(11:53:45 PM) Altea: It's the middle of the weeks in preparation for going back to the Caledfwlch site. Altea has been hard at work re-learning how to fight (and trying to sneak away from the others to fit in more practice time instead of homework), but she's made time to call a friend of hers, and someone who probably needs a call right about now, Selene Rho.
(11:54:57 PM) ***Altea finds a good bench to sit on outside of the gym (giants, she missed this place more than anything) and dials up the number on her comm. It should be easier to get a signal since the ship she was recuperating on is still in-system being repaired very, very slowly.
(11:56:48 PM) Ikiryo: It's a few moments before the blue haired myrmidon answers the call. She's dressed in simple grey clothing and doesn't look like she's slept well.
(11:57:03 PM) Altea: "Hey Rho, it's me."
(11:57:57 PM) Ikiryo: "...hey Altea." Her voice is rather fragile sounding, the girl sitting with her knees up nearly to her chin.
(11:58:33 PM) Altea: "How are you doing? I wished I could have come give you a hug while we were both in the same area, but they weren't letting me do a whole lot back then."
(5/16/2017 12:01:03 AM) Ikiryo: "...bad. I'm not sleeping well...or eating. I mean, I was designed to not need either too much but...they help keep things feeling normal and I can't do them."
(12:02:19 AM) Altea: "I'm sorry about that. Is the Hyperion crew able to help you? Or Miss Athena?"
(12:03:13 AM) Ikiryo: "They are trying." She nods. "I just don't feel safe."
(12:04:28 AM) ***Altea nods. "I bet not. Hugo's kind of horrible in that way."
(12:05:29 AM) Ikiryo: "I just...he was inside me...he even controlled what I thought." She starts to cry.
(12:07:27 AM) ***Altea tries vainly to hug Rho through the comm. "He started to try that on me too. It felt...horrible. But I didn't even get it as strong as you had. I wish I had been able to stop him sooner, like on my planet."
(12:08:06 AM) Ikiryo: She just sobs
(12:08:35 AM) ***Altea lets the girl cry it out, waiting patiently.
(12:11:55 AM) Ikiryo: "I just...I tried to be strong and it wasn't enough. He was in my head, rummaging through my memories and mocking me over my dreams without me telling him a single thing..."
(12:12:37 AM) ***Altea nods, letting her get it all out.
(12:19:29 AM) Ikiryo: "I don't know what to do...how to trust my own brain any more. How do I know this isn't all a sick game by him? Making me think I was saved, only to take it all away?"
(12:20:06 AM) Altea: "I know how you can know."
(12:21:02 AM) ***Altea sends over two video files that she got from other people.
(12:21:29 AM) Ikiryo: She goes to look at them.
(12:22:06 AM) Altea: The first, is from several months ago. Lady Jaeger's duel with Alexa...and Atalanta Delta cutting off her hand, followed quickly by Alexa breaking her other wrist, and Iseult decking her the fuck out.
(12:22:49 AM) Ikiryo: Rho pauses...and lets out a small chuckle.
(12:22:50 AM) Altea: The second is from Hugo's own cameras inside his cruiser. Altea tanks the spear hit to her shoulder, then smashes him into the floor, cracking it with sheer force. Hugo doesn't get up.
(12:23:22 AM) Altea: "Hugo is a lot of things, but he's a narcissist first. Even to trick someone, he'd never let himself or his family appear humiliated in this way."
(12:28:37 AM) Ikiryo: She nods, offering Altea a shaky smile
(12:29:02 AM) Altea: "I know it's hard, but keep fighting. Sometime I'll come see you and give you that hug I owe you."
(12:30:17 AM) Ikiryo: "...I'd like that."
(12:30:53 AM) Altea: "I'll have to find a time when I can come by before the ship goes, failing that, we're all technically Hyperion citizens now, so we can just go visit when you're back home."
(12:32:31 AM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Please do."
(12:32:47 AM) Altea: "Okay, and call me if you need to, alright?"
(12:34:05 AM) Ikiryo: "I will."
(12:35:44 AM) ***Altea gives one more wave as the call ends.
(12:35:52 AM) Altea: "Poor girl. I hope she feels better soon."
(12:37:25 AM) Ikiryo: She soon gets a mesage [From: Dufort - You want to meet up, Altea? I have some things to show you.]
