Destiny Colosseum ~ Training Rooms

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's ears perked. "Trap technique? That some kinda defensive measure? Y'gonna spring a trap on me when I attack ya next?"

Find out, the shadows urged. Rush in and let him test it out. If he can't handle using the ability, best to know now.

She shook her mane free of the darkness a little. Owen would give the word for that.

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't think so," Owen said, standing. "These don't trigger when I get hit. It feels more like... I'm saving a bunch for later." He looked back at the spheres. "...If I just..." He focused again, making two more. Seven spheres. He then looked at Brisa, his flame dim. He'd used up a lot of his power in that one onslaught. "The second I attack again, they'll all trigger at once. There's a Protect in one of them. It'll shield me. And the other six... are all Fire Blasts." Owen laughed a little. "I, um. I don't think I should launch this."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's shadows screamed at her to take the hit.

"Are ya sure?" she asked. "Seems like the sorta thing we oughta test. Could be a sight to see."

How bad would it hurt to get hit by that many Fire Blasts? Pretty bad, right? But she could take it. She could take it.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen seemed less sure, especially since Brisa was Shadowed. Meanwhile, Cal grinned and said, "I say you go for it. But let's see if Brisa can try to dodge them, eh? C'mooon! Go for something stylish!"

"Stylish, huh?" Owen asked, taking on a battle stance. He crouched a little and spread his arms out. "Okay..." He seemed to be channeling something he'd read in a comic. "Then..." He altered his stance again, good arm forward, weak arm to the side for defense. "Here comes my... Seven-side Fire Festival!"

Owen blasted a ball of concentrated heat and flame toward Brisa; the rest of the spheres followed after it in a star-like formation, forming little links among them as their containers ruptured, converging toward Brisa. He was careful to make sure a few of them missed, just in case--even he knew that the Fire would just be too much all at once for Brisa's fighting style. She'd let him set up; it wasn't a fair setup anyway.

Meanwhile, a golden shield formed around Owen as that final sphere popped, activating the Protect he had stored inside.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa had honed some defensive techniques back home on the trail, but her time on Cibus and her synergy with the team had led her to be damn near nothing but offensive power. She could take some hits, but this? This was an opportunity to eat dirt.

She met the fire with wild laughter, knowing that she couldn't dodge a damn thing right now.

"Fuckin' fantastic," she growled in approval, as she lay scorched in the training grounds, her shadows persuading her that the hurt was useful. "That's one hell of a technique, Charmeleon Owen!"

She staggered to her feet, the catharsis of sheer physical exertion melting away some of the apprehension that had been gnawing at her spine since the end of the fight with Giovanni. It was hard to feel anxious when all you could feel was pain.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen sighed, though he had a smile on his face. "I guess it is," he said. "Though I wonder what it'll be like in practice. It takes a lot out of me just to get one of those off..."

"Well, you just have to time it right, is all. And hey, you can pass that on to others to use, too!"

"I don't think it'll transfer quite the same," Owen admitted. "But this is a way for me to give a delayed Protect to people... That could be nice..." He walked to Brisa and made sure she was fine to stand. "That was good for a test run," he said. "How're you feeling?"

For some reason, it felt like a loaded question.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Like her whole body was on fire. Like her mind was falling, falling, falling into a black heat. Like she had no choice.

"I'm fine."

She let herself lean on her friend a little. It didn't seem right to, but . . . he'd approached for the purpose. A number of things had seemed important to Brisa when she'd arrived. Things she'd wanted to discuss with him, like shadows and Diyem and Joule and Giovanni and Starr and Astrid and . . . now they just didn't seem anything like as important as running herself absolutely ragged training.

"Owen, I . . . want to know how you keep yer head when yer shadows are up. How Wishkeeper's presence is so . . . stable."

 

[Namohysip]

Wishkeeper emerged more fully and drifted over Brisa, settling down around her with his wings spread wide, blotting out the lights of the training room. Owen's flame was returning to its orange color.

"Well..." Owen sat down by Brisa, gesturing for her to try the same. "I'm not really sure why. Everyone reacts a little differently. But for me, after that first time I fell to Shadows... I remembered how it felt. And I treated it the same way that I treat those times when... my battleheart gets too strong. When I'm worried I'll kill someone. I remember that, and breathe, and..." Owen laughed a little, but it was subdued. He was speaking calmly, and that air about him was different again. Something in his eyes showed that ancient age. "I'm used to fending off creeping madness. It's been a relief to go without it for like, a whole season..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa gave her best effort at sitting calmly, and the shadows faded further.

