smashrising | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(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.

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The gears turning in his head were practically audible. Blue's eyebrows raised up when he glanced back at her, and she let out a quiet laugh under her breath at how much it seemed like he had been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. A cookie jar of poor health decisions.

"Let's fix that then," she breezed on with a clink of the glasses in her hand. Blue gave him an expectant look as she set one aside and went about filling up the other.

Warily, Zero approached, scanning her up and down as he did so - force of habit, searching for threats. The glass of water got a similar treatment, but sensing nothing suspicious about the two of them, he set down his sword and picked up the cup.

"...Thanks." Zero took a sip, but that quickly turned into chugging the whole glass down. He hadn't actually noticed how tired and dehydrated his body was until the coolness of the water hit his throat. Hours of aches and fatigue caught up with him in a rush - but he bit off a groan of exhaustion with a grimace. There was no point in complaining over this human body when his reploid one would be even more unviable without an energy source.

His body craved more water but, unsure of how to ask this stranger for more, he awkwardly held onto the glass and watched her.

He wasn't the only one studying. Blue eyed him closely over the rim of her glass, taking stock of the body of injuries in front of her. He looked like someone that had taken a tumble down a mountain and then decided it was a good idea to take dancing lessons from a pack of Scythers. The trainer had done at least one of those, so she didn't feel like it was far off the mark.

She took a sip, slower and less needy. It was mostly a front to begin with, a reason to bring him some. Blue set it aside after a moment, grabbing the pitcher again.

"Anymore? Why don't we take a seat, eh?"

Rather than say anything, Zero gave only the subtlest of nods. His grimace faded into his standard resting frown - everything, even his eyelids felt heavy right now.

Honestly, he felt like he could down that entire pitcher. He definitely wasn't hiding the way he eyed it, but... well, this girl was here for something. Why else reach out to a total stranger? She was probably going to make it known, so if he was going to take advantage of her water, he wanted to know what he was in for first.

He took a quick glance towards the bench over by the sword rack, and headed towards it. Every sore muscle in his body seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he finally sat down.

Blue gave the pitcher a delicate swish twirling the water inside in a most enticing and entirely deliberate way as she moved to join him. She took a seat beside him, gently gesturing for him to raise his cup.

Luckily, Blue wasn't usually one for beating around the bush too much.

"You spend a lot of time in here."

Again, Zero said nothing - he didn't need to, she was simply stating a fact that didn't require an injection of his opinion - but he did hold out his glass. The curtness of the gesture read like a request for her to arrive at the point soon.

"Your..." Blue searched for the right word for a moment. "Tenacity is admirable, but you're doing this wrong."

Blue ~~glassed him~~ poured him another glass.

"Drink that one a bit slower. Too much too fast and you'll get sick."

He was still frowning, but Zero complied with her instructions, downing the water in a steadier pace this time. He could feel it sloshing around in his stomach, he could even hear it somehow - it was unnerving.

Once he was done, he lowered the cup, idly examining its weight and feel in his hands. It was heavier than it appeared, and seemed to squeak under his thumb as he ran his finger over it. Huh.

Somber, even a little resigned, Zero avoided the girl's gaze and stared down at the empty glass. "...I know."

That got a small laugh out of her, but it was not an unkind one. "Well it's good that you know. That makes it a bit easier."

It was incredibly easy to see that he wanted to get stronger. Wanted to do better. She could understand that, even admire it. She was looking for a litlle bit of that motivation herself.

"From what I can tell, this might be hard for you, but it's good advice anyway. You seem really great at what you're doing, but you need to take some breaks."

Zero seemed to run her advice through his head a few times, now-figurative gears still turning. 'Take breaks' was an obvious addition to his routine, but how often? How long? It was never something he had to do before, not really. Not for his body's sake. There were no energy readings or internal timer, and he didn't have an accurate mental assessment of how much was too much. It had just never developed.

There was a pause as he ran a finger along the edge of the glass in thought, before asking, "How?"

