video and spam

[witness_this]

Spam

[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.]

Comments

[cantcatchme]

What, the weights?

[He looks her up and down. She's got plenty of muscle, but something about her makes him a little nervous. The way she holds herself, maybe. Somehow, he doesn't think she got the body in a gym.]

Or just... everything?

[witness_this]

People don't do this, where I'm from. Move their bodies just to move them.

I don't want to get complacent, or soft.

[She didn't, but she wants to keep it, just for the moments of mayhem between the long stretches of boredom.]

[cantcatchme]

[Pietro shrugs and pushes his hair back into place.]

I'm a runner, so I mostly stick to those. [He gestures vaguely at the treadmills.] Most of it's pretty straightforward, though. Lift different shit in different ways to get stronger. Running, biking, and climbing for endurance and all that shit.

Just don't try to outdo me on the latter, and you'll be fine.

[witness_this]

I won't challenge you to a race.

[She promises, with a little twitch of a smile.]

What's your name?

[cantcatchme]

Good. You'll lose.

[It's easier, he's finding, to act like himself around someone new. Someone who doesn't know about Anya, and what she is to him. It's still beneath the surface, though and he's tense and agitated under his cool attitude.]

Pietro. Heard yours.

[witness_this]

Pietro.

[Committing to memory.]

You're pretty sure of that?

[Not challenging, so much as genuinely curious.]

[cantcatchme]

You said you're human, right?

I'm not. Even if they've got most of my powers on lockdown, you'd have to really be something to be a challenge.

[He almost wishes she were. Distractions are more than welcome, right now.]

[witness_this]

I'm not really a runner.

[She feels no need to threaten to take him on.]

I'll take your word for it, I promise.

[cantcatchme]

You a warden then?

[He's guessing, but most new inmates wouldn't offer fighting lessons right away, he thinks.]

[witness_this]

[A short, sort of smile and a nod.]

Most people guess otherwise.

[cantcatchme]

Yeah, well, you don't seem angry or confused enough to be one of us.

Besides, some inmates are helpful, but it's usually the ones who've been here a while.

[Well, he found Lourdes helpful right away, but for different reasons than most people would.]

[witness_this]

Angry, I'll give you, but confused-

[That makes her mouth twist, wry and quick.]

[cantcatchme]

Right. Well, less confused than I was, anyway. We don't get the luxury of an invitation, after all.

[witness_this]

So they've explained. It-

It's easy to understand the anger.

[cantcatchme]

No shit. The surprising part is how many people expect us not to be pissed.

Regretting signing up yet?

[witness_this]

Not yet. [A faint pause.] Give it time.

[cantcatchme]

Won't be long, if things keep going the way they have been.

[Pietro grimaces, Anya looming in his mind. His knuckles turn white, briefly, where they're gripping the weight stand.]

[witness_this]

I noticed that it seemed like a- bad week. For many of us.

[cantcatchme]

Now there's an understatement.

I just want something to be done about it.

[witness_this]

I think you're right. I feel like a fool for not knowing what.

[It seems like a problem that should have a solution, but she doesn't have one.]

[cantcatchme]

Don't look at me. You wardens are the ones with the power, here.

I just never want to have to see my sister like that again.

[witness_this]

I'll do what I can.

[She says, and seems to mean it.]

For what little it's worth.

[cantcatchme]

It's worth something. Not everyone seems to care.

I still think this ship's bullshit. But I'm not going to put up with assholes torturing and murdering people while I'm stuck here.

[witness_this]

Can't lock them up for more than a week. Can't kill them.

Can't think of any other conventional way to incapacitate someone.

I, uh, somehow lost this sorry

[cantcatchme]

Bingo, lady.

It's a problem. I'd wring a couple necks myself, if I thought it'd make a difference.

[Or if he actually had half a chance. He talks bigger than he is.]