Bottled History [Open]

The intent had been to find a secluded place out where very few would be able to interrupt her attempts to get back into the swing of things. In her heart of hearts, Mizuna couldn't shake the thought that perhaps she had been growing rusty with all of these patrols that never really pitted her against the very worst that the galaxy had to offer. The moment she felt a palm accept the brunt of the force behind her fist, she knew that offer was off the table. Normally, that would only serve to sour her mood, but the person to interrupt her hadn't been sent reeling back into the ruins behind her and to boot, she was cute too. "You can call me Mizuna and yeah, I guess those rumors about my mother not being Saiyan were true after all."

"I flew out here to see some old friends." Mizuna interjected flatly. Despite the gentle smile she was wearing, her amber eyes had been cast down upon the green soil that her fingers were toying with and her palm gently caressing. "They were good girls. Reliable fighters, too. We busted up plenty of pirate operations out in space together, but well...it's just me now." the red haired hybrid forced a smile onto her lips, but it didn't have the same radiance as the previous ones. With practice, like anything else, she could perfect the art of faking a smile, but it wasn't something she ever wanted to get good at. Regaling Karah with tales that she'd locked away brought a genuine smile to her lips when she thought of herself as some war veteran humouring a curious child with tales of the places she'd been, things she'd seen and done.

"Like I said, my old man drilled the basics into my skull. It takes more than instinct to survive out there, Karara." even though she was playing at reading through everything the pure breed was doing, she thought for sure that the energy blast was meant for a direct attack, so when it didn't hit her even though she'd braced for it and her vision was clouded by the smoke that came from the blast hitting the ground in front of her, she couldn't help but crack a smile. "Looks like I'm not the only fast learner in town, huh?" the playful tone never really left her voice, but she was definitely catching on to the reality that things could get pretty serious fairly quickly if she didn't put a lid on this. Or at least, that was the idea, but maybe it was the Saiyan half of her blood surging in her veins that urged her to keep pushing the other woman.

The longer this thing dragged on, the more attractive the idea of taking her under her wing as a protege was becoming to Mizuna. Of course, she'd read into the move above the smokescreen; it was the most used maneuvering tactic when it came to smokescreens. Mizuna personally liked catching them off guard by diving through the smokescreen, but she also remembered that this girl had been out here in the wilds for the longest time with no real partners for practice, so it couldn't be helped when she decided to gamble on taking the punch straight to the face so she could get in a solid elbow into the gut of the opposing Saiyan woman, bringing an arm up to try to grab her by the shoulder and attempt to pull her down back first onto the ground beneath her own feet. "Just a tip! Next time, don't go OVER the smokescreen, go THROUGH it. That's the first place people will look for you the moment you suppress your ki as a follow up to a smokescreen." After she was finished lecturing Karah on exactly where she went amiss, she fixed her own posture, placing her hands on her hips and giving Karah a once over before nodding and smiling to herself. "But, hey. You're absorbing all this stuff pretty quickly, yeah? I'm proud of you!" while praising Karah, she sprung off her feet and prepared for Karah's next attack.

Mizuna seemed to drop into a stance of sorts, feet evenly spread apart and arms bent at her sides with her fists aligned with her hips and toned abdomen that was put on display thanks to the nature of her green and yellow striped tube top, her wild red hair dancing lightly in the breeze as she kept her amber eyes locked onto the other woman, considering her options for the next few moves. It seemed a bit condescending to her that she had yet to show Karah her serious face, but she rationalized that it was only that way because she had offered to teach Karah a thing or two.

[515 WC|2,992 TWC]

Mizuna swung her arm out in an arc in front of her a second too late. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to pull the wool over her eyes, but it was the first time in her tenure that she wasn't fighting for some reason or another, so when she felt the sting of energy striking across her cheek, she was briefly angry at Karah for resorting to such a dirty trick, but it dissipated just as quickly as it had risen. She realised that Karah was in a desperate situation right now and couldn't really help it, but it was still something she didn't exactly care for. There was a mix of light disgust and disappointment in Karah. "Your determination is admirable, if a little silly. You can't grow if you don't accept the extended hand in front of you," she told her in a slightly downcast tone.

