I guess if we've gotta... (Arc and Rackie) (T)

After everything that happened since Luna and Ana became partners, in more than one way, Ana figured that they needed to stop sitting around and actually do something that would let them deal with both the fact that they could be EAT students and the fact that Luna would have to deal with the Sway. Killing things that had to die, Ana learned after asking around and happening on just the right person, was apparently one way for people such as Luna to keep things in check. Ana decided to call Luna out to the training grounds so they could at least beginning to get in a place that they'd be able to hunt souls without getting killed themselves. She had gotten there early, and was sitting below a tree in the area that she specified for Luna, so she'd be easy to find since she would probably be asleep by the girl arrived.

Those were... though times for poor Luna. She'd discovered that a huge part of her identity had always been a lie. She'd discovered her true nature- a witch. Her soul was purple and not blue. Someone'd put so much effort into hiding such an important fact from Luna. A since her true power had been released. Since she'd felt her true power... she became scared of herself. Of the whole sway. Even though she had support from the witches of the DWMA, the fear wouldn't disappear! Every day she was haunted by thoughts such as "What if I suddenly lose control?". "What if I accidentally hurt or... kill someone?". Luna was well aware that hunting kishin eggs would help with the terrifying pull of magic but on the other hand... she knew that she was weak and that any proper hunt would end up with her just being too afraid to fight. Hesitation and being unable to move would, obviously, get herself and Ana killed. To Luna, nothing was more terrifying than the thought that she could lose Ana.

When Luna got invited by Ana to the training grounds, many emotions filled her heart. On one hand, she loved and treasured every second in Ana's presence, but on the other hand... Being invited to the training grounds meant one thing- combat. With both fear and happiness in her heart, she headed to the training grounds. deeply hoping that Ana, for some weird reason, actually wanted to have a picnic there.

A few minutes later Luna arrived at her destination. There were already bruises on her knees, caused by her ever-present clumsiness. In other words on her way to the training grounds she'd managed to trip over her own feet, stones, and stairs more than a few times. That was just a part of who Luna was... unluckily.

The which looked around trying to spot Ana. Luckily for her, she was able to spot the weapon rather easily.
"H-Hey Ana..." Luna mumbled after she'd approached her beloved sleepyhead.

Remarkably, even with Luna only mumbling to the mostly asleep Ana, the girl did wake up after a moment or two, partially also due to her approaching in the first place. Since she was sat on the ground, the first thing that Ana saw were a pair of bruised knees. "Hey, Luna," she said without looking up at all. It was obvious enough to her that it would be Luna who was injured before even doing any training. It was a shame, but there wasn't much Ana could do at the time, although it did present the additional problem of having to teach Luna not to be a clutz. All that would come in due time, though. Ana slowly and lethargically stood up, then taking one of Luna's hands. "Lets do a quick uhh... Thing. I gotta wake up..." Ana said as she started walking, slowly at first but progressively faster until you could call it a light jog.

Well, of course, Luna's clumsiness was another dangerous thing that they should eventually get rid of, or at least "tame" in some way. It was possible that preparing Luna for real combat would take Ana a lot of time. Many weeks even. Luckily, it was clear that if Luna ever reached her full potential as a witch-meister, they could become a really, really strong team and that should be their goal. Of course, to achieve it, Luna would have to stop being afraid of her magic.
When Ana stood up and took one of the witch's hands, Luna relaxed a bit. "So... uh... that thing is... a warm-up...right?" She asked quietly, adjusting her pace to the weapon's

"Yeah, that," Ana said when Luna offered the right term that she couldn't quite figure out when she had just woken up, although now she could think of it since the warmup had done it's job. She stopped slowly when they about reached a clearing. Standing across from Luna, she crossed her arms and looked over the other girl, thinking of what would make the most sense to do first. "So... Before anything else, you have to be able to use me without issues," she said, trying to sound confident despite mostly just guessing at what would be the best order of operations here. She transformed in front of Luna, so that she could take hold of her whenever. She wasn't going to make her catch her from the air just yet...

