TXT to Rei: Two things. 1) No laughing. 2) Are you busy right now?
TXT to Naru: Naru-chan? No, I won't laugh. And I'm not busy. What can I do?
TXT to Rei: You know the wooded area near the park? I'm in there. It's not a fight (or a trap), I just.. could use a hand.
TXT to Naru: Oh. Of course! I'll be there.
It's a quiet evening, the park is mostly empty and the mentioned wooded area is really very quiet. There's not much to be seen there, trees of all shapes and sizes, well loved for people finding a bit of nature in their walks through the park.
It's not actually /that/ hard to find where Naru is, she's not particularly well hidden. She is, however, both in henshin, and up a tree. A fairly tall tree, no less, caught much like a kitten. She is quite determined not to look down as she texts.
Rei arrives in henshin as well, mostly out of concern for speed. The black haired miko and guardian of mars lands with a tak-tak of heels on the ground. She at first looks about in confusion, just before instinct has her look up. A blink, and she offers a soft smile to one of Usagi's best friends. That alone has her relaxing just a bit.
Rei of course leaps up to join Naru easy as you please. There's a single flick of her hair that settles that dark, beautiful mass into place, and then she's offering a mildly concerned look to Naru.
"Hello, Naru-chan. You look..."
She pauses, just a moment. "Warm. I'm glad you can protect yourself now." She offers sincerely. Despite the issues the senshi have had with her, she's been vaguely keeping up. Or maybe it's just Miko senses.
"Oh /sure/, you have no issue at all with jumping up into a tree." Naru mutters with twist of a rueful smile as she glances sidelong to Rei as she joins her in the tree. "Hi. I'm glad too, don't get me wrong. I'm /trying/ to get better at it too."
Naru takes a slow breath, looking out over the trees and Rei can feel the faint uptick in the tension as she gazes out. "I can apparently jump up, but jumping back /down/ is making my fear of heights freak the hell out." She admits.
There's a brief connection. Those words are almost something she could see Mamoru saying. It brings a smile to Rei's face. She takes a dramatic senshi pose, and points to Naru!
"By the flame of Mars, a sailor senshi and her allies can do anything!" She offers, eyes burning with passion for one moment! Then, a light blush, and she backs off. Slowly, she leans in conspiritorially.
"Don't tell Usagi-chan...but the first four times I tried I fell on my butt. Magic helps, but I had to practice after I awakened as Sailor Mars."
Lean back, a little mysterious wink. Then she turns around, leaning against a tree in those heels. She pauses, looking to Naru, and if she doesn't jump? Well, one hand is offered to Naru's arm.
"You have friends you can rely on. Naru-chan. Do you want me to help?" It's asked gently, if with a touch of excitement. The Senshi of Flame is nothing if not passionate, but it's tempered by the restraint of a Miko. There's no judgement in those dark eyes, only acceptance of the girl in front of her.
Naru can't help but laugh softly. "Practice is pretty much the story of my life at the moment. And this ally is discovering all the things she's really not very good at. It is a disconcertingly long list."
Naru has been here long enough to have gotten herself to seated on a branch, and it is through excellent balance and not looking down that she can stand without losing her mind. Not quite at least.
"Help would be appreciated. Getting up here was apparently the sum total of the courage I had for this today. Which was a bit of an oversight, really." Naru admits with that same sheepish that echoed through her text message.
One finger is held up, and Rei actually smiles a little wider. "If you narrow down what you can't do, then you know what you /can/ do!" Offers Rei, nodding several times. Her hair somehow manages to sway in just that moment, and magical slightly hot sparkles sway around her. Senshi cheating, don't you know?
"Look at me. I can't hit as hard as Mako-chan. I can't purify as well as Usagi-chan. And I can't get in the way of attacks like Mamo-kun. And I'm not anywhere near as smart as Ami-chan. But!"
A flick of an ofuda! "But I can burn up anything that wants to hurt my friends, with their help. We work as a team, Naru-chan. And you're part of that team now. So we just need to find out what you're good at."
