But the ghosts that we knew {OPEN};

[youfallback]

Who: Carolina and you!
What: Training at all hours of the day. Like sane people do. c:
When: 0400-1200 and 1400-2200 (the gym), 1200-1300 (the kitchen), 2200-2300 (the kitchen)
Where: The gym and the kitchen
Rating: PG-13 maybe for language and/or violence


[Most nights, Carolina couldn't sleep. The near-constant feeling of not being secure or safe enough to shut her eyes kept what adrenaline she had left pumping through her well enough to keep her awake. That said, she can't run on fumes all week long and when she does sleep, she dreams about home. About twin voices screaming her dead mother's name in her head, when plugging her ears only amplifies the sound. About a teammate taking two axes to the chest, from a soldier Carolina had never trusted, never wanted to trust. About another teammate grabbing her around the neck, yanking the AI chips from the back of her neck, tossing her from a cliff like a piece of garbage. About waiting in the snow. About never being good enough. About throwing a lighter.

It's one of those nights when her body forces her to sleep long enough to recharge enough of her battery to somewhat function, but the nightmares don't stay away. They never do. And she wakes up early, in a cold sweat, shaking, screaming. It's enough to keep her awake for another couple days, she hopes, that her body got enough to last her. Two days awake is always too short a time, but she can't get herself to stay awake longer and the four hours or so of sleep are always too long.

So, she's out of bed in an instant, tugging her armor on before all but sprinting down to the gym at 0400, needing a distraction and a purpose to her life.

Or what she could call a life in guilty conscience.]

(ooc: I will have open threads, just tag wherever! Just specify the time please so there can be multiple threads per location. c:

Current threads: South's is around noonish. Church's is before 1400. York's is at 1400. )

Comments

[i_got_this]

[South gets a bit of satisfaction at the stumble, and moves up a step where the table had been.] I'm done trying to convince you, I'm done trying to convince everyone. No one fucking listens to me anyway.

[Her stance is defensive, tense and ready for a fight.]

[youfallback]

I tried listening to you. [Carolina doesn't step up, but not out of any fear. She came here to eat lunch, not get in a fight with her former teammate.] It obviously didn't work.

[i_got_this]

When? When did you ever listen?

[Yeah she came in here for lunch, too, but she's just as ready to throw down as she is to finish pizza leftovers.]

[youfallback]

Every time I went to your room. [The more they talk, though, the more fruitless this conversation seems. ]

[i_got_this]

You didn't listen, you just talked! All these lies about how I could 'change my future' and save my brother ... and then he shows up dead anyway. Fuck - you!

[She's through hesitating, taking a step and throwing the first punch.]

[youfallback]

[Carolina's about to answer when South starts off with that first punch and Carolina is lucky to be facing square enough to block the blow, considering they're both without helmets. She makes a mental note to avoid the other woman's face as she quickly pivots and swings a quick toward the other agent's chest. If it's successful, she'll follow with another quick two, hoping to put her off balance.]

[i_got_this]

[South was aiming for Carolina's breastplate, but she hasn't been keeping up with her training and she was never the fastest to begin with. She tumbles backwards from the kicks, falling back into a roll and catching her footing in a crouch. She glares up at Carolina with a sneer on her face, and then springs up for another attack.]

[youfallback]

[Carolina doesn't rush South, instead she prepares to strike back. Her stance is more defensive than she likes but her anger will change that soon enough.]

[i_got_this]

[South's keeping low, aiming for Carolina's center of gravity with an intended tackle.]

[She's not thinking logically at this point, just intent on releasing the angst that's been building up since North showed up and Carolina left.]

[encryptedlock]

[Well, no wonder she isn't improving if she's trying to take down seven of them at once. Any idiot knows you start with one or two and work your way up. York sighs as she curses, though they're obviously not doing any physical damage to her.

He knows the way she moves. She's distracted, exhausted--if she doesn't take a break soon, she;s only going to get worse. So what does she do? She comes into the gym and starts training harder than ever before.

