[week of the 46th]

[circumspector]

CHARACTERS: Angel & You!
WHERE: Bearings, Around Concordia
WHEN: From 45 until whenever really.
SUMMARY: Just doing things around the Bearings, tech stuff, lion stuff, angry video gaming. If you want to do something different, just drop me a message, or just go ahead with whatever takes your fancy.
WARNINGS: None to be thought of yet, apart from Borderlands as normal, copious attempts at swearing but failing miserably at them.

360 no scope heatshot

[ She's plugged in yet again. Which is probably done better sitting up? But she doesn't exactly have to use her hands, and nor is she. There's two sets of cords that are snaking around the common room floor, looping discreetly to dodge the coffee table, and follow them from the screen long enough and they reach her head. Plugged in directly to her skull where the metal grates are flipped open to expose the internal ports. The black wire settled that little bit into it seems, her skull. Sure, she's got one hell of a wifi signal, but why bother when she can just plug it straight? Better response time between her brain and her very serious work she is totally doing - ]

Come on, come on, there's like five minutes left in the level.

[ - or not. Where her legs are hooked over the back of the couch and her heads tilted up and backwards to look at the screen. She's playing video games, something with lots of running and shooting and heavy amounts of simulated violence. With her brain, because why the hell not? That's totally a legitimate use of her brain powers, clearly. Well, she seems to be enthralled in it, anyway. Short and shirts and bare feet fiddling over the back of the couch where she's hooked in, she's definitely comfortable right now. Aw how sweet, she's playing with other people too, isn't that nice - ]

6U4RD14N4N631 LOSES.

VICTORY TO YOURMAMA11115.

[ Yeah, never mind. ]

That's bullsh- bull - something!

[ Her upside down face scrunches up in concentration, she doesn't like losing, well, she can handle it, but not at the one thing she's supposed to be the best at, at least. ]

YOURMAMA11115> @6U4RD14N4N631 srry u sukk
YOURMAMA11115> Guess I am just beetar
YOURMAMA11115> come bak wwhen ur up 2 my lvl

[ The words flash up brightly on the screen, flashing big and bold and her face scrunches up, head turning back to the screen to face it properly like she can't quite believe it. Frowning still, letters start typing back in reply without her even moving off the couch. Well maybe that's over with. ]

6U4RD14N4N631> @YOURMAMA11115 rematch or stfu

[ Or not. ]

how to train your lion

[ Up on the roof, Angel takes her lion out to really move around for the first time. After spend whenever she could first - learning how to pull it apart and then put it together just to make sure she knew how it worked, then changing the original wiring to something she preferred, then again to remove oh - certain things, like kill switches, uses of force, and then making sure that absolutely no one could activate it but herself. Then there'd been the pointless customising if only to do nothing but making it look pretty where her fiddling had ruined its paint job.

But it does have a name, now, written in black block printed letters on its side: ᴀɴᴅʀᴏᴄʟᴇs.

But it's done for now. Making sure the lion answers to her, and wordlessly. It's AI as is perfectly serviceable, adjusted bit by bit so her mind didn't destroy it just from a brush, rather, it's weaved with her own. The same bright glow in its eyes as in hers when she's up on the roof. Bright blue and white, shining brightly. Her markings as ever, glowing down her exposed arm. ]

Well, you did alright walking up here with me. [ Good start? Good start. ] Okay, let's see how you go with the basics first...

[ It's big enough beside her, easily come up to her chest height. Her fingers wave, calculated expression as she watches it move. Knitted together brows as it walks where she bids it. There's a strength to its movements. Timed right. Good, she hadn't messed up those calibrations either, the next breath comes easier.

Soundless, just a thought and intention, her fingers curl to gesture it forward as she steps back. Letting it walk one step, then another. It's metallic tail flicking back and forth around its legs. Not quite as smooth as a real one, the little metal plates sliding perfectly as they were designed to. She keeps walking back. Fingers still held up, but she keeps her normal sphere of white light out of it - didn't know who was watching, didn't want to risk anything.

It gets faster until she's moving in a long stride, backwards jog and Androcles is keeping up with her easily at a steady trot. It's long steps are easily keeping up with her shorter ones.

Riiiight up until she forgets that running backwards is a stupid idea, and she drips over an uneven crack in the floor and falls flat on her butt. The lion stops, and nervously, it begins to press in close with its nose into her hair, checking if she's alright. ]

smol tries to be somewhat less smol

[ After that, however, and at any point, she is attempting her best with her training outside of just Lexa and Ren's encouragement. Because if Parker's hitting had taught her anything, it was that she didn't like being caught off guard like that. She refused to just sulk over it, either.