Mizuna had the blessing of companionship to reach greater heights before, but she'd seen hell. This girl, she was beginning to understand, had been thrown to the wolves - or whatever stood for the equivalent on Sadala - in quite possibly the most literal sense of the phrase. Mizuna didn't know which side of her gene pool to blame how taken she was with Karah's tenacity on, but that was a minor qualm while she was busy trying and failing to completely dodge each thin purple beam of energy that came racing towards her, hissing as one broke the surface of the skin on her forearm while she raised her other hand up to fire a diluted wave of energy at Karah. On some level, she could understand where she was coming from; she had that stubborn streak as well. Maybe it was a Saiyan thing? She was asking this girl to accept the help and guidance of a stranger when she herself held to the determination to see her own vendetta through on her own.

"Karah! I get it, but you're just wasting energy! You did good. I'm impressed. You can stop, now, though." the red haired hybrid was still trying to keep up a tough facade, but the truth was that she'd taken more than a few of those arrows because they'd come in quick succession after she'd let her guard down and been hit by the first one after the feigned injury and the reckless maneuvering about was taking it's toll on her body, creating pain and weakness where there had previously been none. Her knees felt weak and she could barely feel her left arm. "So whaddya say? Why don't we call it quits here and start heading back. I've got a place just on the outskirts of town and while I can't promise you that I'll blow your mind with my cooking, I've managed to pull through all these years." while she tried her best to make it sound like a suggestion, part of her knew she was actually just pleading with Karah to try settling the girl down before her body gave out on her.

Slowly, she inched towards Karah, hoping that the dark haired woman would at least calm down if she wasn't charging towards her at the break neck speed she had prior to the suplex. Mizuna wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do if Karah didn't buy the offer to close the training session that was really just a glorified sparring session for the two Saiyan women to get a feel for the other's preponderances towards battle. It was, if Mizuna was being honest with herself, a much more pure expression than words would ever be able to manage. The best way for two Saiyans to get to know each other was for them to exchange blows and although she had really only just met Karah, she was taking quickly to the younger Saiyan.

"I don't know if you noticed, but those clothes were getting a size or two too small for me." she remarked in response to the awkward apology about wrecking the clothes. As for the blood over the bed sheets and on the floor, Mizuna didn't think it was too big of a deal, though it had been an oversight on her part that it would actually be a thing. "Anyway! There's a magical thing in this house called a shower. Since you were out in the wild for so long, you might not understand how those things work, but there should be a silver handle and if you turn it towards the left or right, water will come out." Mizuna thought to take the liberty of explaining to Karah what a shower was, making gestures with her hands to imitate the rotating of the water control handle.

After she was finished explaining, she pointed to the towel and set of clothes next to the bed that were certainly a lot more stylish than what she currently had on - not that that was hard, though; she was in a long white t-shirt and a pair of lime green shorts with yellow trimming. Her feet were bare, giving the image of what was essentially intended to be sleepwear. "I'd offer to wash your back for you, but then dinner wouldn't be ready, so go grab that shower and get cleaned up while I handle the food." she made guns with her fingers in a cheerful fashion, turning to exit the actually fairly spacious bedroom, pausing and pivoting on her heel ever so slightly. "Oh, and...do hurry up. That is my carpet you're bleeding all over." with a wink and a two fingered wave from the side of her head, the red haired hybrid disappeared into the hallway and then to the side to get access to her kitchen, opening up various cupboards to get access to pans and ingredients.