He'd really tried to impress on her the importance of relaxation, of pacing yourself, and he'd hoped it would somehow help her and keep her from overreacting, stressing, breaking into pieces. Well, here it didn't work and she's standing out there, and the pieces of clay pigeon aren't the only thing that's broken.

Fuck.]

[youfallback]

[Carolina at first doesn't see him as she swallows down that failure, lets it settle in her stomach as a reminder that she doesn't deserve anything, and then sets the clay pigeons to shoot again. Just as she's about to fire them again, she finally spots him there against the wall. There's not much more she can take at this point and seeing him is yet another point of pressure against her rapidly-breaking psyche.]

Get out.

[youfallback]

[Once she notices what South's doing, Carolina barely has a moment to attempt to handspring up out of the way, using the remains of the counter as an attempted vault. She's never been designed to take hits and she knows just how few will take her down.]

[encryptedlock]

[York shoots down an immature reaction of "you get out". Instead, he keeps his tone cool and stays where he is, far away from her.]

I live here too, you know. The gym is open to everyone.

[youfallback]

You're not using it. [She growls out like a wounded animal. The fast he gets out of here, the faster she can get back to training, despite having trained for hours and hours already. Still, he's just sitting there and as far as she can see, doing nothing that requires the gym.]

[encryptedlock]

Actually, I am. I'm working as a spotter. Making sure someone doesn't get hurt by taking on too much at once.

[Because, like it or not, that's exactly what's going to happen. She needs about a week in the Doctor's Zero Room, but she's not going to take it. The least he can do is make sure she doesn't end up breaking a limb on the training room floor.]

[i_got_this]

[South rams the counter where Carolina had been, splintering wood and spilling the contents, and then turns and throws a late kick out where she thinks Carolina's headed.]

[Her failure to land anything was only further frustrating her.]

[youfallback]

I don't need a spotter. I can handle what I'm doing. [And, as if he needed proof or something, Carolina sets the pigeon shooters to go again and maybe it's the extra point of pressure or maybe it's a lucky shot, but she barely manages to knock all seven out of the air. She had to swing her arm at a really painful angle to do so, but she got them down. That's all that matters.] So get out.

[youfallback]

[The late kick catches Carolina around the ankles just before she's supposed to land on the chairs on the other side, causing her to crash down, breaking more than a few chairs and spilling yet more splinters across the kitchen.

But she's back up on her feet a moment later, a little dazed but still concentrating.]

[i_got_this]

[Okay, that was satisfying. South stands and rolls her shoulders.]

Not so hot anymore, are ya?

[encryptedlock]

[She really ought to be only using five right now, York notes, even if she does get them all with a lucky shot once in a while. Arms aren't really supposed to do that.

York keeps his tone calm.]

Just because you hate me doesn't mean I want to see you get hurt, Carolina.

[youfallback]

You already hurt me. [Carolina does note that her elbow does seriously hurt right now. Probably from that last swing, but she's trying to ignore it. Not that she's ever been good with pain.] Get. Out.

[youfallback]

[And that's more than enough to spur Carolina on.] You were never hot to begin with.

[With that, she darts up toward South, attempting to deliver a series of swift kicks to the woman's torso, trying to send her sprawling toward the sink.]

reuses same icon over and over

[encryptedlock]

And do you have any idea how much I regret it? Your blood is on my hands and I've never forgotten that.

So yeah. I'm making sure you don't hurt yourself. Like it or not.

fffff totally cool

[youfallback]

[Carolina wasn't expecting him to actually admit that he had hurt her, much less mention that he regretted it. She stares for a moment before shaking her head. Has to be yet another lie. Probably waiting to pull the rug out from under her like everyone else.]

So I should let someone who already hurt me spot me. [She shakes her head again.] Get out.

[encryptedlock]

Well, if you'd listen, you'd know it was the last thing I ever wanted. [But damn, she's being self-centered.]

I'll leave if you get another spotter.