A grip of an arm. "Deep breath. Let's go." And then, with little warning, she's tugging Naru off of the branch. It's hard, but nowhere near Mako-hard. An insistant tug to follow her down. Her eyes are remarkably soft for the fiery senshi, promises to catch linger in them should Naru falter. But most of all, there's confidence in Usagi's friend.
"My skills are nothing like any of the yours." Naru shakes her head a little. "I'm a fairly terrible combatant, but I end up in fights because we /do/. It's part of our lives. I need to keep some of those skills sharp."
Even just standing on the branch, carefully not looking down, makes Naru's body language tense, even if the conversation is doing well at distracting her from the reality of being /off the ground/.
"My powers are obtuse and proving more challenging to decide how best to use them in a fight." Naru explains and then shrugs a little. "Practice. Story of my life."
The direction for a deep breath is met with anything but, and a wide eyed blink of abject horror, actually. She knows what's coming, and about the best she can manage is not jerking her arm away, and clinging to the tree.
It is more fall than jump, but magic is kind enough to soften the blow of the ground of /that/ as well. Naru lands awkwardly, her eyes closed tightly as she ends up on hands and knees. She doesn't look injured, just taking a moment, or three.
"Naru-chan. This isn't a contest on who's better. Usagi-chan believes in you. So do I, and everyone else. You're putting yourself down too much."
A smirk. "And maybe you have more experience than we do." With all of the attacks Naru has suffered, isn't it an obvious conclusion?
Even as they fall, Rei holds Naru close. It's at once protective, and yet, she doesn't offer to let that landing soften. A hand up, rather than a hand out.
"If it's obtuse to you, then it's obtuse to the people that want to make this world full of suffering." Whispers the Miko as they land.
A fall is fine. Even Rei's legs quiver just a moment. While her face might not show it, she has to concentrate. An awkard lean, arms around, and she gently offers that final hand up.
"Deep breath out, then in. It helps me. Are you okay?" The smallest hint of concern.
Further conversation about skills and strengths and the fact that Naru is pretty alright with being a terrible combatant has to take a pause as she makes use of the excellent 'deep breath' advice. And another. Perhaps another, just for good measure.
"I'm fine." Naru decides after a moment, how much of that is declaration informing herself as well as Rei is unclear. She settles back on her haunches a moment and then accepts the hand up. Another deep breath.
"Thank you. I.. I'm alright with being a fairly terrible combatant, it's not where my skills lie. I'm an artist, magically and mundanely." Another deep breath, slowly making that 'fine' closer to the truth.
Rei is silent for some time, even as she helps to haul up the girl. More silence reigns, as she listens to Naru. Only once those deep breath ends, does she finally let go, and turn around. A single finger to her chin, and she thinks for some time. Her head tilts just a moment, and she lets out a breath.
"I don't know what an artist is capable of. But..." She kneels donw against the tree. Her eyes close, and she's silent. A small smile. "Somehow, Naru-chan, I think that you're going to play a very important role in our future."
A single hand clenches! "So don't give up! And let us know what we can do to help you!"
"A very important role?" Naru considers that pronouncement from Rei and she chuckles softly, shaking her head. "You guys have the apocolypse experience, but that's neither here nor there."
Naru glances back up at the tree and where she spent a chunk of her evening and then back down to Rei. "I'm not very good at the giving up part either, so have no real fear there. It will come. Eventually, even if that's sometimes hard to remember."
A deep sigh. "I barely remember it..." Offers Rei, and then she visibly shudders.
Something hurts within her, and it's not just dating troubles.
And then, Rei smiles. "Especially when it's hard to remember. Believe in yourself, Naru-chan. And if you can't, then believe in Usagi-chan, because she believes in you. I know it." Both hands pump for just a moment!
And then she helps the girl up gently.
"Now how about we go and get dinner? I'm not Mako-chan, but..." An offer made, and a small laugh.
"I have a lot of people who believe in me." Naru admits with a rueful little smile.
"Dinner sounds great. My treat." Naru laughs softly. "In thanks for the rescue, if nothing else. There's a new noodle place I keep eyeing every time I walk by it coming home. Want to try it with me?"