smashrising | (no subject)

Who: Zero and Blue and possibly others
What: SWORDS
Where: Swordfighter training area
When: Weeks after humanizing happened
Warnings: Pointy objects

Zero wasn't terribly good at being human. But, not having much of an alternative, a human he remained.

He was weak - cut and scraped and bruised and fractured in new ways almost every day, to the point where it was laughable. Having your physical limits completely redefined wasn't something that you could adjust to overnight, especially when your instincts were purely honed for reploid combat.

But that was all he knew. It was basically all he was good for, considering he was garbage doing anything else as a human. If he couldn't perform at peak power, he would only be a liability in exploring, foraging, defending. So until he could consider himself an asset, he'd have to train. Relearn everything he could do.

Every day without fail, he'd be practicing with the arsenal available in the training area - wearing himself down until his body memorized every single weapon. With one arm in a splint (don't ask), he was working his way through the one-handed swords and daggers as he healed.

Sweaty, dirty, aching, hungry, shoeless and tired though he was, Zero was still a fighter. And starting at rock bottom was becoming rather familiar to him, honestly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Zero was so engrossed in his training exercises that he made no sign of acknowledging her arrival. Perhaps he didn't know, or perhaps he didn't care - if it was urgent, then they would've said something.

It wasn't until a jolt of pain ran up his broken arm in the middle of a knife combo that he had to take a break - served him right for trying to do more damage by putting more weight behind the blade. He stopped, breathing heavily, wiping the sweat and loose hair from his eyes.

Slowly, he turned to face Vivian, staring back with eyes entirely unlike his old ones. Still grey and still stern, but no longer the flat, opaque walls they used to be.

"...Yes?"

"...Ah!" Right, she has to communicate. "Hello, Mr. Zero..."

Looking him over was interesting, but mostly it was... pleasing. There was this inalienable satisfaction of seeing the different become the norm, but Vivian couldn't verbalize that for the life of her. It simply existed in her heart and burned at the pit of her mind.

"U-Uhm, do you understand its functions?"

Interesting was one word for it, considering how sweaty and banged up he was. Also, the fact that his clothes were old, ill-fitting, found in a dusty pile of junk, and his hair was too long to be even remotely practical.

"Its functions?"

Zero looked down at the knife in his hand, assuming that it was what Vivian was referring to. It was the only thing he'd been focused on for the past several hours, so his mind was on a single track right now.

"These are designed for close quarters combat, optimal with covert tactics. On its own, its range loses out to longer blades, but it serves well as a concealed weapon."

Confusion was an understatement to her expression. It occurred to her then he didn't understand. Hah!

Approaching him to get close enough, she's reaching out for his hair, aiming to poke his stomach with her other hand. PERSONAL SPACE IS OUT, ZERO. SORRY.

"Your body!"

When Zero saw her hand coming for his midsection, he immediately put his weapon between them - pointed downwards, but nonetheless a barrier him and her touch. His whole body stiffened, wound tight in an instant. A prickly, bristling feeling spread over him as he took a sharp step back.

Physical contact wasn't something Zero liked even on the best of days, and in this vulnerable, human form, he liked it even less.

"It's just a body," he muttered. It was no big deal, obviously - but he was still on edge.

The reaction was actually something Vivian hoped for, in a sense.

"Yes. It's just a body. A human body..." Her hands folded together and dropped in front of her, eyes scanning him. Did he understand the gravity of her reply? "Right?"

She leaned down to more or less match his height, locking her sights onto him. "Do you understand it?"

Zero frowned even more when Vivian leaned down to his level. It was condescending. And while he may have recognized that becoming human was an important thing for her, it wasn't an outlook he shared. A body was a body - a vessel, a tool he simply had to adapt to, no matter how large the change.

"I'm working on it," he grumbled.

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Dun dun dunnnnn

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I'm already laughin at this mess

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