes at her wayward fiancé. “Abby, Ben. NOT princess.” Ever the one to have the last word in anything, the smaller blonde rolled her eyes and walked towards the cat, picking her up carefully.

She's never heard of a senshi’s power going awry like that, and despite the pain it caused, she was interested to know more and to help her cousin resolve it. The fact that Mara, now Ophie, meant to hit Ben was somehow amusing to her now. She should've just let them brawl and come around later. Next time she would try that and see what happens. But then again, they would be going against Beni in the future so…THAT was going to be interesting. “Are we leaving now? My chest is still cold…”

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“That magical issue is normal, or rather it is normal for somehow who awakens as a senshi later in life. Most awaken young, teenagers, as adults it means the magic is a bit…off shall we say. In that it may not do anything, it may be weaker than it should…or stronger. It can also do as you just saw. It is another thing to get used to. Just because someone's magic is haywire does not mean it will keep a senshi, one who sides with order, from a fight and their magic may just do what you saw now. You have to expect things to happen that you do not expect, that are not aimed at you, sudden attacks from people you do not see even. Some will turn up to help a friend you are fighting and you will find yourself being jumped suddenly.” Happy to be in someone's arms, they were warm, Katya was pleased to curl into the arms which held her.

“Perhaps we can call it a night for now…but we will continue things. I want you ready for these sorts of things. While large scale battles are rare it is for that reason that we train for it, you won’t get much training in the field, and you need to be ready for those fights. They can become very dangerous if you are not used to such things.” To be ready for anything, including haywire spells, she wanted them ready before the next big incident happened. It might not happen tomorrow, or even next month, but it would happen. There would be something big and they would be there and they’d need to be ready.

“I’m going to talk to an eternal corrupt…I want you to fight him next. Learn to push past his magic and ignore it. It’s nothing physical.” But they’d find that sometimes that was not needed, other magics could leave a person open and vulnerable.

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Ophilia suppressed the urge to stick her tongue out at her cousin for the kitty usurpation since Abby was the one who practically face planted into the snow. It was the least she could do. Instead she focused on what the guardian was saying. The cat brought up good points but it still irked her that because she wasn’t ‘young’ her skills were messed up. It was rude. So very rude.

”Very well, I agree that further training is a good thing but I would also like to work on how to iron out the issues in my own magic.” She needed to get that fixed ASAP because friendly fire is not something she wanted to be known for. A glance at her watch proved it was late, it had been late to begin with. “But that is something that can wait until tomorrow… well, later today.” Ophilia corrected herself and with a nod to her cousin and the cat, barely giving the man a look, she gave her good-bye’s and slipped into the shadows. Her mind was already creating a list of things to ask Alex and goals she wanted to strive for. First and foremost on both lists though was fixing her magic.

Ben just shrugged, “sounds like a plan for the morning.” He knew putting off training would just make things harder but if the cat wanted to get all her metaphorical ducks in a row first then who was he to argue. Out of everyone there he was the newest to all of this. He was just annoyed that he didn’t really get a chance to prove that he had skills other than kissing the ground with his face, violently.

When Ophilia skipped out on their meeting he knew it was past time to call it a night. “Come on ladies, I’ll give you both a ride home.” They had come as a group anyway so it only made sense.