09 | Somebody Could Walk into This Room and Say Your Life is on Fire

[sinistral]

WHO: the Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: the Peanut Party, Noth, the Agrii ship
WHAT: new tick tick tick BOOM
WHEN: from boarding the ships on the 9th through New Tick to the Agrii ship visit
WARNINGS: none anticipated

---

PEANUT PARTY
→ Before New Tick;

Being compelled to the ships while disturbing from the point of view of the compulsion nevertheless meant a better workout schedule for the Soldier. He would not have anticipated the Agrii to supply such well-equipped exercise areas, but he certainly did not mind it. For someone with his particular enhancements, equipment that could hold up to him without breaking was rare and he fully meant to take advantage of it.

Most often he could be found taking advantage of the heavy bags for sparring, or the climbing wall. Sometimes he worked with the weights, or gave what appeared to be lessons to Billy Kaplan. He wouldn't object if someone asked to rotate in on any of the equipment; likely he'd even act as spotter, if asked.

"You want next?"

→ After New Tick;

The workout habit by necessity had to change a little — frequency no; form yes. He didn't know whether or not he appreciated the Agrii's little gift, but it did require practice. Even if he ultimately decided not to keep it he'd have to figure out its best use, on the chance he'd have to fight with it.

Sometimes he really hated this place.

His preferred to work on this particular practice late at night or very early in the morning; when most people were still asleep and he could have the gym facilities to himself. He had thus far refused to put on the uniform, but he could be found throwing a distinctive shield over and over again until he could reliably hit his desired target and catch it on the rebound. Sometimes the wall near the door was a rebound point though; one might want to exercise caution if also looking to work out in the off hours.

Or perhaps this encounter wasn't in the gym, but rather in the hallway before or after. That shield was kind of large and conspicuous; it wasn't like he could carry it unnoticed on his way to or from his designated room.

NOTH
→ Fireworks;

The Soldier had no illusions about being anyone's idea of good company for things like fireworks shows. His training ran too deep, and the explosions of fireworks spoke too much of gunfire. It was worse if he didn't watch though; at least through observation he could correlate each explosion to its end result, count and catalog and track it all to convince himself that he had no need of retaliation. All in all, it was going quite well.

And then the glitter happened.

He cursed under his breath (in three languages, which would be fun for anyone relying on the Agrii translation technology) before tugging his own jacket off to wrap around his left arm and hand. Glitter played havoc with the mechanisms and the last thing he needed was to spend the next month trying to remove it all. Again.

→ Babysitting;

Saying that the Soldier didn't trust Agrii treats was one of the biggest understatements one could make. He avoided the generously-supplied chocolates like the plague, especially once it became clear that they had certain side effects.

His avoidance, however, didn't transmute itself to others.

The Soldier looked down at the child who had just come careening around the corner, right into his legs. Reflexively he'd reached out to prevent the younger one from falling into the snow, but he had a feeling he might not so easily be able to just brush off the encounter and go about his day. The look on his face simultaneously expressed the thoughts of why me and now what.

"Are you lost?" Good enough, right?

AGRII SHIP
→ Unintentional Popularity;

The bad part about being not only a resident of Temba but also one of the few brought from the Drift Fleet was a certain level of popularity. Quite possibly the Soldier's generally poor attitude contributed to it as well. Perhaps the Agrii were just that friendly with all their visitors. Whatever the case he found himself more and more often resulting to his stealth training to move silently and avoid detection when he had to move about the ship.

The end result was that, despite his careful attempts to slip along hallways relatively unnoticed he still managed to attract one or two followers from time to time. Perhaps some kind of monitoring system contributed to his ill luck, his brain suggested. He tried to quiet those thoughts even as his hand strayed out of habit to the knife at his side.

"Do not," he cautioned without turning around, "attempt to touch me. It will not end well for you."

The Agrii might find the prickly attitude endearing, however; the cautionary statement probably had as much of a chance of encouraging the hug as it did dissuading the determined alien. Perhaps it was time to jump in?

WILDCARD
→ Network;

Want your character to text or call this guy? Drunk dials? Really bad memes that you've made? Consider this your free for all invitation.

→ Something Else;

Have another idea? Come at me, or hit me up at sometimesamuse or via PM. Want a more specific starter for your character? Let me know, I got you. Want to handwave something? I'm fine with that as well, let's hash it out. And while I write starters in prose I'm happy to match brackets if that's your preference.

Comments

[sinistral]

The Soldier squeezed Billy a little closer when he jumped, trying to offer the same comfort Billy offered to him.

"You don't have to be ashamed of being afraid. Or even if you are sometimes and aren't at others." He knew a little bit about Billy's past, enough to know it was Complicated (with the capital C). "Or no matter what your name is, and what you want it to be."

