Calibration Post 1, "Daytime"

[thespaceopera]

[ Not long after the shuffle, there's a ripple of static over the network - loud, sudden, and seemingly with no origin. It's puzzling, but there's no indication that it's going to happen again...

Until a minute later. Another surge of static comes in over the speakers, and then a voice - one some may find familiar, though not necessarily welcome, after all of this time... It's Diamond. Long time no speak, hmm?

Clearly, not all is well. She sounds very far away, for one. For another, she sounds... skeptical, almost alarmed. There may actually be real concern in her voice. ]

Again? Twice in one c--

[ Her sentence is cut short with a strangled gasp, followed by a moment of silence. What follows may be the sound of metal dragged across metal, but it's hard to place. When she speaks again, it's uncharacteristically monotonous. ]

... Bring them in.

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome, but this set of rooms has only been used once, and for the very same purpose that befalls the fleet contestants now.

As for their hosts, there is no immediate sign of them, though some may recall a series of hideous, half-electronic screams before their memories begin to blur upon arrival...

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round two of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

[stormfist]

[ Dude, you have no idea how glad she is you just showed up. (Okay, maybe you do. Whatever.) She finishes up her combo with an especially hard crescent kick, pauses for a second to breathe, then turns to Aizawa with a nod. ]

You always do.

[ She rolls her shoulders, readies herself - first move goes to him this time. He seems pretty worked up too, for obvious reasons. This ought to be good for both of them. ]

[expellerhead]

[aizawa usually isn't one for punching out his problems either, but in this case it'll probably help more than hurt at the very least. he does at least take a moment to wrap up his knuckles and slide on a pair of the thinner gloves before taking a stance across from her.

he goes straight offensive instead of using pins and holds this time. he could use some work on that anyway, he's gotten too comfortable with having his wraps all the time.

the first two blows he catches are heavy, very heavy, so he adjusts accordingly to move back with her strikes, absorb or let the weight of it roll away rather than trying to block full force.]

Ggh. Guess the oversharing is the- [huff] -tradeoff for free room and board.

[stormfist]

[ Even if it doesn't help, it's probably not going to hurt. So why not?

She blocks what comes her way - mostly. She's used to the pins and holds, admittedly, so every counterattack he makes seriously tests her reflexes. But she welcomes the challenge. And yes, her blows are quite heavy - she's particularly aggressive, especially having to think about the Taken and SIVA and the fucking Vault all over again djskfsl--

-- her aggression gets a little careless, admittedly. And each hit of his that she takes that she knows she should have seen coming makes her realize as much, and attempt to recenter. Ugh. ]

Always a price I guess. [ Ngh. ] You holding up okay?

[expellerhead]

[having someone to actually fight against probably helps with that recentering, at least. aizawa can already feel the edges of his frayed temper smoothing marginally. being around someone he doesn't have to be professional with helps more than the actual sparring.]

The background checks they do for issuing licenses is worse than this. [it's only a mild exaggeration too] More that I hate getting into other people's business. [he catches her arm and throws her over his shoulder with a grunt.] It's pointless.

[stormfist]

[ Aaand over his shoulder she goes! She hits the floor on her back, but doesn't get back up immediately - kinda needs to take a second to let it sink in even more that she should calm the fuck down already. ]

I hate it too. And that they pretty much made us do it.

[ Then she shifts her weight, swings her legs around to catch his and bring him down, too. ]

[expellerhead]

[usually he'd be able to dodge something like that...sloppy. he's pretty rattled himself, and these past few nights have been anything but restful. no matter how composed he'd tried to stay while in others' minds (and with others in his), this really isn't something he's particularly fond of, to say the least.]

Oof. [rolls over painfully onto his side, though he doesn't quite get back up just yet, crumpled on the mats next to her as they both pant for breath.] ...I keep telling myself that it could be worse. And it could, but. [there is something sincerely fucked up about forcing people to share their most protected and intimate parts of themselves with total strangers.]

[stormfist]

[ Yeah, breathing is nice. Staying down for a second is a good plan. They're unwinding at least, even if only a little, but of course they're worn out from being worked up and pretty much running on fumes. ]

... It could. But that doesn't mean it's not fucked up.