Instead, she forced herself through the motions. The same repetitions: strikes, blocks, staff in hand and her lion sitting nearby, - she's growing attached to it - but just with its head in its pause in an idle pose for now. She just keeps pushing herself - clumsily, but still, consistently, through it. Inevitable that she messes up, of course, cursing to herself in a cut off kind of way. Motherducking skag sucking son of a - witch.

If she finds company however, she'd rather it be participating than just being watched be - not very good at it. So she smiles, waving hello: ] Hey, did you want to join? Promise it's impossible for me to hit you, trust me.

Comments

http://i.imgur.com/X5CnjKQ.jpg

[unfavoured]

[ There are not a lot of places around where Parker can be without having to be bothered by-- well, everyone, really. The roof is one of them. Not only is it somewhere where there is space and quiet for her to practice, it's also somewhat peaceful place for her to lean back and dangle her legs from the rooftop while reading a book. But in the morning (not too early), she has more physical activities to do. Her routine consists mainly of that. Physical activity, reading, drinking coffee or tea, and avoiding every living soul connected to the creepy Hive. More often than not, she tends to stick to it.

But every once in a while, she gets interrupted. Not on purpose, completely accidental, of course. After all, she keeps practicing keeping her presence hidden and putting up walls and blocking people. Far more intensely now, after that little explosive encounter after the street party (she doesn't know what it was called, she doesn't care to know). Still, it's an annoyance. Even more so when it's someone she has decided she does not want any kind of proximity with.

The roof is spacious, and has a generous distance between the ones around it. Coming back from a run via parkour is part of her daily routine. Finding ways that not a lot of people know, because who is bored enough to time their runs from one end of Concordia to another? Well, Parker, clearly. She comes almost out of nowhere, a building a little too far away from the Bearings, but not so much to end in disaster. She leaps from it and the short instance where it feels like she's soaring rather than flying is more freeing than anything else - from this place, from these people, from her thoughts. She lands on the roof of the Bearings clean, rolling over her shoulder to absorb the impact. Sweating from the exercise, glistening against the light of the day, her shirt glued to her chest and back and her jogging pants loose enough to not to stick uncomfortably to anywhere. It's then when she spots Angel and makes a face that isn't very welcoming at all. Why is she here?

And why the hell does she have a Transformer?

Parker at least gets to watch her fall flat on her ass. It makes things slightly less intolerable. She stands where she is, hands on her hips, breathing heavy from the effort but keeping her eyes on her. As if that would be enough to tell her to go away. ]

[circumspector]

[ It's a free roof Parker!! You don't own it!!

But for a moment, she really doesn't notice Parker, her mind split apart between her and the robot. It presses in close and she responds in kind. Her arms looping up over its metal mane, letting it nose at her in the way it's AI was programmed - intelligent if but an animal kind of intelligence. Maybe in enough time, it'd become smart enough. But for now, better to keep it as it was made.

Except that handy dandy kill switch that she's firmly turned off.

Which makes all the difference when Parker seems to crash in out of nowhere. She hears her, her footsteps and she doesn't bother to look on at her. Rather that she becomes aware of Parker isn't turning towards her. It's the way her back straightens, and her Lion's head lifts, looking directly at Parker as an extension of herself, it can look just fine for her. Not that Parker needs to know that.

She smoothes over its gold and red metal in a careful gesture, letting the silence hang and not making the slightest movement towards getting up. ]

Need something?

[ A background whisper of her mind - but she's not pushing. Not as much as she could, as she already has done to Parker. They have to occupy the same space, after all. ]

[unfavoured]

[ There is no doubt Angel is better at the telepathy thing than Parker is, but given as she is not pushing, she manages to block it. A whisper gone the moment it tries to slip in and it's something she is learning to be as strong as possible. Concealing her mind and even her presence. But Angel seems to have learned not to push Parker and her mind. Even with the advantage of a mechanical lion by her side, she can bet that Parker would have the same reaction if she did. She never was one to be against an unfair fight (even if unfair for her),

Wiping her face on her arm, pinkish and hair curling odd in places from all the running around, Parker keeps her eyes on Angel for a while longer. As if the silence was enough of an answer. To be fair, her posture is defensive enough without even crossing her arms and keeping straight. But it becomes apparent very quickly that Angel is not moving, still sitting on the floor with the lion like some sort of security blanket. Parker frowns and sighs, gesturing lazily with a hand towards the door. ]

Can't you go do that somewhere else?

