open 🗡may staycation

[oiorpata]

CHARACTERS: andy + open!
LOCATION: various station spots
DATE: post vrefesea mission
CONTENT: misc downtime feat an axe
WARNINGS: temporary burns and gnarly injuries in closed starters



I 🗡 QUIT YOUR JOB

[ after the initial arrival back on the station, the kaiju blood is clean and her skin is ✨ clear ✨, but she lost track of joe in the chaos, and there are others she wants to check on now that there isn't a lizard monster determined to tear everything up. her clothes are a bit of a mess - torn from the fight, holey from the blood, revealing pockets of unmarked and uninjured skin as her ex-archeologist attire is no longer fit for service. but she is deeply unconcerned in the immediate about any exposures, especially now that she's rid herself of the acidic blue sludge. ]

[ her axe is neat on her back in its holster, guns tucked away, and she looks remarkably put together for a woman who just double-team killed the train monster. mostly she is moving through the orbers, but she'll stop at anyone who looks worse for wear, or at anyone she already knows even a nominal amount. she can't believe how concerned she's getting for these orbers. ugh. ]

You good? [ injured? in need of a snack? a literal lift to the infirmary?? ]

[ after the visits to the infirmary, andy makes her way to the kitchen. her axe is still at her back, her clothes are still a mess, but she wants a goddamn drink. for once in her life she doesn't steal the whole bottle of vodka, popping it open and pouring herself a full glass at the counter instead. it is roughly the size of a beer mug. ]

[ and then she just starts to chug it. water break?? no. this is better. snacks will be next. ]

II 🗡 LIVE IN THE WOODS

[ andy, as always, prefers the sunlight room. ]

[ perhaps today she is sitting beside the stream, barefoot with a smatter of tools scattered around her as she scrubs and cleans her axe. she made sure the kaiju blood was removed quickly and immediately, but it was a good reminder that it's probably due for a good fixer upper. the sun is warm, and she's in a dark tank top with black leggings, expertly wiping it down. at some point she switches over to sharpening it. ]

[ it's old as balls, just like she is, and it does not have the same healing properties. but she handles it with both great care and expertise. ]

[ if she's not with her axe, she is probably just sleeping. her feet dangle in the stream and she lays flat on her back, eyes closed. the sun feels nice on her face and she enjoys the quiet, save for the sound of the water. she won't miss anyone approaching, but she'll give it a minute to see if they pass before saying anything. ]

Come on in, the water's fine. [ the water is in fact chilly, and maybe she's not entirely asleep despite all appearances. there is also zero sign of injury, despite most assuredly coming in close contact with kaiju blood. ]

III 🗡 WILD CARD + POTENTIAL TRAINING

[ throw something at me or lets chat!! you can find me at communism or romanitas#5368 @ disco! wildcard me or we can do a custom thing! c:

[ definitely open to training stuff, especially if we've talked about it before, but i'd prefer to write up a custom thing given andy + weapons etc so hit me up if you'd like and lets plot! or drop one of your own design! you wanna learn to use any weapon at all?? andy's ur girl. ]

Comments

[blackfire]

（ the transformers are older — however, they are not human. therein lies the difference. a race that is long-lived is not the same as one meant to survive perhaps sixty, seventy years at the most enduring many, many times beyond that.

he wonders how many things she has forgotten. how many people she has buried. ）

Would you give it up? If you could.

（ perhaps that's also rude. but he is certain she will tell him if she does not wish to answer. ）

[oiorpata]

[ humans are fragile and andy has not thought of herself as fragile in a centuries. a decade is a blink. an elderly man celebrating the big 8-0 has a fraction of her lifespan. her sense of time is terrible, and maybe now itachi can understand why she is often late, or eating weird foods at 3am. time doesn't matter, not really. ]

Isn't that a question for the ages? [ she runs a hand through her hair, mussing it. ] I don't know. Yeah. Sometimes I think I would.

[ she thinks her answer would have been yes, if she was asked immediately after her arrival to ximilia. it's odd to think it might have changed now. ]

[blackfire]

（ softly, ）

Is that your regret?

（ he imagines one might have many over the course of so long a life. but perhaps it is enough, to simply wish to be permitted death. ）

[oiorpata]

[ it could have easily been her regret, and she thinks if her immortality was the ultimate cost of her being here, she'd accept it. as long as she saved quynh. ]

No. But I can see why you'd assume. [ he's not even the first to ask. blue thought the same. ]

[blackfire]

（ it's as close as she has come to an evasion, and he does not press for whatever her real one may be, simply accepts that with a nod. he is curious, certainly — but he has wielded it often enough as a knife that he has lost his taste for it. ）

They are what bind us all.

（ it's a neutral response of his own. he would not begrudge her if she wished to retire from the conversation, and so gives her the opportunity to seize the lull and leave. ）

[oiorpata]

[ the way he doesn't push is one thing she's always appreciated about itachi, and it's perhaps the thing that allowed her to be open about herself in this moment. ]

I'm finding regrets are pretty universal no matter the universe. But we're the ones who chose to come try to fix them, so I don't know. Maybe that means something too.

[blackfire]

（ wryly— ）

I think it suggests a certain amount of arrogance, if that's what you mean.

（ this?? self-deprecating??? joke?? ）

[oiorpata]

[ there's a pause, then she laughs. ]

Oh, yeah, plenty of us are arrogant. That's a given.

[blackfire]

（ he makes a soft sound of measured amusement, a faint hah on the ghost of a breath. ）

Such is the nature of sentient beings. We can only act as we are, ultimately.