"This is a good start." Blue made a gesture towards how they were sitting, the glasses of water. She smiled, even if Zero wasn't looking.

"Your body needs to be hydrated. You need to eat some food. Take some days off every once in a while."

Water, food, rest. He knew all of that already, but the quantities were still off. He was still wrong, he'd probably always be wrong, and it frustrated him in a way that ate at him quietly.

Zero set the glass down on the bench to push some more hair out of his face. Annoying, the way it stuck to his sweat-covered skin.

"You're here because you were worried about me?" That seemed to be her underlying motivation. But the question of why still hung in the air in the silence that followed.

"Do I need to have a reason to be?" To be there or to worry, she didn't say.

Everyone had reasons, even if that reason was simple altruism. Either way, it was her choice - she could do what she wanted.

Zero gave a small shrug. "I worry most people." For a variety of reasons.

"I can sort of see why." All it took was a glance at his everything, to be honest. "Are you... New to the human thing, maybe?"

There was a brief spark of what might've been dry amusement over the possibility that she didn't recognize him as the armoured reploid who used to always be on patrol. Zero did look different now that he was fully exposed. His hair was so much more disheveled, not to mention he was dressed like an accident-prone hobo.

He'd always been humanoid, that had never been an issue. But his form was so similar in shape, it was hard to remember not to treat this body exactly like his old one. It was hard to get rid of the expectation that he should work the same.

"New to being organic."

"Oh. Organic."

And then it actually clicked. Blue's face lit up in realization as suddenly a lot of things made way more sense. "Ohhhh!" She couldn't really recall ever speaking to the security robot-sort of dude, but his still (mostly) perfect hair should have been a clue. Maybe it was because it was so sweaty. Who knows.

"That explains. Uh. A lot." She cupped her chin in a thoughtful gesture, considering. "I've never trained any non-organics before... I guess we'll just have to start from square one!"

This got a raised brow from Zero, one that he pointed in Blue's direction. She wasn't seriously thinking what he thought she was thinking, was she.

Voice incredulous and flat, he echoed, "Train?"

Blue brushed off the incredulous tone with a grin as if she hadn't heard it. "I'm a trainer, yeah. You obviously know what you're doing, but you could still use some help."

Zero gave a cynical grunt as he looked away again. Muttering under his breath, he said, "I have enough people trying to take care of me."

It wasn't that he didn't need it. But he was getting tired of being shackled down by everyone's demands of him - even if they were for his own well-being - and their resulting exasperation when he ultimately couldn't stop being himself. It felt stifling for someone who was, at his heart, a loner.

He trained every day to get away from it all, really. Here, with a sword in his hand, he could at least do something that came naturally to him. It felt comfortable, even if his body was strained to its limits.

Well, they were limits for a reason.

Blue gave a nonchalant little shrug, as if it wasn't her business. It actually wasn't, but knowing that didn't stop the blunt drop of the cheerfulness in her tone.

"Then what's your plan for when you can't hold your sword with that hand either?"

Zero exhaled heavily, but didn't say anything. He wasn't much of a planner, but that didn't mean he wouldn't find a way to keep fighting regardless. He was good at that.

Realistically the answer was 'be forced to take it easy and heal, while getting nagged at the whole time about his recklessness', but it really wasn't all that different from what was happening now.

"You can keep at it if you want, cause maybe there's other ways to get things done if you go too far, but eventually you're going to run out of options."

She gave him a sidelong look. "Are you trying to get stronger because this body is frustrating?"

"Get... stronger?" He repeated the words in his mouth like they were alien terms - then, shook his head.

"No. That's not the point. Not... in the way you're thinking." There was a pause, before Zero's voice fell into a bittersweet hush. "...I don't need stronger."

She nodded, rolling the response around carefully in her mind.

"Stronger might not have been the right way to say it... But this is much different from what you're used to, right? I guess I'm asking if you're trying to make yourself feel useful in the skin you have."