"I had so much trouble when I first used radiance and shadow, but since then I haven't had to fight so hard to keep my head in a scuffle. It ain't really about that any more. It's more like . . . the stuff that goes on in my head stays with me after."

She raised a paw and held the feelings in her heart steady. She had a violent duty.

"When I get like this, I really do believe I'm good fer nothin' but layin' folks out. And every time I come back from it, I believe it a little more the rest of the time. And it feels like it makes sense."

She looked at Owen and chewed her cheek. He'd offered his help gladly, but she shouldn't be asking this of him. He had his own troubles. Grievous ones.

 

[Namohysip]

And despite that, the Charmeleon listened, and it seemed like he was more than happy to delve into the problems of others for one reason or another.

"Brisa..."

By now, Cal had stepped over to clean up the training room some to keep herself busy. This was something she didn't really know how to tackle on her own.

"Every time I Shadow, there's a thought... that everybody I know is just using me. That everything I do is... pointless in the end, because I'm just working for someone else, working for their gains. I'm working for Diyem, not for myself. Or I'm helping my allies, but they're just using me. When I'm Bestowing them with my power, they're using me as a tool. Because that's... what I am. A weapon. An extension of someone else's power."

He sighed, shaking his head. "Even if it might be true if you twist it hard enough... I don't think it matters. I don't think the way I react, or the way Wishkeeper reacts, is the right way. Wishkeeper latches onto those feelings and protects me from harm when I Shadow. Attacks anything that tries to come close... Because they'll just use me. But..." Owen laughed. "But that's just how the world works sometimes. People like you because you give something... that's nice to them. Making them laugh, keeping them safe, helping them with some goal... You usually wouldn't want to be around someone if it didn't give you 'something.'"

Owen looked up. "So, my Shadow might be right. Those above me are using me. That maybe some of my friends are benefiting from what I give them, and that's one reason they like me. But, you know... I get to choose whether I agree or not. Whether I continue to give that to them. And I want to. And if I can feel that way about them, it's not too hard to think they believe the same of me. Even Diyem."

Owen glanced at Brisa. "So, for you... Maybe the reason those Shadow thoughts stay with you is because it's the truth. Maybe you are violent. Maybe your line of work involves having to be forceful. Maybe you just tended toward the job because you're strong. Maybe being violent is your talent... just like me."

His eyes didn't leave Brisa, watching her expression. He paused there to let the words sink in a little, but not long enough for the Shadows to take hold, as he then said one last remark:

"So what?" A flash of a smile. "You still get to choose who, and when, and how."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa listened closely, shadow humming just at the threshold to examine the kind of feelings they were discussing. (It'd been easier to keep her gains in corruption in check since Luz started helping her train.) Her tail traced her patterns of memorisation, holding each point Owen made in her mind.

Owen's shadowed feelings were about being exploited by others, by anyone at all, even so far as to use him as a weapon. This was a defensible position: after all, everyone took some benefit from those around them.

But it could be mutual. It could be voluntary. It could be good.

And all that . . . could be true of her.

"Makes sense," she mused, in a subdued voice. "After all, it's not like I jus' shut down outside of battle. You're a fighter an' a half yerself, but that's not the only thing people see ya as, and when they do, it's 'cause you've made a choice about it. I get that."

She pawed at her cheek fur. "I gotta think about this some more. Figure out what I gotta do to be at peace with choosin' violence when the need presents itself, and then continuin' to exist th'rest of the time."

 

[Namohysip]

"It took me a long, long time to figure out how to handle it myself," Owen said, rubbing Brisa's back. "And you're still young. You have time. And if you ask me..." That smile was back again, and his age seemed to melt back into youth. "I think you do just fine when you aren't fighting." He pulled her in for a one-armed hug, sighing. "It's weird to think of yourself as someone with monstrous traits... but not be a monster yourself. Maybe I am a monster." His muscles, now that Brisa could feel him, were not tense. He was relaxed. "A monster that protects my friends. Doesn't everyone fantasize about having a scary beast by their side?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa sighed into the hug, and let a little of her tension go.

"Keep forgettin' yer prodigious age," she muttered. "Anyhow, uh . . . I guess I always figured I'd grow up t'be fearsome. Dreamed of puttin' myself between folks and the harm that'd come to 'em. I just..."

