-Maia POV-

 

When we got home, I noticed that I had a message from Weaver. I had told her my costume idea yesterday, and she had seemed amused by the idea, but not against it.

I flipped the phone open and sat on our bed. Tessa sat beside me, leaning her head on my shoulder so she could see the phone. Or maybe she just enjoyed doing that, considering the soft giggles coming from her as she nuzzled up against me. Just in case, though, I held the phone so we could both see.

When the interface loaded, it seemed like no one was online. I toyed with the phone a bit, looking through menus and smiling to myself when I found the Mail section.

 

TO: sunder (User #003)

FROM: Weaver (User #001)

MESSAGE: Good afternoon,

I will have your outfit ready tomorrow. If you are available, we would like to have a training session then, and possibly have you accompany Breach on the next job on Friday.

Regards,

Weaver

 

I tapped out a response, then held it out for Tessa to approve.

 

TO: Weaver (User #001)

FROM: sunder (User #003)

MESSAGE: Good afternoon!

That sounds good to me! I’ll be free tomorrow evening, if that works for you?

Sunder

 

{Kinda formal.}

[But?]

{It works.}

I smiled at her and tapped Send, then leaned backwards until I fell onto the bed. Tessa fell with me, still pressed up against my side.

We laid there for a while, just cuddling and enjoying each other’s company.

But Weaver’s message reminded me that there was something I had forgotten to test. Slowly, I sat back up, pulling Tessa with me despite her noises of displeasure.

I stood up, then offered her a hand.

{Where are we going?}

She took my hand, and I pulled her up, taking the chance to hug her.

[I was thinking about practicing a bit before the training session tomorrow. I’m sure I’m terribly rusty.]

{A pre-training session training session, then?}

I chuckled, releasing her from the hug and switching to holding her hand.

[Yep.]

We made our way to the training room, and I was surprised to find that it seemed just as clean and well-maintained as the last time we had been in it. As far as I was aware, nobody had been using it in the past several years. After a moment, however, I realized that Marissa probably still trained here, considering the fact that Vigilante seemed to be just as good at fighting as, if not better than, Marissa was in the past.

Idly, I wondered how long Marissa had been training again. Had she even stopped before?

Years ago, she was the instructor for a fighting class at a nearby gym. Tessa and I had occasionally sat in on the classes, since Marissa didn’t want to leave us home alone, and eventually, she started to teach us, too. I couldn’t remember why, exactly, she wanted to teach us, but it was nice to be included in the lessons.

I smiled to myself as I remembered our first impressions of the people taking the class. At first, we felt intimidated by the larger adults, but they turned out to be quite nice. Our initial misgivings probably also had to do with the fact that we were only around 13 or so at the time.

It was a bit odd, now that I thought about it, that the fighting style didn’t have a proper name. Or maybe it did, but surely I would remember the name if it had been mentioned at some point over the years that Marissa taught for.

In any case, the training room was precisely as I remembered it. There was a large mat for sparring on one side of the room, and a few smaller mats for warmups and practicing moves took up much of the remaining space. There were also some cabinets in one corner, filled with first aid supplies in case of accidents.

I walked over to one of the warmup mats, feeling an odd mixture of nostalgia and anticipation. Tessa stood nearby, watching me closely.

I closed my eyes and switched into my fox form, this time paying attention to the way my tail swished behind me. I hadn’t really thought about it much before, but now I wanted to see how it affected my balance. After all, that’s what tails are for, right?

Before I could do anything, though, I was distracted by the feeling of someone touching my tail.

“Hehe.”

I looked back at Tessa, who was petting my tail and running her fingers through the fur.

As I tried to reclaim my tail, she grabbed on to it.

“I, uh, kind of need that,” I said.

“I need it more,” she answered indignantly, although I could see her trying to hide her amusement.

I kept staring at her, until she finally cracked and started laughing. I laughed with her, though I managed to get her away from my tail while she was still giggling.

“No! Not the floof!”

“You have your own floof.”

I motioned to her neck, which admittedly wasn’t currently covered in her moth fluff. She pouted at me playfully, and I tickled her nose with my tail before snatching it back again.

“Anyways,” I said, before she could start messing with my tail again, “Warmups?”

“Sure!”

Warming up wasn’t entirely necessary, but it certainly helped. Besides, I hadn’t really taken the time to familiarize myself with precisely how my body was balanced or exactly how strong I was.

As I went through the warmups, I noted that I did seem to be a bit more flexible than before, and my tail did indeed help me balance. I looked over at Tessa, intending to share my discoveries, but went silent when I saw what she was doing.

She was apparently much more flexible than before, and I just watched her stretch and flex while going through the warmup motions, mesmerized.

She still hadn’t transformed, which made sense considering her shirt wasn’t exactly wing-friendly. She could take it off, but…

I tried to stop thinking about it. I was supposed to be doing warmups, not imagining Tessa with her shirt off.

Not that that stopped me.

Right, thinking about something else…

For a moment, I contemplated our fighting style. It was… well, direct would probably be a flattering description. Lacking in feints or other finesse-type moves, it was primarily focused on directing the maximum amount of force at the opponent while using the least amount of effort.

