didn't I teach you right, didn't I

[decommission]

CHARACTERS: Steve-o and you
WHERE: All around the Station
WHEN: Day 4 and forward
SUMMARY: A few general prompts for downtime, hit me up if you want something more specific!
WARNINGS: Will update if needed.



EXERCISE

[ ( a. ) Early every morning Steve can be found running laps in one of the larger halls in the training wing. Depending on what time you find him, he'll either just be starting or his face will be flushed as he walks slow circles with even breaths.

( b. ) Or you might find him pummeling a punching bag like a (less than) half trained boxer. He's got his thumb outside of his fist.

( c. ) It's later in the day that he'll retreat to a slightly more secluded section (as secluded as you can get without doors). The sharp ring of metal striking metal an be heard - ]

Heads up!

[ A disc-shaped blur hurtles across the room and over Steve's head as he ducks, striking an empty equipment rack before finally hitting the floor. With a scowl Steve jogs over to retrieve it. Both of his arms appear to be covered in a dull, silver metal, almost matching the material of the disc - or shield, as it is. ]

RECREATION

[ Bats, gloves, baseballs.

It's been what feels like a century since he'd last seen this stuff, last spoke with Lexa about getting folks together for a game. He's not really sure he's up for it at the moment, but he gravitates to the reminders of home all the same. ]

If you see any more of these, lemme know.

[ Spoken to any passerby as he indicates to the mismatched array of baseball equipment. All of it looks used, some more battered than others. There's a pair of aluminum bats and a sorry looking wooden one with a splinter down the middle, three grass-stained baseballs with their threads loose, and an array of leather gloves. One of the mitts is on fitted on his left hand, the leather dark and roughed up from use. He's never known a stiff glove, and isn't too sorry not to find one here. ]

Comments

[unsea]

[ Evenly: ] I know what you meant.

[ The two of them are not companions. They maintain a deft neutrality, and the reasons he reaches out to Steve at all are named "Ilde" and "Ren". Steve is on the boundaries of Castor, and with the two that the Darkling favors, he'll be there. Stubborn and brassy. ]

I was hard-pressed for a decision. Live, or die with my world. She was with me, at that moment - so, I brought her.

[ She'd seen him into and through the world, he could see her from it and beyond.

-- there's a fracture, in his voice. Either it is a lure for Steve to grasp, or something honest. ( It was not enough, Baghra said. ) ]

[decommission]

[ The far edge of Castor's boundaries. His distance from his brood's grown acute since the tail end of the mission. Ren he's barely spoken to and has barely any desire to beyond the unconscious pull that binds them, and Ilde - Steve sees what he wants to in Ilde, for better or worse. They meet where they can, but otherwise speak two different languages.

And then there's this guy. ]

- why did she do it?

[unsea]

To punish me, I suppose.

[ The response is thoughtless, something that he has clearly been considering for some time now. A conclusion he has reached, based on the volatile conversations the two of them had held since the parting of the Unsea - since he had broken reality over his knee, and she had begun to look at him with such disappointment.

Baghra had thrown herself to her death, to prevent him from stopping Them - Alina, her pathfinder, her too-clever fox, her ragged army. She had taught him not to be swayed by his heart, and then had used it against him. He burned now, with grief and resentment. A scar within him made fresh by her death, the last lingering trace of true sentiment. ]

She did things for me, when I was small. Monstrous things, Steve. To ensure I lived long enough to see my adult years - and when I took her lessons to heart in defense of my people... [ He fractures for a moment, throat bobbing as he swallowed. Hard, fighting back something that tasted like iron and fury. ]

She called me an abomination. And took herself from the world to punish me.