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It was the first time in a while that Malus had been outside, alone. Not exactly alone; he had come out with Michel, only they’d been temporarily separated. They had been fighting a youma together, but it had been too much for Malus. He’d clammed up and taken a hit that sent him flying; he’d hurt his ankle—nothing serious—but enough that he was out of the fight.

The youma had been on the move and he’d encouraged Michel to go after it to make sure no one else got hurt because of it. Michel cared more about Malus than he did the youma, but when Malus begged him to take care of it, he had run off after it.

Malus wasn’t sure exactly what to do; he didn’t want to go home. Well, he did, but he didn’t want to go home and leave Michel out there. He was walking, carefully, trying to make sure he didn’t hurt his ankle but also trying to get full muscle flexibility again. So far, so good.

He was on high alert, though nothing seemed to be amiss. There was an Order energy signature not too far away and for a moment, Malus thought it might be wise to avoid it, but after a few rustling bushes in the darkness he realized he didn’t want to be caught alone.

He had been doing okay with meeting new people. He just needed to tap into that social side.

His stomach was in knots, but meeting someone new—an Order Senshi—couldn’t be that bad, right? Cats…didn’t pick just anyone to be Senshi. They had to be good guys.

…Right?

Mustering up what nerve he could, Malus began to head towards the Order signature, hoping this wasn’t going to be a terrible mistake.

Maybe it was how quickly Gelria had moved towards him, or how quickly the hand raised, or the fact that when Malus saw a Senshi he had a short, brief burst of fear when remembering a time when he was much smaller, and much furrier. Sometimes, he forgot he was Evan—and, more than that, sometimes he forgot he was Sailor Malus.

Sometimes he still expected Senshi to want to dust him.

The thought was immediate and brief, but it was enough to make Malus cringe as if he expected some physical contact—a slap or punch or something.

It took a few seconds before he realized he was an idiot and that was a wave. Gelria wasn’t even close enough to have attacked him—though, he might have had magic, Malus tried to justify.

It was still foolish and he tried to force a smile, only it still looked half terrified. “It’s okay,” he said quickly, voice not as stable or as loud as he would have liked when making a first impression. “I’m Sailor Malus, Senshi of Glass. I—sorry for the misleading outfit. I haven’t met anyone wearing something like this yet. But—I’m new. I don’t go out much,” he said, somehow still sounding apologetic despite just trying to make conversation.

For a brief moment, Malus faltered. “Well, I actually have a few people that I usually power up with, it’s just, we’ve gotten separated. Or, actually, he went to go fight a youma. I couldn’t—it was too strong for me, so I didn’t…I just kept getting in the way. So I’m waiting for him to come back.”

Carefully, he shifted positions and tested the extra weight on his ankle. It was little more than a dull throb now, so he relaxed a bit more.

“But, my friends have been trying to help me figure out how to use my magic and fight a little better. I’m still…really bad at that. I just get this fear that I’m going to get hurt really bad and, I don’t know, my brain is stupid. It tells me that maybe if I stay still and complaint it’ll be easier, but.”

He shrugged. “It usually doesn’t, so I wish it would stop telling me to do that? It’s like, the worst suggestion I’ve ever gotten. Uhm. So, I guess if you’ve got any tips or pointers,” he chewed on his lower lip and looked both nervous and hopeful. “I’m all ears?”

*As she took another few steps into the tall grass, a sudden sweet voice called out to her. Quickly she turned and darted out of the grass. running across the field and up to the house door, where she took off her shoes and slowly stepped in. [i]Yeah mom?[/i] she called out as she looked around for any sight of her mother nearby. The sudden smells of food flooded her nose as she entered the living room. proceeding to follow the smells through the room to the kitchen where her mother was busily chopping up some vegetables and adding them to a medium-sized pot resting on the stove. [i]Kaitlyn dear, your father just called here. He said he has a gift for you. So why don't you go into town and see what it is he has for you?[/i] she chuckled lightly as seeing her father was not really pleased with her lately for her current desicion in becoming a Breeder and not a trainer.[i]Allright.[/i] she reply Walking back into the living room, she dropped the pokeballs and set the pokeball with her pidgey inside on the coffeetable. then, picked up her backpack and began heading for the door. but, as she reached the door, the voice of her mother called out once more. [i]Oh and dear, when your in town, can you get a can of miltank milk?[/i] she sighed then shook her head before returning the answer. [i]Yeah.[/i] she reply [i]thank you dear.[/i] her mother replyed as she stepped outside once more, she put her shoes back and and darted down the dirt path swinging the backpack around her right arm and onto her back and she jogged.*

