Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mara sighed as she closed yet another book. She had spent every spare moment the last few weeks going through every book she could find in the castle but she was still coming up empty handed. She was trying everything and anything she could think of to fix her busted magic but was coming up empty. Nothing was working. Her ‘spell’ was misfiring every time. Half of the time it even caused her damage, much to her chagrin. She was nearly as useless powered, as she was as a civilian. She was useless and that galled so much. So she turned to research. There had to be something somewhere that could guide her. Anything. Even just a post-it note that gave her a hint. A scribble, an erased idea. Anything! Practically anything would help. But she was coming up with nothing. Not even the records she could find in the computer lab helped, she was beginning to fear that there was jack s**t she could do to correct her current magical hang up.

The urge to just flip the table, and its contents of books, had Mara push back and stand. She had been granted access to these precious few records, she wouldn’t jeopardize it by acting like a petulant child having a tantrum. No matter how much she wanted to set each and every useless book on fire. The dark haired corrupt took a few deep breaths, mentally counting down from fifty, trying to control the spear of anger and fear driving through her. She was on fifteen when the quiet click of a door lock disengaging had her eyes flying open to see who had located the small tucked away office she had ‘borrowed’. It was barely more than a closet with a table and chair in it but since she wasn’t a higher officer she shouldn’t ‘have’ an office. She had a plausible excuse ready but that didn’t mean she wanted to use it… Nor did she want to have what little privileges she had to rake through the records revoked. It had been hard enough as it were without explaining what exactly she was looking for, and why.

The lieutenant that barged in was definitely one of the better options in Mara’s mind. She quickly took in his outfit, and the wild hair, and made a snap decision that this person just didn’t give a crap. Not about her, the room, or themselves. Even her wildly, obnoxiously long hair was braided and secured up. I really need to just cut it, she mentally noted even as shook her head. “No. No officer here.” The corrupt started to straighten the pile of books and papers, quickly making sure that the notes she was taking were covered. “I was just doing some research, but I appreciate the offer.” It was also rather nice that he implied that she was still in school. She didn’t get that reaction much, even though she was only in her mid twenties. Apparently she was an ‘old soul’, whatever that hogwash meant.

“Mara. Nice to meet you Lieb,” Mara returned the hand shake. “Please, come in. Don’t mind me, I wouldn’t want to ruin your lunch break. Let me just,” The tall woman stacked the dozen or so books and tucked everything down onto one end of the table. “There, that should be enough space, yes?” Being nice and polite didn’t take anything, besides if they both were caught in there she could absolutely use Lieb in her excuse. So it was best not to scare them off.

“Oh just this and that,” She sidestepped the question even as the officer joined her at the table, the corrupt settling back down in her seat. “Sure, I’ll have one,” It was a bit low brow but it never hurt to just have a snack or two. That and it was always best to be relatively polite to your coworkers. With that thought in mind Mara took one of the offered chips, quickly devouring it.

Curious, Mara tilted her head slightly, “Really? You’ve never run into another negaverse senshi?” There were quite a few of them as far as she had been told. Not nearly as many officers but then again, the other side had more senshi and less knights. It was like their numbers were reversed. Her confusion deepened when he mentioned a ‘space dude’ with horns, the only one Mara knew was Almadel but he was a neutral party to this ‘war’ and as such wouldn’t have attacked Lieb. “Did you happen to get a name? They might be in the database, and if not it might be worth leaving a note in case someone else can fill in the blanks.” She munched on another chip before sighing, “I’ve only encountered one from ‘the other side’ as it were. They sucked and did some kind of mind trick with me.” She had punched the s**t, or well tried to punch the s**t out of them. She wasn’t very good at it at all though. “That and the oddest thing was their uniform was dark,” She made a move with her hand indicating her own uniform’s color, “But like, they didn’t have the same kind of marks I do.” Had she actually run into an order fighter? Didn’t they all wear light colors? She had a feeling she was forgetting something that Beni had told her about. He had given her so much information those first few weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising if something had slipped her mind.

