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Description

Note: I had a bout of midnight inspiration and I've been working on this for about 9 hours now with no sleep so if the writing is terrible, I'm sorry.

Also note: pictured above is sort of a metaphysical vision that occurs during the sparring session (that is why the backround looks so wonky, among other things) that I will leave open to interpretation for now.

***
Jiemba was close to crying halfway through the obstacle course, but she didn’t want to shed tears in front of her friend, Cuyen. She could barely move, let alone talk, because all of her concentration was on keeping it together—holding in all of the feelings of inadequacy and consistent failure. Meanwhile, Cuyen always had an encouraging or positive phrase ready like, “Let’s take our time, we will make it,” or “I think I heard once that mud is good for your skin.”

As it happened, her and Cuyen were one of the last pairs to finish the course. Jiemba’s clothes were muddy and ripped in several places from her chronic clumsiness. Cuyen was just as muddy, and Jiemba could only blame herself for that.

“Sorry,” Jiemba uttered for probably the hundredth time to Cuyen. There was a knot in her throat that made it difficult to talk. She tried to just take deep breaths and keep her emotions in check.

Cuyen seemed confused by this, but before she could respond, a commotion arose among the crowd of senshi. Apparently someone called “Lan” and “Catori” were sparring in the center circle.

Cuyen’s face lit up with interest. She asked Jiemba, “Want to go see?”

Jiemba wanted more than anything to take a shower and run home to her clinic and have a healthy, cathartic cry. But she knew that that wouldn't fix anything. This new life--the Cloaked world, the senshi, the Lady--was her reality now, and things would only escalate from here. If she ever wanted to evolve into an asset, instead of a liability, she would need to commit herself to this.

“…Jiemba?”

“Uh, of course,” Jiemba said, her attempts at sounding enthusiastic thwarted by the hoarse, tightness of her voice.

By the time Jiemba and Cuyen made it to the sparring ring, Lan and Catori were rolling around on the ground in a display of what looked less like sparring and more like a lesson in how to publicly display affection. Jiemba had the sudden, silly urge to cover Cuyen’s eyes, but her rationality intervened: even if Cuyen wasn’t already a woman, she was a soldier, and she would soon be facing things much more serious than two people kissing in the dirt.

The two mentors got to their feet and explained that each of the senshi would take turns sparring with one of them.

Jiemba sighed. ‘Maybe I can get away with just observing,’ she thought, ‘I mean, there are a lot of us here, and I don’t know the first thing about sparring.’
Perhaps Jiemba’s plan would have worked. But when Cuyen came to the front to spar, and Jiemba saw them next to each other, with such a vast difference in size and muscle mass, the unexpected happened. Something about seeing a thin 14 year old girl get knocked off her feet by a grown, beefy adult triggered a reflex inside of Jiemba that she didn’t know she had. In an instant, it had happened, and all eyes were on her. She felt her face turn red as she realized she had just attacked the mentor sparring with Cuyen. It didn’t harm the subject, but it put a great debilitating effect on the subject’s next attacks. All of this knowledge hit her at once, making her completely immobilized with shock.

Lan spoke up. “The purpose of sparring is to train our physical ability, not magical ability. But since you seem eager to fight, Jiemba, please come forward.”

Jiemba felt her body being nudged forward, and her legs moving in zombie-like fashion towards the center of the sparring circle, where Lan stood. 'No no no please no,' her mind chanted in denial.

“Give me all you got,” said Lan, assuming a fighting stance, “no magic this time, just show me how you fight.”

‘But I didn’t even know I could do that!’ Jiemba screamed inside her head, ‘Wait, please tell me I also have some secret kung fu skills hidden in here somewhere!”

Lan approached her and threw out his fist. Jiemba dodged by landing face-first in the dirt. The sound of laughter erupted from the circle.

Lan looked a little amused, like he also wanted to laugh, as he helped Jiemba back to her feet. “In battle, you need to maintain your balance as you move, or else you give the enemy leverage against you. Let’s try that again.”

Jiemba landed on her bottom this time. And then her knees. And then on her face again. Some of the senshi were chuckling now, while others watched her with intense pity.

“Ok,” said Lan decisively when she flopped—for the fifth time—on the ground, “How about we try to not dodge at all. Just, uh, show me how you punch.”

Of all the embarrassing moments Jiemba could think of in her lifespan, this experience definitely took the cake. She was terrible at everything that Lan tried to teach her, and she was already winded after about 15 minutes in. She couldn’t dodge (gracefully), she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, and her kicks were so off-balance that she would spend most of the time regaining her posture instead of striking out.

Jiemba paused to catch her breath and wait for further instructions, hoping beyond hope that this time he would let her leave the sparring circle. She starred at the ground because she ddin’t want to see the expression in anyone’s face. However, after a moment of hearing nothing but muffled whispers, Jiemba glanced up to see Lan staring in deep concentration behind her. Jiemba looked over her shoulder, but all she saw was the crowd of senshi, looking very bored. When she turned her gaze back to Lan, he and Catori were looking at each other knowingly, as if holding a conversation.

Finally, Lan broke eye contact with Catori and told Jiemba, “That's good for now, why don't you rest up and take it easy for a bit?”

Jiemba released a sigh of relief. She kept her head down and pushed through the crowd of people, for she had had enough of the Cloaked World today. Her resolve had shattered into pieces. She needed to go back to the world she knew best, the world that she was useful in, the world where she knew what to do and how to do it; that magical place where she won battles every day against legions of bacteria, platoons of GI bleeds, and squadrons of COPD.

***

Lupus (Lan) belongs to SailorAlcyone
Cuyen belongs to GabiStar - also a big thank you to my friend, Gabi, for letting me borrow her fancy traditional art supplies! ^_^ <3

Description

Note: I had a bout of midnight inspiration and I've been working on this for about 9 hours now with no sleep so if the writing is terrible, I'm sorry.