(12:38:09 AM) Altea: [To: Dufort- Oh, sure. Where at?]
(12:38:22 AM) Ikiryo: [From: Dufort - My office?]
(12:38:46 AM) Altea: [Okay, be there soon.]
(12:39:11 AM) ***Altea hops up from the bench, heading over to the building where the Sergeant's office is.
(12:41:10 AM) Ikiryo: It's through the engineering labs, full of sensitive and easily broken projects.
(12:41:51 AM) ***Altea picks carefully through it, trying to not repeat the first time she visited Dufort all those months ago.
(12:42:27 AM) Ikiryo: She manages to do it pretty well, smashing almost nothing!
(12:42:43 AM) Altea: Hopefully she didn't really need that crate of glassware.
(12:42:52 AM) ***Altea makes it to the office and knocks on the door.
(12:45:00 AM) Ikiryo: "Please, come in."
(12:45:21 AM) ***Altea goes in. "What do you need, ma'am?"
(12:46:09 AM) Ikiryo: Sgt Dufort is standing in front of her desk, a baseball in her tendrils. "Catch." She tosses it towards Altea's non-arm side.
(12:46:35 AM) ***Altea tries to catch it with her non-arm and unsurprisingly misses.
(12:47:03 AM) Altea: "Oh, right." She bends down to pick it up with her left arm.
(12:47:45 AM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Still getting the hang of that?"
(12:48:28 AM) Altea: "Yeah. I've been getting back in the gym and learning to move and react again, but I haven't had that much time yet."
(12:49:49 AM) Ikiryo: "Tell me about the reaction part, as that was a serious problem for me."
(12:51:04 AM) Altea: "Well, I picked up boxing when I was six, since there was another Giantblooded girl in my class and we couldn't really do sports with the other kids. Since I was right handed, I ended up training to use my left side as a feint, and my right to actually land hits."
(12:51:51 AM) Ikiryo: "Have you done much sparring since the accident?" She nods
(12:52:41 AM) ***Altea shakes her head. "They said I couldn't do anything like that while I was still in physical therapy. Since it was a curse weapon, they wanted the extra time to monitor the condition and make sure there wasn't any of the curse left in me that could get set off by strenuous exercise."
(12:54:02 AM) Ikiryo: "Have you been cleared yet?"
(12:54:23 AM) Altea: "Yeah, about a week ago, but I've spent that time just trying to get used to exercising again. My cardio is wayyy off."
(12:56:20 AM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Would you care for a sparring match then? I think I may have a few things to show you."
(12:57:22 AM) Altea: "Sure!"
(12:58:33 AM) Ikiryo: She nods, heading for the door. "Learning to fight is a lot trickier than day to day living with only one arm. Our bodies are so used to having two of them that a lot of our instincts are off."
(12:59:22 AM) ***Altea nods. "Yeah, I've noticed that a little bit."
(12:59:59 AM) Ikiryo: She leads out towards the simulation system and brings up a very basic sparring room, much like the gym but less important if they break it.
(1:02:52 AM) ***Altea takes up position opposite the Sergeant, waiting on her.
(1:04:09 AM) Ikiryo: She lashes out with her tendrils at Altea's good arm and brings her foot around in a heavy kick from the other side of Altea's head.
(1:05:24 AM) ***Altea blocks the tendrils easily, twisting her left arm around, but tries in vain to bring her right arm up to stop the kick, it connects and sends her sprawling.
(1:06:39 AM) Ikiryo: "You know, mentally, that you don't have an arm...but instinctively you don't." She smiles warmly and offers a hand to help Altea back up. "This was the biggest issue I had, learning to fight again."
(1:07:11 AM) ***Altea takes it, and stands.
(1:08:37 AM) Ikiryo: She immediately binds Altea's arm again...and sweeps her leg. Not a particularly hard thing to stay standing again, if Altea has arms to maintain her balance.
(1:09:35 AM) ***Altea doesn't, since the one is currently bound. She hits the floor again.
(1:09:41 AM) Altea: "Okay, I think I'm seeing it now."
(1:10:50 AM) Ikiryo: She offers a hand again. "We use our arms for a lot more than just striking and blocking. We use them to manuver and to maintain our balance, you'll need to learn to adjust for that."