[ Look, she said it so you don't have to! ]

[expellerhead]

[true that. aizawa sighs; that's exactly what is, it's fucked up.] Yeah. That sounds about right. [specifically, they made him go into his student's head, something that did not please him.] ...where's that Ghost of yours? Didn't come with?

[stormfist]

[ Lord. If she knew that, she'd vow to punch Atroma even harder when they get there. ]

Nah. Heard others say last time, pets stayed behind. Guess they assumed he was a pet. [ Snort. ] ... If he's gone when I get back though, I might be a little bit pissed. [ Understatement much? ]

[expellerhead]

I'm sure he'll be there. Just let him know that apparently he's classified as a pet, I'm sure that'll settle him back down. [not likely. that floating piece of techno rock candy can be kind of sassy.

with a groan aizawa rolls over up onto his feet, sticking out a hand to help her pop back up onto her feet.] C'mon. Again.

[stormfist]

[ Snort! ] Sure. I'll let you know how that goes over.

[ Which is to say, very sassily. ♥ At least it'll be entertaining...

She takes a deep breath before grabbing his hand and pulling herself back up onto her feet. She rolls her shoulders, shakes out a little bit more of the lingering tension in her posture. ]

Right. Again. [ She takes a proper stance, waiting for him to be ready. ] I'll be more on top of it this time.

[expellerhead]

Or don't be. No match bell to ring here. [it doesn't really matter who gets slammed down first in these fights; they both know what they're here for and it's not for improvement, not for keeping fit and keeping sharp- or at least, it's not totally for that.

it took him a lot of time, but aizawa finally came to understand that emotional upkeep is just as important as everything else. it's still not his area of expertise and he doubts anybody would ever, ever mistake him for a comforting person, but sometimes the tiny, little things matter more than the huge things. he can't lift a car off of a family of five, but he can carry a child over to an ambulance so they can ride with their mother.

just from what he'd seen inside of her head, it seemed like jayden's been keeping herself more or less together ever since she woke up in that damn wasteland. maybe she doesn't need anybody's permission to be not okay for a while, maybe the aloofness is how she handles all of that weight and it would be wrong of her to turn it off for a bit, but she should at least know that she's got someone who won't judge her for it if she does decide to.

her fist comes across his jaw and he rolls with it, grabs her wrist to twist and take her to the ground. she's strong enough to break the hold and she most likely will, but aizawa hadn't been lying about it not mattering who wins or loses in this.]

[stormfist]

[ Good point - one that makes her smile, at least until it's time to get back to it.

Yeah, this isn't win or lose, it never has been. Which is nice, honestly. For both of them. ... She's glad. She'll never pretend she's any good at being a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or someone who knows just the thing to say at just the right time. No way. But whatever she can do? She will. And that's... what this is, for whatever words might properly explain it. God knows she doesn't have them. Point is, this helps Aizawa just as much as it helps her. And she's glad she can do that much for him.

And sure, it's debatable whether or not Jayden's come to terms with the concept of "emotional upkeep". It's a double standard, because of course it is - anyone else could cave under this crazy amount of bullshit and be completely justified. Her? Not so much. And she's pretty convinced she can just keep on going like this. Maybe she does need to turn it off for a bit. Maybe she needs to let herself get worked up, legitimately freak out, yell and scream about... well, everything. The aliens. The war. The constant fighting. The dying and living and dying and living again. Maybe she really does need to break. Just... not today. Right now, it's just her, and him. That's all it needs to be.

He grabs her wrist, but he guessed right - she breaks free with a roll of her arm, grabs his arm, pivots to the side as she pulls him forward and down. He'll probably roll his way out of it and get back up, but at least she didn't go down - yet. She knows they can both keep pushing this. ]

[expellerhead]

[rolling out of it is a good move, which makes it predictable. sparring with jayden has really pushed his boundaries lately; one-on-one with a singular opponent drawing out the fight has always been his weakness, so every fight tends to be a valuable learning experience. and while he usually sticks to a certain style for the sake of efficiency, jayden's relentlessness has forced him to get a little more creative.

so instead of rolling he lets her take him down, twists to get a leg up underneath her shoulder and then rolls to put her in an arm lock, the back of her elbow braced against her knee. she might be stronger than him, but he definitely weighs more and he uses that to his advantage here.]

