day 046 | running from the bae

[unfavoured]

CHARACTERS: Conchita ( unfavoured ) & Steeb ( decommission )
WHERE: Concordia
WHEN: Day 46, very early morning (as in why are you awake kind of early).
SUMMARY: Stop following me.
WARNINGS: Parkour.

[ Someone should probably wonder if Parker's sleeping schedule hasn't completely gone to hell. But then again, nobody will considering how approachable she is. Somehow, she has figured a way to avoid as much human (or alien) contact as possible. Which is to twist her sleeping schedule so much that her waking hours are when most are asleep and her sleeping hours are confined to spaces nobody tends to be in. And when she can't be left alone, then she goes for a run - which usually happens in the mornings when everyone is getting up and she's getting out.

Today was earlier. She couldn't sleep (she rarely can) and so she might as well put her legs to some use. Concordia is bustling with life, but even New York had it's quieter days. There is almost no morning light as she runs through the streets, the cold of early dawn barely grazing as she just pushes on through. The burn of her muscles, of her lungs, the sweat trickling down her brow, the heaviness of pushing and pushing and not slowing down. It takes her mind of things. Pushes her back to Earth. To where her life belongs. And then she buries that bitterness by running faster, until her legs start hurting.

She uses the poorer part of the city almost like a playground. It reminds her of the Outer Slum in New York (her version of it), cluttered, dirty. She leaps over obstacles like fallen bins and abandoned furniture. Uses steps to jump over, pushing and pushing. Climbs up the lower walls, up to the roofs, leaping from one to another, and then back down. All by instinct, because if it's instinct, then she isn't thinking - of her pointlessness, of not belonging.

She turns into an abandoned warehouse, a good workout place when you're trying to get consumed by your own tiredness. She runs up the wall, half torn down, the floor above with too many holes on the floor as if trying out its Swiss cheese Halloween costume. She climbs up easy, one, two, three, and grabs onto the floor, pushing herself up. Keeps running - not like you would when training. The angry sort of running, the one you do when trying to block out memories, to forget, to drown. Parker leaps over a hole in the wall, fitting through to land on a roll over her shoulder, then going down to the lower floor again, using the wall to slow her fall, one feet to one and then to another.

She notices him then, in the corner of her eye. Turns around like a tense cat, but recognises him. Just frowns at Steve for a second before turning his back and running off. Not even here she can find solitude. ]

Comments

[decommission]

[ He'd take blunt over kid gloves any day of the week. Sometimes it's harder to talk with people who use kindness as a shield, for either their own sake or yours. Hiding the truth, even with the best intentions, makes hitting the ground more painful. ]

Huh? [ Responding to the question, not the order (he's got his gaze fixed forward again, back straight and arms out for balance). ] How do you mean?

[ Out of where - Concordia? ]

[unfavoured]

[ They would be in agreement in regards to bluntness over softening the blow. To be fair, it's all she offers. Most people don't really like it, even when they say they prefer honesty. Most people only want honesty when it's in agreement with theirs. It just doesn't work that way.

Parker keeps an easy flow of steps, not really too slow nor too fast, the perfect speed to never go too much to the left or the right. ]

You think we're going to be stuck here forever? In Concordia?

[ If that's what's going to happen, then she might start taking drastic measures to hijack a spaceship. ]

[decommission]

[ His brow furrows - he'd shake his head except he's pretty sure that'd upset his balance. ]

Nah. At this rate we might be here for another month, though. [ At least. Carata had said they'd been in the city for at least a few before the other hosts started getting sent down. ]

Why - you ready to get back? [ To the station. There's a hint of skepticism in his voice. ]

[unfavoured]

[ Another month? Parker makes a face at that. She can hardly stand another month of doing nothing. She might be going a little too restless and when she gets too restless, she tends to get reckless as well. She's patient, yes, but there is a limit to it. But she keeps quiet about it, instead focusing on the moment again: arms up for impulse and stance, and she's back to walking on her hands. A bit more stable this time as she goes.

