Sweet dreams are made of these...

[thespaceopera]

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A Abigail Hobbs Aiya/Gray Nightingale Adrasteius Anor'thalion Ahsoka Tano Alex Russo Allen Walker Anders Anthony Crowley Asteffiel Axel

B - D Belthazar Spellscry Beverly Crusher Bran Stark Caesar Zeppeli Cayde-6 Cheese Sandwich Clay Terran Coil Cole Davesprite Duke Pantarei

E - I Elecman.exe Elena Gilbert Elize Lutus Felix Harrowgate Fenris Finrod Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus Imperator Furiosa Isabela Issac Lahey

J - M Jade Harley James Barnes/Jim James Barnes/Winter Joseph Joestar Katara Katniss Everdeen/Nova Kirito/Kazuto Kirigaya Kurt Wagner Leanne Loki Maladict(a) Max Caulfield Megaman Mordin Solus

Comments

[versusnurture]

[She's never been one not to go for the throat, and this moment is the opposite of an exception. No: to the contrary, the click of the lock sends her temper spiking, but her temper runs cold and leads her to Gordian-knot solutions, like this one . . .]

[The one that ignores the boy entirely and crosses over in one swift motion to kneel beside him and rip off the sheet.]

[mortalcoil]

[the boy is so shocked, he's seconds too late in realizing what her full intentions are. he fails to intercept until the sheet is already fluttering and slinking to the floor, revealing his project.

it's certainly humanoid, though whether it is living or dead or something in between is hard to tell. it looks dead, but it's sitting up under its own power, with its chained hands hanging slack and useless at its sides.

the face of it has a horrible similarity to the boy's, though quite a bit older... and its entire body is covered in a jagged, cryptic web of black marks. the designs look a little like tattoos, though more correctly like ink settled into shallow-carved lines, and the manner of them is nothing short of elaborate and sinister. the amount of time it must have taken to etch each delicate angle and curve into the skin...

and after only enough time to get one solid look, the boy has his wits about him again and is lunging at her. grabbing for her upper arms, strong fingers instinctively digging right where there are bundles of nerves, he tries to bodily drag her away from his work.]

[versusnurture]

[In the space between the big reveal and the boy's sudden movement, she takes it all in: the other boy-thing, the one that looks similar enough as to be related (like Nick and Cassie, killed by her and her not-father, with the same sloping curves to their cheekbones), all dug-in lines like marks (how do they work, what is their purpose?), the detail.]

[The detail most of all, because it's the work of a master, but masters are monsters sometimes, too.]

[Frankenstein's monster never had a name.]

[The boy lunges for her, and the second, the second he touches her, sends pain shooting up her arms, she does what she was taught to do by a very different boy who was a soldier and her very best friend, and knees upward into his groin.]

[mortalcoil]

[he knows better than to leave himself open like that. but he's not thinking, and he can't see with these bandages covering up all of his peripheral vision.

so, she hits him and he buckles, dropping to one knee with a whuff of pain and frustration.]

[versusnurture]

[She watches him fall and, once he's down, takes a step back so she can look down on him better. Her eyes are cold as ice, back straight, arms loose at her sides.]

Good.

Next time you touch me without permission, it'll be worse. I wouldn't try it.

[mortalcoil]

[it had been months since a girl had gotten the upper hand and lorded it over him like this. he hasn't missed it.

more than that, however, it's familiar. his reaction to it is reflex. he shoves himself up onto his feet again before he's done hurting. he can't right his little failure, but he can at least try to make up for it by standing up like a man instead of recoiling like a child.

he sets his jaw despite the pain under the bandages, and starts toward her. he points at the door as he moves forward, conveying as clearly as he's able that if she doesn't leave, he's going to escort her out. and he's watching this time.]

[versusnurture]

No.

[She shakes her head, fixing him with a look that's not cruel, exactly, but doesn't give an inch all the same.]

If you didn't want to be discovered, you should have protected your secrets better. When a secret gets out, it's out. The best you can do is protect it better next time.

[And she bends her knees just slightly and shifts into a fighting stands, fingers bunched in loose fists, elbows up. Come at her, bro.]

[mortalcoil]

[he's only eleven--maybe twelve--but he's reflecting almost the exact same look back at her. it isn't rage, but it is a sort of cold, practiced certainty.

because, she's wrong. there is one other way to fix this, and he's done it before.

luckily, he hardly begins to move forward to test either of their skill and resolve, before there's a loud BANG on the door as someone pounds on it with a fist. and a man's booming voice shouting "--COIL!" through the door stops him dead in his tracks.

whoever is out there, they're important enough that he drops his focus from the girl entirely, in order to stare with one wide eye at the door. there's a metal slat slid over to cover a peephole on the door, but he's hesitating to step over and look through it.]

[versusnurture]

[If this had been a few years ago, she would have sat back and let whatever happened, happen. She would have wanted to see it, because her automatic assumption would be that this was Coil's father, and it would be an interesting case study. But now . . .]

[There's loud noises and violent banging and a shout, and Coil freezes, and the fight goes out of her - no, that's not right; the fight redirects. Without a second thought, she passes in front of Coil and crosses over to the door, showing him her back in favor of addressing the bigger threat.]

[Which she does by making a fist and banging on the door right back.]

Fuck off!

[mortalcoil]

[she might as well have banged a fist against Coil's face, for how utterly shocked he seems. all he can do is stare in stark disbelief as she turns and does the impossible and forbidden. she rises up against one of the icons that represent everything that is not to be fought.

and the silence that rings afterward has even more of a presence than the voice had. the quiet in the air is dense, and the boy seems to fear even attempting to breathe it.

the man on the other side seems to have indeed fucked off.]

[versusnurture]

. . . All right.

[It's her voice that breaks the silence in the end, cuts the tension like a knife. She's all business, once she's certain he's gone - although really, even her banging on the door was sort of businesslike. She doesn't fuck around.]

[Instead, she straightens her shirt, smooths down her pants, and comes to stand next to Coil, looking down at him critically.]

He was going to hurt you. Wasn't he?