Also note: pictured above is sort of a metaphysical vision that occurs during the sparring session (that is why the backround looks so wonky, among other things) that I will leave open to interpretation for now.

***
Jiemba was close to crying halfway through the obstacle course, but she didn’t want to shed tears in front of her friend, Cuyen. She could barely move, let alone talk, because all of her concentration was on keeping it together—holding in all of the feelings of inadequacy and consistent failure. Meanwhile, Cuyen always had an encouraging or positive phrase ready like, “Let’s take our time, we will make it,” or “I think I heard once that mud is good for your skin.”

As it happened, her and Cuyen were one of the last pairs to finish the course. Jiemba’s clothes were muddy and ripped in several places from her chronic clumsiness. Cuyen was just as muddy, and Jiemba could only blame herself for that.

“Sorry,” Jiemba uttered for probably the hundredth time to Cuyen. There was a knot in her throat that made it difficult to talk. She tried to just take deep breaths and keep her emotions in check.

Cuyen seemed confused by this, but before she could respond, a commotion arose among the crowd of senshi. Apparently someone called “Lan” and “Catori” were sparring in the center circle.

Cuyen’s face lit up with interest. She asked Jiemba, “Want to go see?”

Jiemba wanted more than anything to take a shower and run home to her clinic and have a healthy, cathartic cry. But she knew that that wouldn't fix anything. This new life--the Cloaked world, the senshi, the Lady--was her reality now, and things would only escalate from here. If she ever wanted to evolve into an asset, instead of a liability, she would need to commit herself to this.

“…Jiemba?”

“Uh, of course,” Jiemba said, her attempts at sounding enthusiastic thwarted by the hoarse, tightness of her voice.

By the time Jiemba and Cuyen made it to the sparring ring, Lan and Catori were rolling around on the ground in a display of what looked less like sparring and more like a lesson in how to publicly display affection. Jiemba had the sudden, silly urge to cover Cuyen’s eyes, but her rationality intervened: even if Cuyen wasn’t already a woman, she was a soldier, and she would soon be facing things much more serious than two people kissing in the dirt.

The two mentors got to their feet and explained that each of the senshi would take turns sparring with one of them.

Jiemba sighed. ‘Maybe I can get away with just observing,’ she thought, ‘I mean, there are a lot of us here, and I don’t know the first thing about sparring.’
Perhaps Jiemba’s plan would have worked. But when Cuyen came to the front to spar, and Jiemba saw them next to each other, with such a vast difference in size and muscle mass, the unexpected happened. Something about seeing a thin 14 year old girl get knocked off her feet by a grown, beefy adult triggered a reflex inside of Jiemba that she didn’t know she had. In an instant, it had happened, and all eyes were on her. She felt her face turn red as she realized she had just attacked the mentor sparring with Cuyen. It didn’t harm the subject, but it put a great debilitating effect on the subject’s next attacks. All of this knowledge hit her at once, making her completely immobilized with shock.

Lan spoke up. “The purpose of sparring is to train our physical ability, not magical ability. But since you seem eager to fight, Jiemba, please come forward.”

Jiemba felt her body being nudged forward, and her legs moving in zombie-like fashion towards the center of the sparring circle, where Lan stood. 'No no no please no,' her mind chanted in denial.

“Give me all you got,” said Lan, assuming a fighting stance, “no magic this time, just show me how you fight.”

‘But I didn’t even know I could do that!’ Jiemba screamed inside her head, ‘Wait, please tell me I also have some secret kung fu skills hidden in here somewhere!”

Lan approached her and threw out his fist. Jiemba dodged by landing face-first in the dirt. The sound of laughter erupted from the circle.

Lan looked a little amused, like he also wanted to laugh, as he helped Jiemba back to her feet. “In battle, you need to maintain your balance as you move, or else you give the enemy leverage against you. Let’s try that again.”

Jiemba landed on her bottom this time. And then her knees. And then on her face again. Some of the senshi were chuckling now, while others watched her with intense pity.

“Ok,” said Lan decisively when she flopped—for the fifth time—on the ground, “How about we try to not dodge at all. Just, uh, show me how you punch.”

Of all the embarrassing moments Jiemba could think of in her lifespan, this experience definitely took the cake. She was terrible at everything that Lan tried to teach her, and she was already winded after about 15 minutes in. She couldn’t dodge (gracefully), she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, and her kicks were so off-balance that she would spend most of the time regaining her posture instead of striking out.

Jiemba paused to catch her breath and wait for further instructions, hoping beyond hope that this time he would let her leave the sparring circle. She starred at the ground because she ddin’t want to see the expression in anyone’s face. However, after a moment of hearing nothing but muffled whispers, Jiemba glanced up to see Lan staring in deep concentration behind her. Jiemba looked over her shoulder, but all she saw was the crowd of senshi, looking very bored. When she turned her gaze back to Lan, he and Catori were looking at each other knowingly, as if holding a conversation.

Finally, Lan broke eye contact with Catori and told Jiemba, “That's good for now, why don't you rest up and take it easy for a bit?”

Jiemba released a sigh of relief. She kept her head down and pushed through the crowd of people, for she had had enough of the Cloaked World today. Her resolve had shattered into pieces. She needed to go back to the world she knew best, the world that she was useful in, the world where she knew what to do and how to do it; that magical place where she won battles every day against legions of bacteria, platoons of GI bleeds, and squadrons of COPD.

***

Lupus (Lan) belongs to SailorAlcyone
Cuyen belongs to GabiStar - also a big thank you to my friend, Gabi, for letting me borrow her fancy traditional art supplies! ^_^ <3