Malus offered a quick, polite smile, but he was clearly worried. “All right, but please be careful. Don’t cut yourself,” he whispered, mostly under his breath. He drew in a calming breath and wondered how long you actually had to use your magic in battle; every time he’d done it so far, he ‘d had time to mentally collect and prepare himself. The only time he’d ever tried to use his magic while his adrenaline was pumping, it had been so bad that he couldn’t even remember the words.

He’d work on using his magic in battle eventually; he needed to make sure he had a mastery of it in practice, first.

He raised his and pointed a finger to target Gelria before he called, “Glass Façade!”

Malus remained standing off to the side, holding his breath and wringing his hands together as he watched Gelria navigate his way through the magic. When Gelria rubbed at his eyes and began speaking to him, he released his breath and seemed to relax immediately. “No, I can’t see what you see. But one Dark Mirror Senshi that I used it on looked like she hurt herself, like she cut herself on some glass or something? Only, I couldn’t see anything so I have no idea.”

A part of Malus was more excited than he let on; it was a silly thing to be so happy about, but Gelria had said it was one of the prettiest things he’d ever seen, and that it was almost like a fairytale.

Those were good things.

Malus had made something good.

He seemed to have immediately drifted into a better mood and wore a hopeful, optimistic expression.

Maybe his magic wasn’t so bad. Maybe being a Senshi wasn’t so bad.

He sucked in a breath and then said, “I’m ready to try yours though, whenever you are!”

It wasn’t the first time that Malus had considered using his magic on himself, but it was the first time he had seriously considered it. It was the first time he had been hopeful and wanted to see what it could do. He wasn’t able to shake the little smile from his face as he thought about it, still clearly in a rising mood.

He tried to keep his expression even when Gelria used his magic on him but it wasn’t long before the cinnamon made its way into his eyes, his nose, his mouth…

He tried to squeeze his eyes shut but they were immediately burning; instinctively, he went to scrub at them. His nose felt like it was on fire and instinctively he tried to inhale through his mouth, but that only made things worse. Malus tried to step back and fan the cinnamon away, but it was too late. Ten seconds felt like an eternity and he was coughing, wheezing, and backing away. By the time the magic had ended, his face was red and his eyes were streaming tears.

It didn’t end quickly, it faded, and he looked embarrassed and tried to scrub the liquid from his eyes and cheeks.

“Sorry,” he rasped, throat sore from coughing. “That’s—that’s really powerful,” he wheezed. “I thought with all the time I’d spent in the kitchen maybe I’d have a little immunity but,” he had to gasp for breath, “Oh, that hurts.”

Malus did not pull away when Gelria began to help rub at his eyes; instead, he stood still and tried to cough into his sleeve, grateful just for some assistance. “I’m okay,” he promised. “I just didn’t know what to expect. I mean, I did, but I was thinking just a poof of cinnamon, like when you put the bottle down with too much force and it squeezes up into your face? I think it’s better now,” he said; it was still sore, but he could breathe and his eyes weren’t burning so much.

“I bet that’s really useful in battle, though. I bet you could use that on an enemy and get away really easily. My magic is—I mean, you saw it. It doesn’t really look like it does anything, to me at least. But yours,” he drew in another gulp of air. “That’s really neat.”

It wasn’t that he was avoiding the patrolling question, just that he needed time to think it over. “I think…I mean, maybe we could try? I…I’m sort of…I usually go out with a Knight, or the Eternal Senshi, because they know what they’re doing and I know they’d keep me safe if something happened. I’m not very brave, and not very good for backup, but…maybe if…”

Oh, damn. There was a lump in his throat and he felt his anxiety swelling up. “Maybe if we just did it for a little while…and in safe places…we could patrol some? And practice and get stronger? I’m still…I’m still working up the nerve to do things like this. I’m sorry. I know it probably sounds stupid. I promise I’m getting better. If you’d seen me a few months ago, you wouldn’t have even recognized me.”

…Literally.