truth_is_cold

064

[Public | Audio]

I have several requests. For one, the lunch shift is no longer covered by a warden supervisor and we will require a volunteer. For another, I used to run drills aboard my ship. I know there are a few soldiers or former military here and convenient obstacle courses on which to train. If there are willing participants, I would like to start running some weekly drills again. [He may have other intentions that he wants to use this for as well.] I would like to give the training simulator some real use.

[And another thought.] I- [And he's thinking of requesting company again for that night. The network erroring made him feel a little out of sorts in a very lonely Nietzschean way. He decides ultimately not to, however.] -I suppose that will be it.

[Private to Iris | Audio]

[Since she's suitably matriarch-like and doesn't seem to be lacking in experience, he has a question for her.] May I ask you something? Depending on your number of courtiers in the past I thought you may have some reasonable advice.

OOC: You can respond or assume that he has his room door open to spam again.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Will we actually follow them? [This is a very valid question.]

Probably not, but it's nice to know what rules we're not following.

Let's at least make a genuine attempt at not mortally wounding each other. ...Actually I'm not entirely sure I'm ready for this. Perhaps we should actually fight some of the holographic enemies and I can approach Senji later.

[Now Dylan's feeling stubborn. He wants to prove that he does trust Rhade again, like he used to. (Or almost like he used to. He's a little more suspicious of everyone these days.)]

We can do this. I'm not going to mortally wound you, you're not going to mortally wound me...

It was just an inappropriate joke. [He seems to be ignoring the setting but at the same time making no offer to go after Dylan.] I know we won't. [But, maybe he doesn't...]

I know we won't, too. [No he doesn't. But he'll talk optimistically.]

Hey, we used to handle this all the time. And events that happened in the meantine...they changed things--they had to change things, change us--but I don't want it to have changed this. I trust you. [Mostly.]

[Trust him. Ha.] You see, that? That is exactly your problem. It's not that you trust me, it's that you make assumptions about me. You've changed a lot but you still do that. [One could wonder where this all came from all of a sudden, but the statement was punctuated by a poke in Dylan's chest and a look of irritation.]

What, do you want me to say I don't trust you? [He sighed.] God, you are such a Nietzschean sometimes.

All right, the honest truth is, I don't entirely trust you. You cheat, you lie, you scheme. And I know that. I wouldn't trust you with a Go board for a second. But I do trust you with the important things. I trust that you don't want to hurt me.

Why does it always have to be about me being a Nietzschean. Maybe I just don't want to hurt you. Despite- [He gives him a light shove] -the fact you can be infuriating sometimes.

[He rocks back gently with the shove.]

Nietzscheans are the only people I've met who seem to be offended if you say you trust them. It almost makes me want to start doing it to every Nietzschean I meet just to watch them frown.

Or laugh. Some of them would probably laugh and then try to sneakily kill me. But I know you won't.

So...

[He takes a step back and falls into a basic self-defense stance.]

I'm the one who doesn't trust me. You just always have the wrong impressions about me. [And then before Dylan can figure out what any of that inexplicable babble might mean, he lunges at Dylan.]

[Dylan is only a little surprised by the sudden attack. The last few years have made him especially quick to respond to unforeseen aggression. He pivots away and throws in a high scythe kick. He doesn't expect it to connect, but he wants to make it clear that he's not just going to run away and defend. He can play the offense as well.]

[Rhade takes the kick with a shout, not aware that behind Dylan a level of obstacles that were meant to be fought around had formed while he was distracted. He's back on his feet in a moment, though, and bounding at Dylan.

This time he jumps up high, that sort of leap where he leaves no choice to get out of the way or take a meteor of a Nietzschean falling on you.]

[Dylan drops and rolls to avoid the pouncing Nietzschean. Images of another time, another fight flash in his mind and he glances once, briefly, at the Force Lances as if he might need to make a break for one to save his life. But he pushes that thought and those images of the past aside. It's easier to do than he expected. All those years of Argosy training--keep your mind on the fight you're in right now or else you'll lose that fight--come to bear.

He rises smoothly from his roll and rushes to take the offensive back to Rhade with some swift punches, pulled just enough so that if they do manage to connect they won't do as much damage as a real fight would.]

[He's trying to win this time. Something about this is making him try, so it's not like the fight on the bridge. He's not just standing there and taking the punches so he can lash back- when the first couple come close he ducks behind one of the newer obstacles.

And only when his back is up against it he wonders where this thing came from.

In any case he starts stalking after Dylan, and only then when he's leaving the heat of the moment does he feel a stab of guilt for what he's doing.]

[The obstacles popping up out of nowhere are certainly making things more interesting. He considers his strategy for split second. Whether he should wait for Rhade to emerge again, or follow him behind the barrier. He decides that Rhade might be waiting to ambush him if he follows, and that Rhade might also be expecting him to be cautious and wait.

So he gathers his feet under him and leaps with heavy-gravity worlder strength *on top* of the barrier and jumps down the other side.]

[That startles Rhade because he was lost in thought, and despite what that last thought was he still tries to throw a swing at him, that need to win rising again.

It is kind of odd that Rhade isn't talking in a prolonged fight, though, he's usually trying to say something to egg his enemy into a mistake. Right now, he's afraid to open his mouth because of what might come out of it.]

[Dylan notices this unusual silence. He speaks to fill it even as he blocks the swing.]

Cat got your tongue? [He thinks of adding another kitten joke on the end of it, but decides that that's a bit much.]

[There's a moment where Rhade almost flares his boneblades- the problem with a Nietzschean punch, they're a two way deal. Even when they miss they might managed damage.

But then he manages not to and Dylan's saying something. I thought you said I talked too much. He barely manages not to say that.] I thought conversational foreplay wasn't your thing? [He decides to go there again. Something eventually has to trip Dylan up.]

[His mind does stutter for a fraction of a second at the double entendre, but he's *mostly* sure it doesn't show on his face.]

Yeah, but I thought it was yours.

[He throws another punch of his own.]

[It shows on his face. It shows enough that when Dylan punches, Rhade turns with it and pushes his back right into Dylan as he grabs his arm and goes to flip him over.

He does have a witty comeback. But it's hard to say when you're trying to put a man as dense as you are on his back.]

[There's a point where it's better to go with the momentum and recover quickly instead of trying to fight against it. And this is that point. He doesn't try to pull away or break Rhade's hold, but he does mentally prepare himself for the hard encounter with the ground that he's about to have, and readies himself to block or evade whatever follow up attack Rhade makes.

So when he hits the floor with an "oomph" of the air being knocked from his lungs, he's still prepared to fight.]

[He grins down at him, still holding his arm.] I like to switch it up. [At least the other fight is ebbing from his mind, and those small points and victories are starting to add up to something less sinister again.]

[Dylan, too, is beginning to relax into it more. He's no longer subconsciously looking for a weapon. It's starting to feel more like bantering and less like fighting. Bantering plus fists. Because their banter was always a bit of a competition, too.]

I bet you do.

Here, let me help you with that.

[And he grabs Rhade's wrist and is going to try to pull him forward enough to push him with his legs up and over Dylan's supine form. And get *Rhade* on the floor. Switch their positions, as it were.]

Edited 2012-11-17 05:21 (UTC)

[His hand is within reach so that's easy enough, and he lands on his back with an oof. His shoulders are aching now but not in a way that makes him angry.]

064

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