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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

That felt a little closer to the truth. Zero's head rolled to the side as he scratched the back of his neck, then pulled his hair over his shoulder.

Quietly, he muttered, "It's always been different. Nothing about peace feels normal to me..."

Idly, he ran his fingers through his hair. A little more confidently, he continued, "But I know weapons. It's the only expertise I have, whether I like it or not... it's my only use."

A statement spoken with an air of resentment, but it was nonetheless true. It's what he was built for, but more than that, it was the one thing above all else he excelled at. No matter how much he wished he could help people any other way, he would always feel most comfortable in his own skin in battle.

"Regardless of my body, I am a weapon I need to learn to control."

It was a very different place that he came from, if the concept of peace felt so foreign to him. Something like that was hard for Blue to properly imagine. So it wasn't her place to argue that he only had one use, as much as the retort was ready on her tongue. She swallowed it back, humming thoughtfully instead.

"That's true, even if you weren't a fighter." The trainer held her palms out, lightly flexing her fingers in a wave. "Even organic bodies can make great weapons, but it's very easy to break them if you rush right in." Blue shot him a grin. "Plenty of people that have always been human or pokemon or whatever do the same thing. Its an easy mistake."

Blue hopped off the bench, taking a stand in front of Zero and lightly crossing her arms over her chest. "You've got a fire in you but all the fire in the world won't do you any good if you don't temper yourself. When was the last time you didn't come straight here?"

Zero shrugged, lacking any other argument he could make for himself. "I remember to eat and change my bandages in the morning."

It was better than nothing? That was about it, though.

It was... Well. It was a start.

"That's... Something," Blue awknowledged slowly with a nod. "But you need to take a day off." She gave him another quick look up and down. "Maybe several, at this point, but... That probably wouldn't fly with you, would it?"

Zero leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "And what exactly do people do on days off?"

Which wasn't a no, but he needed more details before he could call it a mission objective.

"Whatever you want, as long as you're not doing any of this. No training of your own. I know that sounds like a waste of time, but this body of yours needs time to heal."

She wandered over to one of the sword racks and paused to give them each a look. Tentatively, Blue reached out for one of the wooden ones and let the weight fill her hands. It felt heavy and foreign, and she knew it had to look clumsy in her completely novice grip. She turned to point it in Zero's direction, a complete lack of threat in her everything.

"When you push yourself to the limit, you wreck yourself. You need some time to let your muscles stitch themselves back together, so that next time you can go a little farther. So whatever your day off is, it's gotta try to be light. I don't like staying cooped up resting on my days off so I go on walks, or help my pokemon train or... Well. I guess the options are kind of limited here."

It was all good advice, but Zero's face darkened - focused on the tip of the wooden sword.

"Don't point a weapon at someone unless you're going to use it." Spoken like a hardened soldier. He didn't care how little aggression there was in this girl, the thing in her hand wasn't a toy and deserved to be respected for what it was. Even a wooden sword could injure and kill someone.

Surprised, Blue blinked and straightened up a bit at his tone. "Ah, sorry." Her grip tightened, but she dropped the sword to her side. "I've got my own lessons to learn too."

The harsh expression ebbed away, back into his permanent state of seriousness. Zero rubbed the back of his neck again, returning to his thoughts. If his hoverbike hadn't disappeared, that would've been his go-to answer. As it was, he didn't have Pokemon and he couldn't get terribly far outside, being shoeless and all, without cutting up his feet even more - that rather defeated the point of taking it easy.

When it came to hobbies, he had none. The defeated sigh he gave spoke to that clearly. He had to find something though, right? If he didn't want to keep being a weapon forever, he had to find... something.

It felt like grasping at smoke.

"I don't have anything else. If I did, I'd... I'd be anything but me."

Edited 2016-03-21 06:57 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only