Among which white rice was included. Mizuna stuck to the simple stuff like a stir fry dinner where about the most she had to do to make it an acceptable meal was up the quantity of the ingredients she was using to provide a dinner usually intended for four for two people instead. While the meat was busy sizzling in the pan, Mizuna took the liberty of sneaking out the living room and lighting a couple of candles with a match and setting some lavender incense. It was actually a special occasion for her; it felt like because she didn't follow the same culture feed that some of her peers and superiors did that she was locked out of certain career paths, as well as social connections, but tonight was the first night she could celebrate having both a student and friend over. She was making progress of her own in that regard - progress she thought would make her old man proud of her. The follow up to everything else before returning to the kitchen was to put on some antiquated piece of music from the disc player in her living room.

For a moment, Mizuna thought about trying to correct Karah's misunderstanding of what 'measurements' meant, but she just pinched her nose bridge and let out a heavy sigh. Though, that sigh was soon replaced by a light giggle at Karah's child like misunderstanding of the concept of taking measurements for clothing. That sincere child like demeanor, however, was a breath of fresh air for someone who was just using her old routines as a cover for how big of a coward she was, doing her best to make sure to keep people at a certain distance with pranks, jokes and other casual mannerisms. There was a particular event that had changed - no, stolen the ability to honestly enjoy her own life outside of the battles she got herself into and the odd song she caught herself singing along to on the radio or something from the jukebox she'd found in her mother's collection.

Another giggle passed her lips when she was asked about the drink. "You're so precious. But, no. I don't drink it often and no, it's not exactly training for your throat. You definitely aren't meant to take it all down in one go, though, so slow down, yeah?" she held up her index finger as though she was an expert on the topic while explaining what was common sense to her and everyone else. As for her skill with things like cooking, Mizuna didn't place much value in that; she was competent but not highly skilled in that trade. It was usually enough to get her by when her father wasn't around, but she didn't dare to try anything extravagant like what restaurants would typically have on their menus.

Looking to her side, she caught quite the treat. She saw Karah eating the stir fry and rice with just her hands and it made her giggle even harder than the previous spectacle of Karah's experience with sparkling grape juice. "You know, I did prepare chopsticks for you to eat with. I thought you said you weren't a barbarian?" after finishing her own meal that had, naturally, been handled with the chopsticks she'd prepared to the side of the plates, she made to the kitchen where she was just in time to see Karah dip her entire head underneath the tap. As funny as it was to watch, Mizuna couldn't just let this one go by without telling her that wasn't how it worked. "That's...not how that actually works. I think you may have been living in the wild for a bit too long." trying her best to fight off the giggles, she prepared a face cloth for Karah and dried the girl's face down with it, then used another cloth to dry her hands.

The unwitting display of Karah's midriff was something Mizuna hadn't paid too much attention beyond a brief glance. But to let Karah know she was showing off, she just reached out and poked her in the navel. Regardless of the reaction to that, it would appear that the pair found their way back into the living room and onto the sofa again. It crossed Mizuna's mind that she had yet to hear Karah refer to the sofa by any recognizable name, hell, from what she'd been observing of Karah's facial expressions, it was pretty clear to the red haired half Saiyan that her company found the very concept of a sofa and possibly even a television a very alien concept. The latter she might have been able to understand, it was one of those antiques her mother had collected from a place that was forgotten by time.

She remembered asking her father about it once and gotten little more than a dismissive shrug out of him. He didn't think too deeply about things that didn't have anything to do with fighting, or, as would be fairly obvious from every interaction she remembered having with him before he took off on a ridiculously long mission, smack talk. That and his easy going nature had been inherited by the redhead. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me. I think I get it; you were out there all by yourself. Spending time away from the city is nice and all for clearing your head of busy thoughts, but it's not meant to be a permanent arrangement, y'know?" even as she tried her best to console Karah on the potential feeling of guilt over having to hide something from her, she was mentally berating herself for how much she spoke of her father and how much that must have made her sound like a daddy's girl.