“Ah, there is one on my team so I can’t really relate to that.” Hell, she was her cousin, but that was a closely guarded secret that she never shared. After all it didn’t matter if they were both on the same side, one didn’t share such tidbits if you weren’t prepared to have them come back to bite you in the a** later. “It’s a shame really. Sparing with one of us might help get you used to the buttbow’s magic, at least some. Though I have noticed that our magic is quite a bit more malicious so some care is best taken.” Or at least that is what she had been warned about. She also absolutely stole the ‘buttbow’ nametag from that pale haired gold digger that was one of Beni’s Captain. Mara didn’t like her, but she did like that label since it fit quite nicely.

The dark haired woman made a face at the mention of bugs under the skin, absently running her hands over her arms as even the thought of such a thing happening had her reacting. Gross. But even as she physically reacted with disgust her mind was stuck on one particular word the Lieb mentioned, ‘mirror’. Why was that familiar? What was it about the word mirror that sparked a memory? She wasn’t really listening as the officer rambled on, only with one ear at best. Instead she was trying to figure out just what was her brain trying to remember.

“Dark Mirror Senshi,” She stated triumphantly. Finally grasping at what had been lurking in the back of her mind. “He was a Dark Mirror Senshi… Sinope… so, I guess not really an Order fighter since they are more similar to us than them. Or that is my understanding at least.” The confusion was logical, after all she had run into him more than a year ago but it did make her think. Had she ever encountered a Buttbow?

“No,” She said it fast, unthinkingly, only to soften her direct denial. “ No, I can’t make you do that. I’m still learning to fight properly. There is no way I’m a good sparring partner.” It wasn’t so much that she was bad at fighting, though she wasn’t great at it, but she didn’t want to use her busted magic. She didn’t want it to backfire, or just not work at all, in front of a stranger. She didn’t want it to be revealed that she was useless as a senshi. So instead she made the excuse that she just wasn’t a good fighter. Not a lie per se, but not the reason she turned down his offer. “But I’m sure one of my team mates could be a good sparring partner. In fact I know a good one. He is a lieutenant and a brawler so he doesn't use his weapon much either.”

It also didn’t hurt that Mara would happily watch Ben get his a** beat. And even better, she could explain it away as training! Abby couldn’t be mad at that!

“Ice pop?” Now that was a term that Mara hadn’t heard before. “You mean a popsicle? How would that even work? Wouldn’t it melt?” She knew that the weapons the officers were granted were more or less toys, Ben’s or rather Wade’s, is a fidget toy… but food stuff? They could be food? “What would happen if you ate it?” She asked curiously. It had honestly never occurred to her that a weapon could be food, or that it could be consumed. She shook off the offer of the sandwich with a polite ‘no thank you’ before asking one final question about his weapon, “If you ate it… would it have no calories when you make it disappear? If so, that sounds like the best diet food ever.” She grinned, only half joking. The other half was curious because anything that let you have a sweet treat but wouldn’t spike your calorie or sugar count was a damn good thing!

Mara nodded and tapped her stack of books, “I appreciate the offer. If I ever need the help I’ll be sure to let you know.” That was a lie. A polite lie, but a lie nonetheless because hell would freeze over before she let anyone other than her family into her little research project. And even that group was limited to like two people… three because his a** happened to be there when she tried her magic out the first time. And she didn’t consider him family. Even if he was marrying in, if she didn’t get rid of him first.

“Well that is just down right rude,” Mara informed Lieb. “But I guess it’s for the best. You never really know what it's made out of so it could be hazardous to consume.” Ah well, it was just a shame though. There were so many things she could think to do with it. Endless drinks. Never ending sugar like the officer said. A boost of energy when needed. As it was thought it was just the forbidden blue liquid… like windshield washing fluid!

“Are you sure? I don’t mind vacating,” She offered, even if she didn’t really move. There weren't many places to go where she could spread out. Instead she took the offered chips and nodded. “Thank you and I will definitely pass on your name to Wade, the lieutenant I mentioned. It was a pleasure meeting you.” It really had been. They weren’t exactly what one would say as conventional, but it was a nice break from the esoteric and rather useless texts she had been pouring over. Maybe once she got her magic figured out she would actually try sparing with him, but in the meantime she needed to knuckle down and get through these texts because she had nothing else to go on.