(1:11:07 AM) ***Altea nods, taking it to stand again.
(1:12:36 AM) Ikiryo: "However, it's not all downside. Just mostly. Less arms makes for a smaller target and one that's harder to get an initial grip on."
(1:15:04 AM) Altea: "Okay, so how do I use that?"
(1:16:31 AM) Ikiryo: "How good are you at ranged spells?"
(1:17:05 AM) Altea: "Not great. I can do one where I can punch pretty far, but that's about it."
(1:18:23 AM) Ikiryo: "Alright, give that a go. A few shots at me." She takes a few steps backwards.
(1:19:48 AM) ***Altea also takes a few steps back, and throws a punch. She's conscious enough to lead with her left fist, throwing waves of magical force towards the Sergeant, but once she gets going she goes back to instinct, trying to wind up and punch with her right hand as well.
(1:21:41 AM) Ikiryo: She dodges the first one...and raises an eyebrow at the second attempt. "Instincts again?"
(1:22:17 AM) Altea: "Yeah. Still trying to go back to the haymaker."
(1:23:50 AM) Altea: "Let's try this again..."
(1:24:08 AM) Ikiryo: She nods, taking a defensive stance.
(1:24:47 AM) ***Altea sets up, but then starts kicking, leading with her left leg, but switching to a right side kick, magical blasts firing out. She does almost lose her balance on the right side transition though.
(1:26:06 AM) Ikiryo: Dufort sidesteps and parries blasts, forced back a step every time she parries it. Altea notices that her dodges on her no arm side have a lot more free space as she's got a few inches less there.
(1:27:54 AM) ***Altea nods. "I think I see what you're saying."
(1:29:56 AM) Ikiryo: "Side on fencing stances also are more effective now than they were before." She demonstrates. "Normally they cost you a fair bit of options in exchange for a much smaller target but for us, we can avoid the former issue."
(1:30:40 AM) Altea: "That ties into another question I had. I was wondering about learning a new weapon since I'm having to do a lot of catching up anyway, what weapons would work best with that stance?"
(1:36:12 AM) Ikiryo: "Fencing blades would suit the stance, however they are not really your style." She nods. "You are strong enough that I could see you using a spear well like that. The thrusting motion helps you stay defensive in that stance. Alternatively, you could widen your reach with a chain weapon of some sort. A flail perhaps."
(1:38:25 AM) ***Altea nods. "I was gonna talk about that with Tazzari sometime, I'll check those out."
(1:39:44 AM) Ikiryo: She pauses. "...perhaps suggesting a spear might have been a bit tasteless."
(1:40:25 AM) ***Altea shakes her head. "No, it's a good suggestion. Hugo did some pretty crazy thing with that spear, curse or no."
(1:43:11 AM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Alright. A lot of your retraining will involve trying to deal with your own instincts, or else you'll end up failing to block attacks."
(1:50:38 AM) ***Altea nods. "So how did you lose your arm?"
(1:52:16 AM) Ikiryo: "An engineering accident. I was serving on a TSAB ship and someone was skimping on doing thier job and maintaining some parts of the power relays." She chuckles. "The ship was badly damaged enough after a Dimentional jump that it had to be scrapped, rather than repaired. A bit like my arm I suppose."
(1:53:02 AM) ***Altea nods. "That sucks. They ever catch the guy skipping out on doing their job?"
(1:53:56 AM) Ikiryo: "...he didn't make it. He was lazy but he wasn't a bad guy." She shakes her head. "He fucked up and that means a roll of the dice. We lost."
(1:54:10 AM) Altea: "Sorry to hear that."
(1:55:00 AM) Ikiryo: "It happens." She sighs. "I just wish...well, a few things. Anyway, sorry my tale is less dramatic than yours."
(1:56:14 AM) ***Altea shrugs. "Don't apologise, it's not really a competition. I'm just glad me, Ainlinn, and Selene Rho made it off that ship mostly alright."
(1:57:19 AM) Ikiryo: "As am I." She nods. "Want to practice more or was this enough to show you where to practice in your own time?"
(1:57:36 AM) Altea: "We can practice a little more, sure. I'm never gonna turn that down."
(1:57:52 AM) Ikiryo: She nods. "Alright, don't go easy on me."
(1:58:04 AM) ***Altea raises her fist, grinning.