Luna nodded energetically at Ana's words despite not fully understanding the meaning behind them. Luna was sure that she'd been using Ana's weapon form correctly the whole time so for her, it was a little strange that her partner implied she'd been having issues using her. When Ana transformed, Luna almost immediately grabbed the weapon in the middle as if to prevent her from falling to the ground. It was almost strange that such a clumsy person managed to "catch" something with such reflex. Even Luna herself was quite surprised. "W-What now?" The witch asked, with a sign of nervousness present in her voice.

"Oh..." Ana was a little surprised when Luna actually went to take hold of her so quickly and deftly. Still, she wasn't so surprised that she had trouble believing it or anything. Perhaps it was even something to do with her witchiness coming out, but she wasn't going to pin anything that Luna did well on that; she wouldn't like it if she did that if it wasn't definitely true. When Luna asked what came next, Ana started to exlain what the idea was. "I think a good way for you to get good enough to fight and get generally better with coordination is to get more advanced in using my weapon form. Uhm... I guess, first, see if you can spin me. In front, above, all around. I'll transform back if anything goes wrong, so don't worry."

"S-Spinning?" Luna repeated after Ana a bit surprised. "B-But... how will spinning help me... uh... f-fight?" Asked the witch before actually trying to spin the weapon. She held Ana in front of her and started spinning the weapon using both of her hands, like a child playing with a long stick.


"This isn't gonna end well, is it?"

Ana was, understandably, paying attention to what Luna was doing rather than their surroundings. "Demon weapons are different than normal weapons. To you, I'm almost weightless, but anything you hit will have a bad day, so you can swat attacks away or put more power in strikes... I think? I sort of just tried to find videos of EAT meisters and they did this sort of stuff a lot when fighting."

Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea for Ana to act as a teacher when she was rather clueless as well. Maybe she shoul dhave paid more attention in lessons, too...

I mean... I-I can imagine that s-spinning your weapon m-may look cool and in.. in... eeh... intimidating, but it seems a bit... a bit... a bit abitabit... pointless?" Luna said as she stopped spinning the weapon. The witch still was quite confused by the whole thing. In her head, she imagined that randomly spinning Ana in front of an enemy wouldn't really lead to hitting it or anything. Especially since stabbing and swinging seemed more effective. Well, on the other hand, who was Luna to judge? In her own opinion, she was just a useless meister. Afraid of her own power. As those thoughts started filling Luna's head, she just stopped. "L-Like... during our first fight... Maybe? Though it was more of a... random, panicked improvisation than anything... I-I guess?" Luna commented trying to recall the details from their first encounter with a Kishin Egg. "M-Maybe we should just ask Mr. Foster or any teacher to help us?"

"I mean, all those meisters do spin their partners a lot, but they do that between blocking and attacking... Maybe we shouldn't base our own training off of the actions of those that are much better, but I thought that just starting with getting you comfortable with handling me in different ways would help," Ana explained her thinking, but transformed out of her weapon form anyway. Looking up at the small patch of sky that was visible between the canopies of the trees around them, she scratched at the back of her head, tapping her foot; she was getting impatient with her own lack of knowledge. She thought she had figured out enough that raining made sense, but it really didn't matter if she didn't know the reasons for the things she was trying to work towards. "Whatever! I don't know what to do!"

"C-c-c-c-calm down A-Ana... Please..." Luna said, almost begging while stuttering heavily. It seemed that her partner's sudden outburst of impatience started the witch quite a bit. Maybe Ana didn't know what to do, and Luna believed that it wasn't her fault. Actually, Luna believed it was her own fault. She was the meister after all. What could they do though? What should they focus on? Was there anything that should be prioritized before anything? Was there anything that could give them a significant advantage during combat? Luna thought that she knew the answers to those questions and sadly, she wished she didn't know. There was one thing that would help them fight the kishin eggs greatly. That thing was Luna's magic... that's why Luna preferred to avoid mentioning it to Ana. At least until it would become absolutely necessary. "P-Perhaps we could ask someone to h-help us?" In her soul Luna felt bad for not suggesting mixing magic with combat. But... she was simply too afraid of her own powers.