More than that, Mizuna knew what it was like to keep secrets. It was a subtle thing that slowly ate away at the person keeping the secret, especially when it was something that would make them look weak towards someone who maybe looked up to them. Not everything in the living room was placed where it was because of a specific reason or purpose. A lot of it, in fact, was simply where it was because that's where Mizuna's father had put it and she wanted to honour and respect her father. If there was, however, one item that had been placed by her and not her father, it would be the framed photograph of her with two other Saiyans, all three grinning like idiots while making the silliest hand gestures behind the heads of the others.

Sure, she still smiled these days, but her smile lacked the radiance it had back then. Otherwise, she didn't look all that different from how she did in the photo. She was wearing the same green and yellow striped tube top and denim shorts in it. Not quite privy just yet to the fact that Karah was staring right at that photo, she craned her neck back against the back of the sofa, closing her eyes and allowing her mind to drift back in time to happier days. It was relevant to the photo sitting atop the shelf above the television; that was the day they had returned from yet another instance where Mizuna dragged the girls off to the side to indulge her in some vigilante work out near the deeper regions of their sector. The pirates that day had shown signs of increasing their security, but it hadn't been too big of a problem for her and Azuki, the girl with brownish red hair and a mischievous streak to match Mizuna's. Renko was the one with a bluish tinge to her midnight black hair and what stood for the moral police of the three woman outfit, often scolding Mizuna and Azuki for their mischief making.


That day had been no different for the dynamic they all shared. Azuki and Mizuna played off each other's combos, swinging on in with near perfect synchronization and that was the thing that those pirates hadn't counted for. Mizuna's aptitude for team work. So, while they'd been pretty reckless about reserving energy on the raid, ending up with their faces clearly collected in whatever recording devices the pirates may have had while they were busy freeing slaves, they returned home mostly safe and sound and it was only while they were unpacking their things back on Sadal that Renko started with her usual lecture. It involved telling Mizuna that the outpost was smaller than what should be expected for a main base of operations, reasoning that it was probably just another outpost and that their faces likely, due to that reckless stunt, had been taken down. She cautioned Mizuna and Azuki that this little vigilante hobby was getting them into places that they had no business being.

Azuki and Mizuna, of course, dismissed it. It was Renko being Renko again; she worried too much - together all three of them were untouchable, or so Mizuna had thought.

She was wrong, of course. So terribly, terribly wrong. That was when she opened her eyes again, clasping her hands tightly together in a cold sweat on the sofa, gritting her teeth together firmly. She'd been so STUPID. If she'd just heeded Renko's warning, things might not have taken a turn for the worse on that certain day. The cheer of the photo shoot after their triumphant return from the deeper reaches of space...she could vividly remember being so swept up in the swelling pride of having accomplished personal goals that she hadn't thought for a minute about how it could possibly come around to bite her in the ass. She was arrogant, cocky and dismissive. That had costed her the lives of her friends and squad mates. But more importantly to her, she'd never again feel the warmth of Azuki's lips on her own and never feel the brunette's fingers in her hair again.

She was, of course, sporting her own grin of sorts. Despite the slight ache in her shoulder from the punch - which admittedly she suspected wasn't a full strength punch - she felt pretty good about this whole arrangement. It was like the Saiyan perhaps suspected: Mizuna was going to wear whatever bruise that developed as a result of the punch to her shoulder with a great deal of pride. It was a reminder of two things; one that she was coming back into the fold of being a warrior as Saiyans should be and that she was rebuilding her life by making lasting bonds with other fighters.

"You're so silly," Mizuna giggled prominently both to herself and at Karah's conditional statement. "Of course I'll fight you. I offered to take you under my wing as a pupil - someone to teach my creed to; not just a fighting style. Come back often and you'll get a fight, free food and a place to rest your sore muscles. I promise it'll be a friendship worth making and keeping. We've met fist to fist; you can trust that this isn't just lip service." part of her toyed with the idea of following Karah to her little neck of the ruins and sleeping out underneath the stars with the wild girl, but she listened to reason and decided that going camping in a pair of lime shorts with yellow trimming and a long white short sleeved t-shirt wasn't the greatest of ideas, so to that extent, she was at peace with the idea of letting her pupil run off into the ruins.