Which pretty much meant getting real close and punching real hard.

I chuckled at the thought, then shook my head when Tessa glanced over at me.

[Just a funny thought.]

She smiled, then went back to her warmups.

Once we both finished going through the warmup exercises, we took our positions on opposite sides of the large practice mat that took up almost half the room.

{Rules?}

[One minute, no powers?]

We hadn’t sparred in years, and trying to complicate things by adding powers into the mix didn’t seem like it would be very effective practice.

{Sounds good to me.}

I nodded, then took up the starting stance: my feet planted firmly on the ground, with my fists held at the ready. Tessa mirrored me, then stared for a moment.

[Um, should I count us down?]

{Oh, yes.}

[Right then. On go?]

I waited for a nod, then continued.

[3. 2. 1. Go!]

60, 59, 58…

Immediately, I darted forward, and I smiled as Tessa did the same.

The distance between us closing all too quickly, I lunged, trading my stable footing for a more aggressive attack in an attempt to catch her off guard.

She anticipated my punch, though, and blocked it with an arm. I didn’t let up, continuing to press the attack even as Tessa blocked and parried my volley of blows.

We seemed to be evenly matched in speed, but oddly, Tessa was only barely managing to fend off my attacks. Perhaps it was a matter of strength?

My attention wavered as I pondered this, and I was soon put on the back foot as Tessa went on the offensive.

I warded off her attacks with ease, all but confirming my hypothesis that I was stronger than her. Moments later, I blocked her fist with an open palm, a move which would be a rather poor decision against a stronger opponent. With the strength advantage, however, I was able to catch her fist, allowing me to take initiative once more.

I threw a punch, but to my surprise, Tessa caught it, mirroring what I had just done. I saw her wince, but I tried to push my worry out of my mind, at least until the match was over.

I leapt backward, disengaging. Tessa did the same, and for a moment, we circled each other, watching closely for an opportunity to attack.

34, 33, 32…

Tessa moved first this time, lunging forward in a move similar to my first attack. However, she seemed to be off balance, and I was able to quickly counterattack before she regained her footing.

Or at least, that’s what I intended to do. Faced with the fact that my next blow would land, I hesitated, not wanting to hurt Tessa.

I felt a twinge of frustration from her as she recovered and once more began to press the attack.

After a few more similar exchanges, the match came to an end.

3, 2, 1…

[Time’s up.]

Instantly, we both relaxed, and I hurried over to inspect Tessa. It looked like she hurt her wrist when she caught my punch, and I was still a little concerned.

Despite my worries, she waved me off.

{Don’t worry, I’m fine.}

[...]

The way she was holding her wrist made me think otherwise, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

Tessa sighed.

{I saw the way you went easy on me. You don’t have to worry about me like that, though. Some pain is to be expected when we spar like this.}

[...Sorry.]

{Just don’t do it again.}

[Okay.]

Feeling as though I had just been scolded, I just stood there for a moment, not meeting Tessa’s eyes. I could feel that my ears were drooping, which felt both slightly embarrassing and also indicative of my mood. She sighed again, then walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me, despite both of us still being slightly out of breath.

{Thank you for caring, but it makes it a little hard to spar when you refuse to actually fight.}

I nodded.

She gave me a quick squeeze, then took a step back.

{Are you ready to go again?}

[Yes.]

We took our positions on opposite sides of the mat again.

[Same rules?]

A nod.

[I’ll count?]

Another nod.

[3. 2. 1. Go!]

60, 59, 58…

This match began in a similar manner to the last, with us both rushing at each other, but this time, Tessa struck first, placing me on the defensive. I responded in earnest, parrying in such a way that I could begin to attack back.

Soon, she was unable to keep up both attack and defense and was forced to focus on blocking my attacks.

Almost unconsciously, I noticed that there were now a few drops of sweat flowing across her skin. My eyes focused on them, even as I tried my best to land a punch on her.

Now beginning to get distracted, my mind wandered to the way that Tessa had lost her balance in the last match. It was actually quite apparent why, given the way that her… chest… swung almost freely despite the fact that she was wearing a bra. Mine did something similar, but my tail seemed quite effective at helping me compensate for it.

There was even a light sheen of sweat on Tessa’s legs now, an observation that, oddly enough, made me feel almost disappointed at the fact that there were practically no kicks in our fighting style.

While I was occupied with thoughts that were far from appropriate for sparring, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, followed by an impact on my back, and, suddenly, I was lying on the floor and looking at the ceiling.

Only a little confused at what had just happened, I sat up and looked around. Tessa was standing in front of me, looking at me with an expression of concern.

A moment later, she smiled and proffered a hand to help me up. I took it, and very pointedly did not look at her chest. I heard a soft giggle, but I tried to block out what had just happened.

[Again?]

{Of course.}

After a few more matches that I somehow managed to stay somewhat focused during, Tessa did something that quite thoroughly wrecked my ability to concentrate.

She took off her shirt.

Of course, she had a bra on underneath, so she wasn’t completely indecent, but I still just stood there, stunned, as she rolled up her shirt and threw it off the mat.