Wanted certain things in return. Not to feel lonesome. To be adored, even. But you aren't ever entitled to the things you hope for. You do things because they're right, not because there's a reward. And besides, aren't you already getting enough?

"I dunno. Like I said, I gotta chew it over." She smiled at Owen, and returned the hug, if only for a moment. "Thanks, partner. It helps jus' knowin' this stuff ain't mine alone to bear. ...Okay. Let's skedaddle; we got shit to get done."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen nodded and stood, looking ready to go. "If you ever need to talk, I'm always here," he said. After the training room was cleaned, Owen left to prepare for the strategy meeting--and a few other errands on the side. He felt a little closer to Brisa after all this, though he hoped Brisa could be a little closer with herself, too.

<><><>​

 

[Persephone]

It wasn't hard convincing Coco to go find her Aunt Astrid. Val honestly didn't know where the fox was, allowing for games of "hide and seek" and "see how much biting she lets me do before I get frozen solid." Meanwhile, she was with Cuicatl. As always. What was new is that Cuicatl had finally flipped across the thin line from despair to rage as she charged and tore at anything that even vaguely smelled like a practice dummy. Val let it happen, happy to offer support but simply offering her silent company for now.

She was sad that she wouldn't see Achcauhtli again. Or even Alice for a while. But she had the feeling that she should be sadder. It was making her rethink things: she'd previously assumed that she was the embodiment of her original state, what she had been like as a child while Cuicatl was what experience had molded her into. Nature and Nurture. Except her nurture had sucked. That theory might still be correct, but it wasn't as much of an unambiguously good thing anymore. Her attachments all felt shallow now that she thought over them. She could probably lose any or all of them and be fine the next day. Nothing really brought her down. Maybe that's what she was made for. To be the half that could get up and get things done when the world became too much. A mask. Maybe a coping mechanism. And with her gone, Cuicatl had nothing left to hide behind.

Val was fine with all of that.

Why wouldn't she be?

 

[Chibi Pika]

After a day in the infirmary, Starr was itching for anything to take her mind off things. Somehow, relaxing the day away with a giant glowing death ball overhead wasn't exactly all that appealing. Anything to use as a distraction--food, shopping? Yeah, that sounded good. But first, she was feeling a bit stiff after her recovery, and needed to let out some frustration anyway. Beating the tar out of some training dummies would have to do.

Oh, and of course her idiot brother had to come with.

"I already told you I prefer training alone," Starr grumbled.

"You'll hardly know I'm there," Lexx replied, waving a paw dismissively. "Just wanna measure the difference in your aura after that last fight. That was some pretty crazy radiance--I think your aura literally reversed? I've gotta figure out what's up with that."

"Oh my god, can you not."

The Torracat and the Zeraora-shade made their way down the hallway toward the training rooms. Starr could hear the sound of someone tearing into one of the dummies in a room up ahead. She glanced in and--

"Oh, hey Cuicatl,"--and the new one, uh-- "hey Val."

 

[Persephone]

Val would have looked behind her, but what was the point? Politeness? Cuicatl snarled and started gnawing on a sandbag. Yeah, politeness wasn't really on the table right now.

"Hey! Starr! Starr... friend." Oh gods why did she have to bring her brother. Of all the people to walk in... "Uh, you here for sparring?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"Yeah. Nothing too serious, just the usual post-hospital workout," Starr replied dryly. Val was wearing what had to be the world's most forced smile and Cuicatl, uh... she was distracted by chewing on a sandbag. Great, so she was doing even less fine than usual. Well--the same could be said of everyone in town right now, but Starr had a suspicion that this had nothing to do with the death laser in the sky.

"Heya," Lexx piped up in an inappropriately cheerful tone. " I don't think we've formally met. The name's Lexx, I'm Starr's brother."

 

[Persephone]

Fun fact: A zwelious's dragonfire isn't hot enough to burn sand.

Fun fact: That didn't stop Cuicatl from trying.

"Hi, Lexx. Um. Good to meet you? You're Starr's shade, right?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Starr decided to just... avert her eyes from whatever was going on with Cuicatl back there. If the girl needed to let off some steam, who could stop her.

"Sure am," Lexx replied. "Just doin' a bit of research on radiance and shadows, all that good stuff."

"Told him not to come with, but it's not he ever listened to me in the human world either," Starr added, rolling her eyes.