Ana took a deep breath when told to calm down, sitting down on the ground afterwards. She looked up to Luna and gave her a smile, "Sorry," she said, then going back to thinking about what they'd absolutely need to do. They could work on complicated stuff when they had the basics down. If only Ana knew how to go about getting the basics down, too. That sure would be ideal... In the end, she had ended up pondering on their predicament until Luna brought up getting someone in to help, which was when Ana finally decided that, yes, they entirely needed that. "Yes. We need someone to help. Who are we getting to bother about this, then, exactly?"

"I-I guess we could ask Aurora... or her dad... or her sister... they all seem really strong and experienced..." Luna suggested quietly as she looked down at her partner. Even though it was her who suggested that a part of her was worried that the Fosters might suggest using her magic. Suddenly she felt an unexpected wave of confidence and smiled weakly. "A-Ana..? C-Could you please transform for me? Let's try... again... Before we call them for help." It seemed a bit out of character, but for some reason, Luna felt that she just has to try harder for Ana. After all, becoming a Death Scythe was probably a small dream of hers. Probably... Maybe...

"Sure, but I don't know what to do, so I'm not sure it'll do much good to keep going like this," Ana said before transforming again, in the same way that she had before, having stood up beforehand of course. When it came to Ana's dreams, however, becoming a Death Scythe was really something that she was mostly indifferent towards. She'd be more than happy to continue on in the NOT class, but circumstances forced the two girls onto the path of an EAT meister pair. If anything, all that she really wants is for Luna to be safe.

Luna took a deep breath and grabbed Ana with her hand. For some reason her she was gripping her tightly. Her body was trembling slightly. The witch knew one thing- she needed to put more effort into the training. For the sake of their partnership. After taking another deep breath and after closing her eyes for a second as if to clear her mind. She felt relaxed and safe. It was a good thing that they were alone on the training grounds. Not having to worry about hurting anyone certainly helped. Still, there was worry and fear even inside Luna's heart. Though at that moment they were outpowered by the girl's determination. "Don't worry about that... I'm your meister so... uh... leave it to me... I g-guess..." Luna said and then... without a warning stood in a rather sloppy combat stance. Her eyes were focused on an invisible target that she placed in front of herself with the power of her imagination. She kept Ana rather close to her body, yet she pointed the red ball on the top of the staff at that target of hers. "I...I'll be improvising... alright?" Luna stated rather than asked, before stepping forward and swinging the staff as if to hit the air with the red ball. Immediately after that attack, the girl turned the weapon around and thrusted it forwards as if to stab the air. Despite her moves being unsure, weak, slightly sloppy, it was clear that Luna really wanted to become better at combat. For Ana, of course.

Ana wasn't going to interrupt Luna when she was so determined to get things done and was silent while the girl went through her improvised drills, having nothing to offer that might actually help Luna. It was probably better than what she was doing, so she couldn't really judge. After a short while, Ana did figure something out. "You could hit a tree, maybe?" she advised. The training grounds were certainly filled with trees that had their bark and branches stripped off by training meisters, so one more couldn't hurt.

Hearing Ana's voice threw Luna out of the rhythm, but the weapon's suggestion was actually quite helpful. After all, it was better to have a physical target instead of hitting the air. "S-Sure..." The girl said before turning towards the closest tree. Without a warning, she rushed at it, but before she could do anything she... obviously tripped over some random stone and fell straight onto her face. "Ouch..." Luna groaned. She felt defeated. Defeated by her own lack of luck. The shame filled her soul and made her unable to get up. "I'm a terrible meister..." Luna mumbled. It seemed like she was about to start crying.

Ana transformed back almost as soon as Luna tripped over, cruching over the fallen and defeated Luna. She put a hand on Luna's back, gently stroking across it to try and comfort the girl. "You're not a terrible meister. You're just not a great one yet. You'll get there. We'll get there," Ana said, quietly. She took out her phone as sat down properly, cross legged, next to Luna. "I'm going to call Aurora for help," she said, before doing just that.