When he asks his question, though, Parker-- well, she keeps on walking. Focusing on an invisible point between her hands to keep her balance perfect.

And when you would figure she isn't going to answer, words come out of her mouth at long last. ]

I was as soon as I got here.

[ Well, not entirely true: but as soon as she understood she would gather no information about the station and its creepy inhabitants, then she was ready. All she cares is to find out about the Hive and who really got them to say yes to the question that got them all there. ]

[decommission]

[ He actually knows this time to wait a little longer than usual before expecting that the conversation might be over. ]

How come? [ He's looking at it from the perspective of how claustrophobic the station can get. Sure, it's got a nice fancy gym and some of the rooms are huge, but the lack of windows can get to you after a while.

And it's harder to get privacy. Or miles of space between you and everyone else, like Parker tries to. ]

[unfavoured]

[ Although she knows there is a long way to go, Parker also is very aware she has improved upon the whole blocking off people. But she is ready to sacrifice her comfort for answers - she always has been. She has never been the sort to play victim of circumstances and she isn't about to start here, regardless of what a handful of people seem to thin. Not that anyone could blame them. She is not exactly the easiest person to read, especially considering she keeps everyone at distance.

Parker stops walking, getting her balance back. She bends her elbows slightly and kicks her legs up, flipping a couple of times before going back to the walking handstand, but ends up not holding it for lack of balance and hops to a foot to regain stability. She wipes her hands on one another, before trying again.

Not quite one to give up on trying again and again. ]

The answers I need aren't here.

[decommission]

[ A quick glance and he stops to balance in place, wobbling back and forth until he's got both feet flat on the rail again. Nice and steady.

His mouth forms a silent oh. ]

There's a lot of stuff left over from the people that used to live there. [ Most of it's what she'd probably considered junk, though. ] You guys didn't get much time to look around, huh?

i thought i had tagged this lol

[unfavoured]

[ She wipes her forehead on her shoulder before pulling her feet up again to walk on her hands once more. Arms a little shakier now than before, but still stable enough to progress.

There's a frown on her face when Steve keeps talking. She doesn't really care about the people that lived here before, that live here now and will live here in the future. She cares about the people up there in the space ship that everyone is so willing to trust. She supposes, for some, they are parent-figures they never had, or some familiar grounding, comforting presence. She's sure some of them even use them as a platform of manipulation.

In any case, she wants her distance. All she wants is to find out about them rather than whatever's going on here. ]

Look around where?

[decommission]

On the station. [ That's what he meant, though he doesn't seem to realize the miscommunication. As he continues along. ] I found old sports equipment that looked like it was from ... home.

[ Earth. ]

[unfavoured]

[ Ah. She raises her eyebrows a little at that. True, she did not have time to explore the station before getting flushed smack down in the middle of this mess that only get worse by the second. Which really did not help at all with the whole playing along. Even less when it comes to someone like Parker, allergic to authority and suspicious of any figure that resembles some kind of military hierarchy (and if you were to tell her otherwise she would tell you you're an idiot for not seeing it, but by now it has been established how knee-jerk her reaction is to anything pertaining to the Hive). Dodgy answer and blatantly avoiding questions don't really make much for the way of trust and she still can't believe the majority (if not all) of the people here are so willing to believe they're doing good.

For what? For who? Who's to say they're in the right at all? Who's to say they're the good guys? It's an uncomfortable echo of the super heroes empire back in her own world. Where what they say goes.

With the need for a quick break, Parker tips around her again, elongating the muscles of her arms and back as she walks. ]

Maybe they put it there because they care about you.

[ She says, neutral tone, but sarcasm pouring out of every word. ]

[decommission]

[ He shoots her a sidelong glance but says nothing else, going back to concentrating on his balance, one foot in front of the other. He's not ignoring her - if she wants to ask anything else, he'll answer. Otherwise they're in for a long, quiet exercise (like she originally wanted). ]