[ She doesn't mind being around people. Why can't she go and be around people? She doesn't own the roof, that would be ridiculous, but if she needs to practice or keep quiet, this is the best place to be at times. Certainly not a common training room where more often than not there are people around.

Hard to get a break around here. ]

There's plenty of space in the common room to fall down. And people to help you up.

[ Like some accusation that doesn't make much sense (or, wouldn't, for anyone else, she's sure Angel understands what she means, even if she keeps her tone straight and neutral). ]

[circumspector]

[ She's still not looking, still not getting up the floor - so what, maybe she likes it down here. Though she bristles. Digs deeper than Parker quite probably expects. ]

I don't need anyone to help me up.

[ Bites it quick. Then soothes herself, she's perfectly fine looking after herself. Even if she's a wreck of withdrawals on any given day, even if she's small and scared and not able to know what to do with getting punched. ]

But oh yes, definitely, have a tonne of steel and machinery jumping around all those people and breakable objects is definitely a good idea. I can see why I would stay down there, absolutely.

[ Sarcasm, from her? Never. ]

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ and smol prompt

[whowhatnow]

I'm sure you could punch the lights out of me any day, Angel.

[Says Nathaniel, with a boyish laugh - he's just been watching over the whole bout of training, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket casually. He's got to admit, she's got some spunk - she's not all that great, no, but she's determined, and that's what really matters. The cursing is cute too.]

[He steps up, smirking widely as he shrugs.]

Sure, why not? I can't say I'm an expert, myself, but a little sparring here and now's good, y'know? [He cocks his head to the side.] What exactly do you want to practice?

[circumspector]

[ She gives him a look like they both know that's not at all true - but she thinks it's very sweet of him to say, at least. ]

Actually... [ she worries her teeth at her bottom lip, like she's not quite sure he'd agree. ] ... I need to practise blocking, if that's okay? All you'd need to do is to keep trying to hit me, and I have to keep stopping you.

[ Simple, right? Right. It's how she and Ren trained. Ren didn't pull his punches, either, she usually ended up nursing one hit or another that was heavy to her stomach or jaw or legs. Her own fault, she'd insist, for not being fast enough. ]

[whowhatnow]

Blocking? Hey, I can do that, no problem.

[Sounds pretty simple! He's not going to start right away, though - even practicing, things can get out of hand, he knows that.]

How hard do you want me to go? I mean, I'm no fighter, but I hardly want to knock your teeth out by accident.

[circumspector]

Well, maybe not teeth knocking, but not easy on me? Ren doesn't, and I really don't want to get into bad habits. It's not like anyone else is pulling their punches, either.

[ She's not bitter about Parker? Her, never.

She shifts, rolling her weight and she is clearly taking it seriously, the way her arms come up. Shoulders rolled back and - well. ] Ready when you are.

rooftop robo lion!

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ The roof is one of Sam's favorite places, and he's up there enough not to be surprised when he arrives to see someone else already there. Whether or not he stays tends to depend on who it is, but when he spots Angel, he leans against the wall to watch. He'd been meaning to check in with her after Parker's bullshit, anyway, might as well hang out and watch her work with the lion.

Until she falls, anyway.

He's there almost immediately, offering her a hand up - though he doesn't ask if she's okay. It didn't look like too bad of a fall, and if she accepts his hand, he'll find out anyway. ]

That's awesome, looks really cool. How long've you had the lion?

[circumspector]

[ She takes it almost not seeing who it was until it was too late. Pulling herself up onto her feet easily - he's far bigger than she, and she doesn't weigh much. Androcles is pressing into her leg almost as soon as she's up, checking she's alright.

Once she does, though, she's immediately ducking her head. Fumbling - there's an uncertainty, there. She smothered parts of herself deep, especially what she could be capable of. Not just her ability to destroy ( like gods do, scorch the earth, craters and ash and wastelands of purple cracked earth ) but to laugh whilst she does it. It makes her swallow, drop her eyes and press her fingers to the robot where it comes in close. ]

Only a little while now. I've just been going over its basic programming to make sure it works alright before I move onto anything more strenuous. [ A laugh, small, an attempt to hide her own need to bolt. ]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ He'd been planning on asking more about the lion, figuring out how it works and maybe telling her a little about Redwing before he tried to gauge how she was doing since the Parker thing - but that uncertainty, the way she ducks her head and won't even look at him makes him think that nope, he probably needs to dive right into that.

Sam's not sure if she's mad at him for getting involved or if she thinks he might be mad at her because Parker's his broodmate or whatever else, but the best way to figure it out is just to ask her. There's a gentle nudge across the mental link, less concern and more a general feeling of openness, of I'll listen, if you wanna share I'd like that. ]

Hey, Angel, what's up? Seem kind of on edge.