She was no stranger to the reality of tactics and cunning not flying in the face of a gap in strength that was comparable to the gap between the mortal world and that of the afterlife, if someone was so inclined to believe in such things. Mizuna was a bit more skeptical as far as deities and the like were concerned, but Karah didn't need to know that. Even with her wildness, there was an innocence to Karah that both baffled her and made her smile at the same time. It really did make her wonder exactly what kind of life the other woman had lead out there among the ruins and forestry.

"It's true. There are situations where strategy doesn't mean jack, but if you're facing someone like that, that's not fighting; that's suicide and you're one hell of a lucky gal to still be breathing, let alone standing. You're tough, but there's only so much you can achieve on your own. Let me help you, alright? I won't do wrong by you, I promise," Mizuna continued from her last casually spoken topic, agreeing with Karah that there was definitely a time and a place for strategy and tactics while also holding back a giggle that had been caused by Karah being bewildered by the very concept of sharing a bed with someone else.

"By sticking real close to each other, of course!" she tried to answer in a very matter of fact way but her constant giggling ruined any chance of that, her own playful nature slipping through as she made her way towards the door that Karah was hanging around, setting her palm at the top of the frame of the door and using her other hand to reach out and make an attempt of tilting Karah's chin upwards with just the tip of her forefinger.

"Well, you see, Little Kay," her voice suddenly took on a sing song tone as she took a chance to admire the younger woman's features in the moonlight while using a different pet name for her. "It's called intimacy, and~" she moved her face closer to Karah's, keeping the advantage in height as she closed the distance between her face and Karah's. "It happens when two people either need to blow off some steam, or love each other very much...they get reeeeal close in bed together and things really heat up from there." Mizuna had leaned in as far as making it look like she was going to steal a kiss from Karah, but she pivoted at the last moment, pressing her lips ever so slightly against the younger woman's forehead.

"It's a way to express feelings that words cannot." the previous playful singsong tone to her voice from before disappeared as she delivered a more condensed version of what she'd covered minutes ago, far more serious about the subject, even though she wasn't quite sure why she was so forthcoming with all this emotionally vulnerable stuff.

There was the possibility of her simply being the type to wear her heart on her sleeve or letting her guard down for cute girls who reminded her of her old pals Honestly, it was probably both; she was a bit of a sap even back then. Mizuna maintained her gentle smile even as the dark haired woman departed into the night to return to her comfort zone of being surrounded by trees instead of walls and soon after closing her door, certain that Karah would be fine in an environment she was used to, she decided to do some research and reflection of her own.

Sleep could wait; there were other things she was curious about. Specifically, the rest of her mother's stash hidden away in the closet. It had been eating at her the whole time because for most of her youth she'd been too busy dodging her father's attacks and failing miserably only to be scolded until she managed to succeed in getting creative with her attack patterns to finally get in a solid punch or knee strike to some part of his sturdy body.

Sure, she'd get knocked right the fuck out immediately following her small victory, but after that, she ended up getting rewarded for her progress. While he was certainly an intensive and intimidating warrior, when it came time to be a father, he could be quite the doting father - especially when she rose to the occasion to rise above any and all expectations he might have had for her.

Despite all of that, however, she had never really had the chance of seeing even one photo of her mother, which of course only made her more and more curious as the years passed her by. Now more than ever, she was certain there was something to the passing gossip of other kids her age when she was growing up; she was not a pure blooded Saiyan and while it wasn't exactly of the utmost importance that she discover where the other half of her roots hailed from, it was certainly a topic of interest to her.

So, to that extent, she began rummaging through her mother's belongings, finding a thick tome with a weird star on it surrounded by a circle and a skull on the back of the large book. Upon unfastening the clasp to the side of the book and opening it up, she was met with a good quantity of dust that when blown away revealed contents that she couldn't actually read; whatever language this book was in, it wasn't any language native to Sadal, or any language she had encountered while traversing space in her younger days.