Luna sighed and sat next to Ana in silence. Deep inside she started regretting not even trying to use her magic in the training. But oh, how scared she was of it. She hated it! It would make them strong though and that's why a part of her wanted to release the power dreaming deep inside her soul. Luna let out a quiet sigh as she waited for Ana to get Aurora to the training grounds.

Luckily for Ana and Luna Aurora wasn't doing anything interesting or important at that moment. Which meant she was free. The witch picked her phone up and smiled widely, knowing who was calling her. "Moshi moshi, Aurora desu!" The girl said and let out a giggle. "Hi Ana! Do you need anything from ol' me?" The fox witch asked, trying to guess the reason behind the sudden call.

"So... little Luna's hesitating. She should embrace the da... ahem... her magic! It will make her strong! It'll make her awesome. It'll make her badass! Perhaps... perhaps I could help her with getting used to her powers? Hm... sounds like a plan, Raccoon!"

"Luna and I want to train but neither one of us knows what we're doing. Please help?" Ana said, straight to the point, failing to acknowledge the greeting that Aurora had used. Outside of the phone call, Ana casually scootched towards the now sitting Luna so that they were shoulder to shoulder. It was mostly an idle gesture but it was still an improvement for Ana. They'd have to sit around for a little while waiting anyway.

Luna, who was in higher spirits, slightly leaned her shoulder on Ana's and closed her eyes. A smile appeared on her face. Not counting the ongoing call, it was rather calm. And Luna loved those quiet, peaceful moments with Ana. After letting out a quiet, relaxed sigh, she just allowed Ana to handle everything.

"Sure! Wait for me at the training grounds. I'll bring cavalry with me!" Aurora said and though Ana couldn't see it, it was easy to assume that Aurora had a wide smile on her face. It was subtle, but noticeable in her voice. "Alright, I'll be there in... Argh, give me at least half an hour, 'kay? Bye!" With those words, Aurora hung up and immediately left her home to get the "cavalry". Once she was outside, she immediately called someone who'd be a really good teacher for her cute friends. Of course that someone was Glyndwr, her boyfriend's "brother"

Ana put her phone away when Aurora hung up, sighing quietly at what she heard. "Apparently Aurora is bringing someone else. She didn't think to mention who, exactly," Ana relayed what information she had to Luna before letting her head fall to the side to lean against the top of Luna's. "Apparently she'll be here in about half an hour," Ana then mostly mumbled.

Well... I guess that if she's bringing someone to help then... we'll have a proper training... I guess..." Luna commented, with her eyes closed. Her smile was still present on her face. Perhaps they could use the time they had for something romantic and sweet? The girl looked at Ana grinned. "We have thirty minutes for ourselves..." Luna whispered into Ana's ear and then let out a quiet, innocent giggle.

And then I came onto the scene! All covered in orange! Just kidding. About the orange, I mean. For real though...
I, Raccoon, walked into the area that belonged to the training grounds. Though I wanted to make it seem as if my presence there was purely accidental, I was there for a reason. I wanted to help Luna Hope and her lover become a strong pair. And because my mission is secret, I need to pretend that I came there to train my own magic. When I saw the two, I approached them slowly, casually almost. "I didn't expect to see anyone here today... " I commented, to catch their attention.
(This isn't going to end well for me, right? Right..?)

Ana responded to what Luna was saying with a giggle of her own, then leaning down towards the girl. She would have done more than just lean, but a certain problem arrived just in time to interrupt their half an hour of alone time. Considering that the only thing that Ana really knew of the sorcerer that had appeared in front of them suddenly was that he caused Luna great distress while trying something very, very stupid as well as interrupting time that she was going to spend enjoying with Luna... Her eyes narrowed as she glared at him, the dark, dark grey of her eyes more than likely melding with her pupils to highlight the menace with which she was staring down the new arrival. She put an arm around her girlfriend, as if shielding her from what she saw only as a potential danger. "What are you doing here?"