[circumspector]

[ On edge, seems a polite word for talking to the person whose broodmate she'd told to jump out of airlock. Too much Pandora on the edge of these sort of interactions. No one she knew would tolerate it, or if they did, they wouldn't let forget the words that had come out of her mouth, the rage that flowed with them.

That he's pleasant made her... worry. Jack could tell a mother their baby was the sweetest thing he's ever seen before he shot it between the eyes. Moxxi would promise to fuck someone a minute before they found a grenade in their throat. Marcus didn't even blink.

She goes through the list, mentally tripping over herself. To unforgiving acts of violence, she knows the score, and it's only that she's been here long enough that she hasn't bolted completely. He'd seen a bit of her that she kept so will hidden, so dressed up and made pretty ( that Parker had cut through like a knife to a cake ), and she's at least for when he just asks. ]

Uhm, I guess. I wasn't really sure what to... expect when I saw you again.

smols

[tropism]

Where is the fun in that, if you're not going to play with me as well? Come on, Angel.

[ signore giovanna is present and ready. today he is wearing white and lavender, and the idea that his suit might get dirty doesn't even seem to faze him as he steps up to angel after quietly observing her train.

giorno, for the life of him, has never needed training. there is a certain convenience in having something - or someone, or a couple of people - fight for you. in battle he was rather spoiled. as his position in passione was the newbie, he was forbidden from participating in most missions, unless bruno had his say. that's not to say he was always safe - if anything the fights he participates in were brutal enough - but not having any experience with regards to a lot of things puts him in a slight disadvantage compared to the rest of them.

no matter, it's not like it's difficult to keep up.

he has his arms folded over his chest, eyeing the lion behind her. ]

Will your pet be joining us as well? [ does it have a name. ]

[circumspector]

[ It's a strange process to her. There was no version of training so much like this. This rigorous pushing herself but in a bloodless way. It was -- too kind sometimes to what she was used to observing. So utterly forgiving, and she fears the day that they land on a planet where it isn't. Pandora wasn't kind, it took its favoured and with her help, showered them in blood and fire and if they didn't come out the other side - no one was there to pick them back up again. There was only violence, only blood, children given guns, because what other option was there? Fight or die.

Why it makes it feel right when Ren beats her down till where breathing is painful. That's how it works, isn't it? When he strikes her with barest consideration to her ability and she feels her ribs ache and her skin bruise and burst in blossoms of red and blue, she thinks that's how it should be. What good was a more anaemic version of it?

It's this, she craves, what she knows as strength, and if Parker hitting her meant anything, it was that she still had far enough to go that it shocked her like it did. So when Gio asks, there's a little grin, all sharp and pointed, closer to her lion to how - oh, how she'd been with him before. Sweet and pleasant. Well, still pleasant, but humming, happily under her skin. ]

No, he's not, he's not quite ready for that I think. [ He'll kill and he'll kill without question, no middle ground, when she asks him too. ] So it'll just be us, for now, if you like?

[tropism]

That's quite alright.

[ it's been a long time since he's had to use gold experience to fight. he never needed to, not when he's kept a low profile in his time in concordia. even with the missions, giorno had not attracted any attention to himself, despite his flashy outfits and dazzling smile. he was there in the background and disappeared whenever it's convenient. he was mostly polite and charming and occasionally said odd things, but that was the extent of his contribution to the state of things. he has his own opinions about the mission in general, but giorno's current philosophy has been that he will only move when things require him to move.

it's been boring, needless to say. giorno stretches himself, loosens his limbs as he approaches her. ]

Loser has to buy the other one dessert. My favourite is chocolate pudding!

[ and instead of doing a stance, giorno .... stands there and poses. gold comes out of him, washes him in a warm, pulsating light. ]

[circumspector]

[ She's taken back and - she thinks so often that he's beautiful, whenever she looks at him, really, but this is - something else when he glimmers. Might ask him if he were a siren, somehow, if they were on Pandora, te way it glimmers on him.

But even as her smile catches she shifts to respond. She's enthusiastic, and she rolls herself, her markings lighting up brightly, from dim to bright in a building pulse - not the way that Maya flickered or Lilith flared, but she comes brightly to existence like she was just hiding away. Her arms snap beside her, her fingers curling and the light forms bright in her hand left hand like all the power flowed down into it. Sliding her weight in the way she's practised - the way she should have been, of Lilith, Maya, their biting cruel words. Ever fought a siren before? It's a lift of her chin, a sharpness she tries not to let show because it's ingrained otherwise. ]

I like ice cream.