（ he had told kisame once, that one can only know their true self when they die. but he thinks of the woman on the golden throne, resplendent as the sun, and wonders how many selves she has carried throughout her long, long life. ）

[oiorpata]

[ wowowow that definitely counts as a laugh, she heard itachi laugh. ]

How we are can change. There's a lot about humanity that stays the same over time, but individuals - they shift, in good or bad directions.

[ it's also not something she thinks she might have said upon arrival, which she supposes makes it all the more true in her mind. ]

[blackfire]

（ once he is finished tidying up the training room (with the help of a clone, summoned absently with one had while they chatted) he gestures for the door to the control room with a questioning cant of his head, an unspoken invitation for her to accompany him. now that he is pleasantly tired from their match, hunger has begun to set in. ）

Do you think it is possible for humans to ever live in peace?

（ he has his own thoughts and opinions on the matter, of course, but with her perspective... ）

[oiorpata]

[ she sheaths her sword and follows his invitation because andy will never turn down food, but the question hangs in the air. ]

There's always war. Always. Tribes were fighting even before I was born and I've thrown myself into battle more often than not. [ she runs a hand through her hair again, frowning. then she thinks about some of the people she's met here, and how they are. how they fight but still try to do the right thing. it doesn't always work, and some of them come back miserable from these missions. ]

But there's always dancing, too. I think conflict is inevitable. When I left my Earth, it felt like there was a lot going wrong. Maybe the little moments in between are supposed to be the peace.

[ maybe. MAYBE. she's not sure yet, but she guesses she's more open to the idea now that she was upon arrival. ]

cw: familicide/suicidality

[blackfire]

The space between heartbeats.

（ little lulls in the hewing and threshing of war. he feels, abruptly, exhausted by it all, and can only imagine what it is like for her. every life he has taken is a weight that was crushing the breath from his lungs long before he lifted his sword against his parents. ）

I killed my first man when I was four. （ while there is a somber reflection in how he says it, there is no self-pity. he simply does not look at himself — nor more generally at any of the many actions he has taken in his life — in such a manner. and he would not tell andy if he felt she was one to reach for soft sympathy in such an instance. thousands of years, she has no doubt seen and heard worse than that. ） I have detested the necessity of violence all of my life, but there is no place for those like me in a peaceful world.

（ he lifts one shoulder in an absent shrug. ）

I have never danced at all.

[oiorpata]

[ four is so young, but andy finds she isn't surprised to hear it, given the way itachi handles himself, his own level of experience, his youth vs his trauma. she isn't going to offer pity here, but maybe she can share some understanding. ]

I don't really remember my first kill. There's a lot of violence in my life, and there's a lot of violence in the world. My hands have been bloody for thousands of years, out of necessity and the violence of humanity. It gets easier and it doesn't.

[ she doesn't remember every dance she's ever learned or joined either, but it hasn't negated the connection she often feels in with such a human experience. ]

There's still a place for dancing. If I can do it with my ghosts, why can't you? You like to learn new things.

[blackfire]

（ he does — but every new thing he has learned, or skill he has mastered is a matter of its usefulness to him. dancing is whimsy and ephemera. he could master it, of course — of all the sharingan's uses it would perhaps be the one least terrible or troubling, but... ）

Is that a measure of hopefulness I detect, Andy?

（ it's lightly amused. the question's nature as deflection notwithstanding — he does not think he can tell her it is as much a thing undeserved as unwanted. ）

[oiorpata]

[ maybe he should work on learning things simply for the hell of it! ]

[ she misses the lack of his usually -san at first, mostly because she rarely speaks with politeness herself, but the amused tone he takes clues her in first. it's a surprise, but a pleasant one. ]

No one's gonna believe you if you tell. Maybe I'm just noting that anyone can dance, even if they do it badly.

[blackfire]

（ he makes a soft, thoughtful sound. ）

I wouldn't do it badly.

（ he's a regular funny guy. ）

Were I to try, at least.

[oiorpata]

[ she hums with a certain level of mock contemplation. ] I don't believe you.

[ is it teasing? is she serious? her tone makes it hard to tell. ]

[blackfire]

Are you attempting to use reverse psychology on me, Andy?

（ as if he's that easy to push into doing something, hah. ）

[oiorpata]

I don't even know what that is. [ there is nothing in her tone to indicate how honest she's being about that either. ]

Do you do anything for fun?

[blackfire]

（ why is everyone convinced he doesn't understand what fun is?

(spoilers: he does not.) ）

I enjoy reading.

[oiorpata]

[ gestures metaphorically at itachi. like gesturing at hiccup in how to train your dragon. 'you just gestured to all of me.' itachi, buddy. why do you think people don't believe you don't know how to have fun. ]

One of my brothers likes to read. His book collection is ridiculous. It only counts if you're doing it for leisure.

[blackfire]

Then I suppose it depends on how one defines 'leisure'.

（ having traversed distance between the training room and the kitchens, he now sets about preparing a simple meal. he assigns her a duty automatically — setting vegetables to peel in front of her and a knife.

it is normally something he would do alone. ）

[oiorpata]

Reading for the sake of reading. Not to learn anything or better your knowledge.

[ she takes the knife and starts to peel them without issue - just because she is a gremlin in the kitchen usually doesn't mean she doesn't actually know how to cook. ]

[blackfire]

（ he is silent a long moment, and then — ）

I do not believe any pursuit should be undertaken that is not intended for self-improvement, at least for myself. （ frivolity? don't know her. ） One can argue that one learns no useful skills from poetry — but art betters the soul, and is enjoyable to me for its own sake. Does that satisfy your requirements?