[stormfist]

[ Yeah, no, that's definiely new and creative, and even though her reflexes kick in when she feels everything going very differently from what she'd expect, it's hardly enough to let her keep up. Looks like her redirective pull is about to backfire. A lot.

-- Yep. There's his knee, and down she goes with him. Can't move her arm, can't really do much of anything else, either - angles are all too awkward. Of course, she tries to use sheer strength and willpower to wrest herself free, but he has the clear advantage, pinning her like this. She huffs out a couple of deep breaths, shakes her head. ]

Where'd that come from?

[expellerhead]

It's been in my repertoire, [aizawa grunts, keeping her elbow braced against his knee; not enough to hurt, but enough to keep her immobilized until she taps out and he releases the hold.] I've just been lax in using it. Spars with you are useful.

[stormfist]

Right. Happy to help. [ Overall, she means it seriously. But right this second, you bet your ass it's sarcasm. Pinning her down like this, goddamn...!

One! more! attempt! to wrest herself free!! ... Nope. Okay. Fine. She gives, tapping out with her free hand, and goes right back to those deep breaths. ]

[expellerhead]

[lmaoasdf okay so, working out the aggression via spar doesn't seem to be working as well as he'd hoped, because she kinda looks a lil pissed still. and while aizawa has never not ever once been a visibly affectionate person, he kisses her on the cheek just for the shock of it before rolling over and pushing himself up to fix his hair.]

Alright Price, change of pace. Yoga.

[stormfist]

[ She really is feeling better! For the most part. She just perpetually sucks at showing as much. Though that perpetual scowl on her face does immediately get wiped right away when he kisses her cheek. She blinks a few times, and is just about to say something when he rolls off of her and declares... that. ]

Yoga? ... Okay?

[ She is SO CONFUSED. But... she sits up, pushes her hair out of her eyes, stretches her arms above her head, and... waits. Because she's never done yoga. Ever. She's pretty sure, anyway. ]

Guess you're just full of surprises today, Aizawa.

[ She means the yoga. And the arm lock. Yep. nope not entirely. ]

[expellerhead]

It's good for flexibility. And it's got deep breathing exercises. [some of which you seem to be attempting to engage in without too much success, tbh. are you really chill? girl ur chill is like everybody else's 6 on the 'ready to throw down' scale]

[stormfist]

[ what is this "chill" of which you speak? is it food? or something bad? is it something bad - does she need to punch it? jayden no

But no okay, she rolls her shoulders to loosen up a bit and just... goes with it. She trusts him, after all. ]

Fair enough. That... does sound useful right now.

[expellerhead]

[he's gonna just start doing poses and shit and trust her to copy him as necessary, because she doesn't need her hand held and because he's kind of mostly just futzing around also. time to crack some backs and stretch out some hamstrings!

aizawa glances over to see if she's following along fine.] Had any other visitors?

[stormfist]

[ She's keeping up well enough - copying whatever pose he bends himself into, and not asking questions, no matter how strange it might seem. It's... definitely tugging on some muscles she hasn't thought about in a long time, and sure, breathing is always good... Okay, maybe there's something to this after all. ]

Mm, here? No. In my head? A few. Crowley, Felix, Opal. Two other people I don't know at all. You?

[expellerhead]

A couple people I know. [not ochako, thank fuck. aizawa switches to a set that helps stretch out upper thighs.] ...the only decent thing is that most people here aren't the nosy type.

[stormfist]

[ She hums in agreement. ] Yeah. Not intentionally. [ That one guy just, you know, accidentally triggered the thought of being Taken, that's all. It's fine. ] This whole thing still can't be over with soon enough.

[ But at least she's much less angry than she was before he showed up. Just gonna keep stretching now - arms above her head, leaning as far to the side as she can stand, and holding. ]