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[Furiosa spends most mornings in the gym. Honestly, she'd prefer the Enclosure, but she needs to be moving long and often enough that she can't justify using more than her share of the precious time in the false environment. She works out quickly how to run on the treadmill, but most of the other machines remain a mystery to her. If the right person is using them, they may see her watching, or so may decide to approach.

Some mornings her prosthesis is on, and others it is off, tucked protectively and nearly underfoot, out of habit, though this doesn't seem like the kind of place where anyone is likely to get any ideas.

When she is done, she usually ends by slipping upstairs, showering quickly, and permitting herself what feels like the decadent luxury of putting her feet into the pool. It takes her until about the fifth time to get up the nerve to walk in to the water, to lower herself down in it until she feels it lap up around her neck, then to hold her breath and gingerly, cover her mouth and nose, and cautiously, gingerly slip under the surface and just let herself float, suspended.

She can be found in any of those places.

Still, a workout isn't the same thing as practice, really, and the conversation that has been going on here has weighed heavily on her, though she hasn't participated. So, finally, she takes a break one morning in the gym and turns on the feed.]

Video

[She has to clear her throat to start, and wipe the sweat off her face. She's sitting in the frame, bare feet apart, elbows rested on her knees, metal arm down at her side. Furiosa isn't comfortable, exactly, talking to a little plastic box that will take her words all over the ship, but this is important to her.]

My name is Imperator Furiosa. I'm human. No powers. I'm in the gym.

If you need, I've been teaching people a little about how to fight. If you don't need, but you're--

I could use the practice.

[Short, unceremonious, she disconnects.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

demolitions

[He's wiping his face and neck with a towel when she addresses him, taking a swallow from the bottle of water in his hand. He lowers it, glancing over at her, unable to immediately discern what the reason for it might be. 'Hey' could preface any number of things.]

Ma'am?

[Southern politeness is still alive and well.]

From:

witness_this

I was wondering if you knew how some of the rest of these things worked?

[Furiosa asks, just as politely. It's a favour, and it's admitting something she doesn't know- which she's having to get used to recently.]

You seem to know what you're doing.

From:

demolitions

I've got a passin' familiarity with most of 'em, a few more'n others.

[People who actually work in the gym would be more informative, but it's early and no-one appears to be around. He has nothing better to do, at any rate.]

Did you have anything in particular you wanted to accomplish?

From:

witness_this

I need to stay strong.

[And she is; she works on cars, lifts and carries, fights, shoots, punches- and she knows that a few more weeks here with nothing, and that will go.]

This place is more quiet than home.

From:

demolitions

All right, sure. What I meant was, is there a specific part of your body you wanna work on? I see you've figured out the treadmill, so maybe upper body strength?

[He's not too sure how the mechanical arm's going to fit into it, but he'll let her figure that out.]

Yeah? What's home like?

From:

witness_this

Violent. Dry.

[A lot of heaving, throwing, shooting.]

Upper body is a good place to start.

[She is quietly, but sincerely grateful.]

From:

demolitions

Sounds like the Middle East.

[He says it in a light tone, although it's not really a joke.]

There's a bunch of machines that'll help you there.

[He stands and walks to the closest one, explaining the basics; how to use it, how to make adjustments, etc.]

From:

witness_this

It could be. I still haven't worked out old geography.

[She's interested to make it make sense, though.

She listens avidly, tries out a few movements, and then stops, nodding.]

Thank you.

[Sincerely.]

From:

demolitions

You're welcome.

[And then going back to the previous remark-] 'Old' geography?

From:

witness_this

When the world was still countries.

[A little bit of a shrug.]

They're a 'used to be' for me.

From:

demolitions

Just to clarify, you're talkin' about Earth?

[Possibly, future Earth? Alternate universe Earth? It would be hard to say, where time didn't have any straight lines anymore.]

I'm from the year two thousand twelve, if that means anything to you.

From:

witness_this

I think that was after the gas wars started, but- before the water wars. But we've lost the use of that calendar.

[So it's a little hard to say.]

From:

demolitions

We had oil wars, but that seems like it might be different from what you're talkin' about. I served in the United States army and fought in a war over in Kuwait; Desert Storm, my government called it. A lotta folks think it was about religion, but it really wasn't.

From:

witness_this

[This might seem a strange question, but;]

Did you make satellites?

From:

demolitions

My country did, yes. So did a few others. Why do you ask?

From:

witness_this

We see them in the night sky. We think they're still talking, even if we've lost the technology to let us listen.

[Confirming for her, then, that he is from before, or else a world like her before.]

From:

demolitions

[It's odd to think of satellites themselves as talking. There are some that collect and relay data, he knows; the science-oriented ones, or relay information from a source to a receiver like a communications satellite. She must be talking about the former, because if no-one has the technology to receive a signal, it's unlikely anyone would be sending one.]

How can you tell?

From:

witness_this

You can see them. They move faster than stars, and slower than comets, and they don't burn out.

[As for how they're talking;]

People used to have equipment to catch snatches of it.

From:

demolitions

I know, I've seen 'em. I used to spend a lot of time lookin' at the stars; I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. Stars don't actually move at all—we do, with the rotation of the planet. The satellites do stop functionin' after a while; becomin' nothin' more'n space debris.

What did they hear, do you know?

From:

witness_this

I was too young.

[She doesn't remember, or never heard properly.]

Lark was telling me about broadcast television.

From:

demolitions

That's land-based, mostly, but there is satellite TV too. You don't have anything like that where you're from?

From:

witness_this

Story tellers, but nothing acted out in that sort of detail. At most, one or two people sharing a legend around a pot of food at night.

[It's the effort that amazes her. The dressing up, the acting it out.]

From:

demolitions

I come from a remote, isolated area of the country, where TV signals can be a challenge to receive, it bein' mountainous region, and a lotta folks, especially those who live deep in the hills might be too poor to even own a TV, so story-tellin' is a big part of the culture. Entertainment, but also an oral history.

[Going back to her last remark, as the name is unfamiliar-]

Who's Lark?