Then, she transformed into her moth form, and her actions made a lot more sense. Without a shirt on, her wings would be free to maneuver, and she wouldn’t overheat from having both a shirt and her neck fluff keeping her warm.

Her wings really were quite pretty. They laid almost flat against her back, like a cloak, and large concentric circles of whites and grays adorned them towards the outer edges, the pattern somewhat reminiscent of a pair of eyes.

She unfolded them, and I watched her wings flutter a bit, tilting this way and that as she seemed to inspect them.

After several minutes of experimenting with her wings, she nodded at me.

{Okay, I think I’m ready.}

I simply stared for a moment, still blushing at her change of attire. Only then did she notice why I was reacting that way, and she reddened in response.

[Okay. Yep. Ready.]

{Ah. Um. Should I put it back on?}

[No, no, it’s fine. Let’s just start.]

{Okay!}

[Same rules?]

{Sure.}

Returning to our starting positions, I counted down.

[3. 2. 1. Go.]

60, 59, 58…

Once again, I took the offensive, rushing in to deliver a blow before she got the chance.

Or at least, I tried to.

Tessa fluttered her wings, easily dodging out of the way and almost managing to hit me in the back before I recovered. Before, neither of us had really tried dodging, since we were about the same speed and it was often easier to simply block the punch.

But now, she could easily weave her way through my attacks, though she still couldn’t land a solid hit on me.

In the end, it was a complete stalemate, with neither of us able to catch the other off guard enough to follow through on an attack. As such, the match ended with no clear winner yet again.

3, 2, 1…

[Time’s up.]

Immediately, Tessa folded her wings and went for her water bottle in the corner of the room. I followed her, and we simply sat on a mat for a moment, recovering.

[So.]

{So.}

I looked her up and down. She was quite sweaty, and seemed pretty tired. I felt much the same, so I made a suggestion.

[Think we should stop for today?]

Tessa hummed, considering it.

{Maybe one last match. Powers allowed?}

I stood up, then helped her up.

[Sure.]

A few moments later, we were facing each other on the sparring mat one final time.

[Ready.]

{Same.}

[3. 2. 1. Go.]

60, 59, 58…

A flash of light blinded me, but then nothing happened. I blinked the spots away from my vision to reveal Tessa still standing in her starting position, pouting at me.

While Tessa had created an illusion to prevent me from being able to see, I had created a spherical barrier around her, preventing her from moving at all.

{Meanie.}

I smirked at her.

[Does this mean I win?]

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me, but a blow to my back knocked me to the ground before I could react.

“{No. I win.}”

I twisted around and saw Tessa standing there, looking rather pleased with herself.

She helped me up, brushing off my clothes.

[How did you…]

I looked at my barrier, which was now empty. Ah. The real illusion was her standing still in her starting position.

I dispelled the barrier, then looked back at her.

[And here I thought I was being clever.]

She giggled, then held my hand.

{Let’s clean up. I wanna cuddle.}

[That sounds great.]

 

-Tessa POV-

 

After a quick shower together and a frozen pizza for dinner since Marissa was working late, we laid in bed with me snuggled up against Maia. She hadn’t wanted to deal with furry parts in the shower, but now she was back in her fox form. Her tail and arms were wrapped around me, and I relaxed in her warm embrace.

“Today was fun,” she murmured, sounding half-asleep already.

“Mhm,” I hummed back, feeling much the same as she sounded.

Maia stirred a bit, as though in an attempt to wake up, then fell still again.

“Mm?” I asked.

“We should probably talk about the training session tomorrow, and the job on Friday.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know.”

“Do you mean, like, rules for supervillaining and stuff?”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

“It is now.”

She giggled softly, then was silent for a moment.

“Do there need to be rules?” she asked.

I thought about that for a moment. I wasn’t really against her doing things with Breach and Weaver. Of course, I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, especially not Maia, but considering their line of work, they would probably have to fight people sooner or later. It wouldn’t be fair to ask her not to fight.

“I guess…” I began, then trailed off.

“Hm?”

“No killing people?”

She started, evidently not expecting such a heavy topic after our light murmurings.

“Well, yeah.” she said softly, sounding a little off-put.

“Sorry for bringing it up.”

She was quiet, her tail occasionally twitching, but otherwise not responding.

It didn’t feel like she was angry, but I still felt like I had to ask…

“Are you mad at me?”

She hugged me tighter.

“No, of course not. You were worried, so you have nothing to apologize for.”

“Mm.”

A long while later, Maia’s breathing had slowed down, and I could tell she was asleep. I was just barely conscious, myself, and I was still wondering how I could have phrased my question better. I was worried for her safety, and the best way for her to stay safe was for her to not be in danger.

I giggled softly at that. What a tautology.

Anyways, if the stakes were lower, she would be less likely to get hurt.

I figured that was probably the most I could hope for.

I was drawn out of my reverie when I felt a soft vibration. I listened for a moment, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

Then, I realized:

Maia was purring.

That was adorable.

I yawned, the sound of Maia’s purrs starting to lull me to sleep. Tomorrow, I could think about all my worries again. But for now, I would cuddle with Maia and slowly drift off to sleep, safe in her arms.