xenamorph | Morph #3: The Struggle. [Action/Video]

[As weird as it was staying in Spock's guest bedroom, they were polite enough. Still, she really didn't spend much time there.

At first, she'd spent a lot of time just flying around, but it didn't really ease the tension. Something was missing. She was having trouble sleeping. She had so many nightmares, she lost track of which ones were which, and she'd wake up in the middle of the night, screaming into her pillow.

And then she'd fly again.

It wasn't enough.

Something is missing.]

[Video]

"So, um. Can anybody show me how to program that... battledome thing? And what else do you people do to entertain yourself around here."

[She stops for a moment, staring blankly at the camera as visions of violence and blood fill her head, before she blinks and snaps out of it.]

"Uh. So, if anybody could help me out on either end, I'd appreciate it."

[Action]

[She's going to be at the battledome today, trying to figure out how to make it work. She needs to...

Something. She's looking for something. She's not sure what.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm pretty good with the system there if you need help. What kind of thing are you looking for?

For entertainment... usually I shoot. Or spar.

"I'm..."

[Sparring. More images of violence flash through her mind. A bear, tearing through human Controllers like they were flies. An elephant trampling hordes of taxxons and hork-bajir. An eagle diving into a controller's eyes, a wolf working with the pack to bring down a-]

"... uh, I dunno, I guess I just want to program... home."

Home's a pretty big thing to try to program but I'll see what I can do to get you up and running. Want to meet at the Battle Dome. I'm heading up there soon anyway.

"Yeah. I'll see you there."

[She goes to close the book, but remembers at the last minute to throw in-]

"Thanks."

No problem. See you soon.

[Clint shows up at the Battle Dome a short while later, lingering near the control panel. He has his bow in it's case and the quiver slung over his shoulder and a bag of clothes to change into since he's probably going to be working out for a while.]

[Spock spends a lot of his time at the battledome.... when he sees Rachel he notices that she is...

...anxious?

The Vulcan approaches.]

Greetings Miss Berenson... are you well?

[Rachel, meanwhile, is just wearing fairly uninteresting clothing and carrying nothing but her journal. Although, if somebody was paying attention, they might notice that all of her clothing was loose, simple, and easy to slip out of, and that she had another layer underneath.]

"Hey. Sorry if I kept you waiting."

[She seems a lot less uncertain now, if nothing else.]

[Saori is at the Battle Dome as part of her usual routine, of course. The minute she learned how to use it, she started coming daily to make use of the facilities.

Only today, she seems someone as confused by it as she was initially. And approaches. A pretty young girl, obviously...frustrated.]

Hello. Would you like some help?

[Clint offers a small smile when she shows up, outwardly friendly but he's taking in her appearance, the frustration that she's displaying. Interesting.]

You didn't. I spend a lot of time here training most days.

"I'm fine. Just trying to figure out how to work this thing, I keep hearing about it."

"Sure, if you're offering."

Of course. What would you like to do?

[She moves over to the console and pulls up a list of scenarios she uses regularly. Ranging from a Japanese garden in the summer to a hellscape covered with forty foot tall oni to a tag-scenario.]

[She's seen that look before. Sizing her up. It kind of reminded her of Tobias.

... she really missed Tobias.

She pulled her thoughts together. She had a poker face that had stood up to an alien invasion. She could do this.]

"Cool. So, where do we start?"

"I..."

[A Hork-Bajir stands amidst the bodies, Taxxon and Human controllers strewn around her, bleeding, dying, another Taxxon comes into the fray and she turns to face it with a scream of defiance-]

"Uh, I'm thinking maybe I'll try to program my home. I mean, the house. Just the house. That seems simple enough."

Alright.

[She blinks...

and pulls up a small menu.]

Here. This is a base. A blank field I use. You can add to it with this. Start there.

[She takes a step back so the girl can work.]

Well, first thing is you can change the settings for pretty much everything. Gravity, power cap, safety if you're more interested in combat than relaxing. Take the safeties off and you can keep going until it decides you can't fight any more.

[Her heart skips a few beats at that.]

"Is it dangerous?"

[She starts working with the controls. She starts with her bedroom- not the guest room at Spock's house, but the one at her home, the one that was now rubble and glass in a smoking crater. From her perspective, it's only been two months since it was destroyed, yet it seems so long ago she has to struggle to remember where everything went. The bed, the dresser. The corkboard on the wall- she left it empty, she didn't want to try and come up with the notes she put up...

and after a moment, she steps back.]

"I think it's ready. Do I just... go in?"

You do. Go right ahead.

[Saori nods and waves her towards the door.]

Go see if it worked.

It is if you want it to be. I use it for training, Can't do that if there isn't a little danger.

[Her every instinct is to immediately yell 'Let's do it' and dive into the toughest course he can come up with. For a little while, she considers it. And the tension starts to ease away, getting replaced by anticipation, almost longing for that danger, that fear, that adrenaline rush. It's been a month. She wants to fight. She needs to fight, she needs to let loose and-]

"Maybe for now I start with a room in my house."

[He sees a slight shift, the way she holds herself, almost anticipation. Files it away for future consideration.]

Sure. That works.

[He pulls up a blank program for her.]

It takes a bit of practice and the details take a bit more work, but it can recreate most anything.

"Sounds good."

[She goes to the screen and starts working. It's rudimentary, bare-bones to say the least, but she manages to create a half-decent recreation of her living room back home. The couch, the TV, the coffee table. Nothing fancy. Nothing ornate. But it's all where she remembers it, and how she remembers it.

That's something, right?]

"Well, judges, let's see how our contestant did."

[And then she opens the door and steps inside.]

[He keeps watch, offering a couple of pointers as she pulls the program together and flashes a smile when she makes the joke.

He goes to lean against the door to the room, looking around at what she's created.]

Looks good for a first try.

[She opens the door and heads inside. Looks around the room. Small, but comfortable. The corkboard looks bare. It's not what bugs her.

What bugs her is the window.

There was nothing outside of it- How could there be, of course. She hadn't programmed anything. It was too complex. But despite being bare, being inaccurate in a lot of ways, it's still just enough like her room that she expects the real thing.

And it's been so long since Tobias came to her window.

The tension starts up again. Maybe that was it, then, maybe she just missed him. Missed all of them.

But why did that make her tense? Depressed, maybe. Frustrated. But not anxious.

She goes to the window, staring out at the blank white void beyond. Rests her head against the window.]

"... I think I've got it figured out. Thanks."

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