[wearingthestars]

Complicated past was at least something they could share, different as they were. There was even the odd fractured memory for Billy to share, like this, that he wasn't quite sure who it belonged to. Apart from Tommy, Soldier was really the only one Billy thought could really understand what that was like. Hell, he knew it far better than he did.

"Same," he mirrored with a fond smile, and he turned his head to press a brief kiss to Soldier's jaw. "...Happy New Years, Soldier."

[sinistral]

He leaned into the small affection, accepting it much more readily than he once had. His eyes remained on the fireworks, along with a good measure of his attention, but Billy had everything else of him.

"Happy Tick, I think you mean. In this place. If it's even really analogous to January. I think we all just kind of assume."

[wearingthestars]

"True," Billy agreed with a laugh, "It's close enough. Feels like New Years. If it were the same, would you have any resolutions?" Maybe it dumb, but they might live out the rest of their lives here before going home. If they went home. There was nothing wrong with taking some time to celebrate and maybe plot some goals.

"I all ready started mine, but I want to focus on learning more stuff without magic. And also getting better at my magic. I don't think that has to conflict?" he tried to reason.

[sinistral]

"Not really." He never bothered with resolutions, or anything else that went along with celebrating the turning of the year. Why make explicit promises only to later abandon them, or guilt oneself over them? The Soldier struggled enough in his attempts to be normal.

"I don't see that they would conflict." He sounded thoughtful, going over their training routine in his head. There were some opportunities there perhaps. "I will help you if I can."

[wearingthestars]

"Nothing?" Billy teased lightly, "Don't wanna learn how to...ride a unicycle or something?" He laughed, not able to think of very much that Soldier hadn't all ready experienced. "That's fair, my Dad never liked them. And Mom always said they should be goals, because resolution put too much pressure on it."

Soldier had helped him a lot all read with his training, part of what inspired the want to explore what he could do in other areas of his life. "Mmm, and if you wind up deciding you want that unicycle, you know where to get it."

[sinistral]

"What would I do with a unicycle?" Practical as always, the Soldier failed to see the appeal. He mostly focused on surviving, and on keeping up with his self-appointed tasks of maintenance in the two cities. Sh'Ka especially suffered from lack of care, and he didn't mind undertaking tasks like snow removal on his own.

"Maybe work on a better shelter for you when the weather warms. We focused on dry and defensible but I know it's not like what you had."

[wearingthestars]

"It's a joke," Billy explained with a small laugh, nudging Soldier's ribs lightly. Because of course he wouldn't want a unicycle.

"Mmm, something a little home-y?" he agreed with a soft hum. "I'd like that. I like how we are now too, but- yeah-"

[sinistral]

He snorted but accepted Billy's elbowing gracefully, putting his arm more snuggly around his partner's shoulders. Like this the noise of the fireworks faded somewhat into the background.

"Do you want something homey?" The Soldier felt comfortable with a transitory existence but he knew it would never be Billy's preference. He didn't think it a hardship to build him something better. "Like the cabins here?"

[wearingthestars]

The cabins seemed like an ideal compromise, something more a part of nature, but with some creature comforts that make it feel like home.

"That'd be kind of nice, yeah. Still out of the way, and safe, but...lived in." He smiled a bit bashfully.

[sinistral]

"We could work on something like that. Start spring with a construction project." Billy would have to decide where he wanted to be, whether he really wanted to build something from scratch or start with an existing structure — if they could find an existing structure to use as a shell. "I don't know much about construction but I've done a few odd jobs."

And perhaps with a shelter that he helped build, the Soldier would feel more comfortable staying in it for longer periods of time. He still felt a need to move around, but when he did set up one of his shelters he felt secure within. Maybe the feeling would apply to a more permanent structure.

[wearingthestars]

A few odd jobs was definitely more experience than Billy had. He could barely hammer of a nail into a wall to hang something without it ending in very bruised fingers (and walls). But he felt less daunted than he might have in the past. After all, Soldier had taught him plenty of things he didn't think he could do before, and the idea of creating their own space seemed exciting rather than impossible.

"We could make a safe room. One that's hidden, like behind a bookcase or whatever." Duel purpose safe space for Soldier and super cool.

[sinistral]

"A true safe room might be a little challenging." But they could try, if Billy really wanted one. The Soldier himself didn't know how he'd feel about being trapped inside a room with only one exit, but he could also punch through concrete if he really had to. He'd screw up his arm sure, but he'd be able to escape.

"But we could try. Maybe start by making a list of all the features you could ever want, and then we'll take the list and see what we need to do immediately versus what can be a later goal."