[ Chides back, shifting her weight, letting the air around her shimmer, like looking through heat. ]

360 pls.

[snaphiss]

[Mara has come in to the common area to get some food after a long shower. After a rigorous training session, she wants to unwind and relax. Instead, she's stuck, standing in behind the sofa, transfixed with horror.]

[They don't have videogames in Star Wars, okay.]

[Her voice is snide, clearly disapproving.] Is that supposed to be combat?

[circumspector]

Huh - ?

[ Absorbed as she was in being - well, a shitty teenager, by most accounts, she didn't seem to completely notice she had company. When she does though, there's a big smile and shaking her head as on the screen, a loading screen pulls up, and in the background of it, it seems play by plays of the last match flash by. ]

Oh, no, it's a game. I'm pretty sure the people that make these have never been shot at before in their life.

[ She arches herself up, pressing on her unmarked leg to hold her weight feeling something pleasantly crack before she sinks back down. Yep, that's about as much movement she seems to be interested in. ]

Wanna play? [ Not like she needs the controller right now, and she produces it from where she'd discarded it and tosses it onto the couch beside her, leaving the offer with it. ] This guy has been driving me nuts. He keeps beating up new people and acting like that actually makes him a better player.

[snaphiss]

[In the face of all this open friendliness, Mara only becomes more sour and suspicious. She narrows her eyes, and looks at the controller with perplexed disdain.]

Then you're 'new' at this? [She's much more interested in testing-- learning about-- her fellow hosts than playing a hologame.] You seem pretty comfortable with it to me.

[circumspector]

[ and she just keeps on being friendly. Toes wriggling where she's getting comfortable. Where her feet are bare, it exposes where the markings wrap about her left foot, rivers of lines that hook over her toes, and there's a line of three dots on the ball of her foot. She hums, eyes distracted again before she answers, up on the screen. ]

New to this game, not to gaming. [ a subtle correction. ] That and I sort of cheat - a bit - when it comes technology.

[ Angel, Angel there are cords into your brain, that's beyond cheating. ]

it's sparrin' time

[batmotif]

[It's true that Bruce had been watching with a critical eye, though he wasn't keen on interrupting her focus just yet with commentary from the peanut gallery. Still, he isn't embarrassed when Angel turns to him with a friendly wave and a smile; in fact, it just saves him the time from inevitably clearing his throat loud enough to grab her attention.

Because while she definitely has the enthusiasm for it, there's a technique or two that needs a bit more refinement. Some of her movements are clumsy, and he can see (and even mentally hear) her focus unravel when Angel feels she's made a misstep.]

I wouldn't call it impossible. You've got the right idea for a lot of what you're doing. Practice and repetition will refine that potential.

.... I thought that was an explosion behind his head until I realized it was leaves....

[circumspector]

[ It's the exactness of it that makes it tricky. Her fingers curling up as she catches her breath. Feeling the thud of blood where it moves her limbs, the force of exercise is sometimes not even just to get stronger, it's to reaffirm her presence in her own body. The dead thing she is used to it being. A place she inhabits, rather than lives in, and it's the daily fight to make it latter rather than former. ]

I've been doing it as often as I can. Not sure if I am getting better or worse, really.

CRYING well considering his canon that actually isn't too farfetched

[batmotif]

If you keep pushing yourself, you'll improve. One way or another. Sometimes being your own toughest critic can work to your advantage.

[Heavens knows that Bruce is, to every extreme imaginable. To be at a physical plateau that most normal people cannot reach is not good enough -- he can always be better, for the sake of everyone else around him. Anything less is unacceptable.

And it's true that he's liable to extend this criticism to others, to hold them to the same standards as he would his own. Because of this, he can be an unforgiving instructor, but it's strangely tempered by his recognition of the effort others put in, and their will to improve.

So naturally, he offers:]

Still willing to entertain a sparring partner for now?

[circumspector]

I hope so. I don't want to be the one letting the team down.

[ She craves those high standards and maybe that's the left over of Jack, the drive to be the best and always be that one step above, or maybe that's just how she knows survival work. She tries to keep arrogance out of it, think about what is best for all of them. But she wants to be as good as she can be, to finally get to take what was given to her with both hands and wield it for herself.

So his offer is met with a wide smile. ] Definitely.

WHILE SHE'S AWAY

[decommission]

[ Sometimes, when Angel's left the lion alone in the living space, Steve takes to humming out of tune at it while he's making food or cleaning up. ]